Homecoming 1955

By Jim Joanos

1955 Citadel Game Cover

It was 1955. I was a junior at FSU. FSU homecoming was just a few weeks away. It was time to make a date for the game against The Citadel. Where do I start? Why not go to the library and see who might be there? Off I went. After I was there a little while I spotted a brunette that I had a date with a couple years before. Great idea! Why not ask her? Fortunately, Betty Lou, agreed to go to the game with me. It turned out to be a pretty good date. FSU beat The Citadel 39-0 and we have been married for 65 years so far.

Betty Lou and Jim Joanos

FSU’s head coach at the time was Tom Nugent, one of college football’s most innovative of all time. In addition, he was rather flamboyant. He was a friend of my older brother and was a social visitor at our home. I remember him singing “Peg of My Heart”. His wife was named “Peg”. During his college days at Ithaca of New York when he had played several sports he had helped finance his way through college as a singer. I had a telephone conversation with him shortly before his death. After numerous coaching and other jobs, he came back to live his last days in Tallahassee. He told me that he loved coaching at FSU but only left because Maryland promised as part of their incentives to help finance the education of his and Peg’s seven children.

The stadium was packed with nearly 16,000 fans which was Campbell Stadium’s capacity at the time. FSU’s Buck Metts scored three touchdowns. Billy Odom, Len Swantic, and Ted Rodrigue also scored one each.

On one play, left halfback Lee Corso took a pitchout from quarterback Vic Prinzi and ran for 56 yards. Another future celebrity Buddy (Burt) Reynolds, although listed on the roster that year, missed the whole season as he was recovering from an injury suffered the year before.

FSU’s starting center was Bob Crenshaw. “Cren”, a close friend of mine, never mind what the game program said, never weighed as much as 165 pounds. He was believed to be the smallest starting center on any major college football team at the time. A bigtime leader, he was not only a captain of the football team but was president of our senior class. When we graduated, we elected Bob, permanent alumni president of the FSU class of 1956. After college he became an Air Force pilot. In the summer of 1958, he died in a plane crash near Chiefland, Florida. Because of his courage and determination, an annual award named after him, the “Crenshaw Award”, is given to the FSU player “with the biggest heart.”

At least a couple of the players that day went on to play professional football. Prinzi spent time with the New York Giants, and then the Denver Broncos. Later in life he would do the radio commentary along with Gene Deckerhoff for FSU games. Right end Tom Feamster, a giant of a man, caught three passes in that game and made a number of tackles on defense. He would go on to play pro ball for a short while with the Baltimore Colts. Sometime after football he went to seminary and became an Episcopal priest. He later made the news when he served as a death row minister to John Spenkelink, who’s execution in 1979 was widely reported by the media as his was the first Florida execution after a pause of several years.

Several of the FSU players on that team, became football coaches. Lineman Vince Gibson who made several of tackles would have head coaching stints at Kansas State, Louisville, and Tulane. He would also coach a team in the Arena Football League.

Don Powell, a tackle on that team, would spend a short time as an FSU assistant coach before a couple of years coaching in the Canadian Football League. An award is presented each year by the Orlando Seminole Club bearing his name to the FSU team’s “unsung hero.”

Gene Cox, at halfback, carried the ball three times that game. After college he had a brilliant 38-year career as head coach at four different high schools. During his tenure at Leon High School, he won two state championships and was runner-up two times as well. Lots of his Leon players were recruited and played major roles for FSU. Wally Woodham, Jimmy Jordan and Billy Sexton, to name but a few, all played for Cox at Leon.

FSU’s Bill Proctor not only played Left Tackle but kicked an extra point as well. Proctor was drafted by the Cleveland Browns but stayed at FSU and earned bachelor’s, master’s and PHD degrees. During that time, he served as assistant dean of men at the university. From 1962 through 65, he was an assistant football coach at FSU. Proctor later became president of Flagler College in St. Augustine and served many years in that capacity. He also served two terms as a State Representative. He also spent a short stint at FSU as interim athletic director. He has been awarded the Sliger Award, the FSU Alumni Association’s highest award for service to the university.

Coach Nugent, Corso, Crenshaw, Prinzi, Proctor, Reynolds, as well as Ron Schomburger, who played left end that day, have all been inducted into the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

As you can see, it was a very good day, I not only got a future wife, but saw a lot of special football players.

Coach Tom Nugent	Buck Metts	Billy Odom	Len Swantic
Ted Rodrigue	Lee Corso	Vic Prinzi	Buddy "Burt" Reynolds
Bob Crenshaw	Tom Feamster	Vince Gibson	Don Powell
Gene Cox	Bill Proctor	Ron Schomburger

About the author:

Jim Joanos

Memories of Garnet and Gold

Jim Joanos and his wife Betty Lou have deep roots at Florida State University. Avid sports fans, they have literally seen, and done, it all. Fortunately for us, Jim loves telling first-hand accounts dating back to FSU’s first football game, a 1947 clash with the Stetson Hatters on Centennial Field, where Cascades Park is today.

The Osceola will run a series of these colorful stories written by the former Tallahassee lawyer and judge, which we feel our readers will find enlightening and/or nostalgic.

Jim and Betty Lou, who was Associate Director of the FSU Alumni Association (1991-2003), have been married 65 years and are each listed as one of FSU’s 100 Distinguished Graduates. The couple were enshrined in the FSU Hall of Fame in 2015 as Moore-Stone Award Recipients. Ironically, both Deans Moore and Stone were instrumental in the Joanoses career development.

“Both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos have been exemplary fans and supporters of Florida State University, both academically and athletically,” said Andy Miller, retired President and CEO of Seminole Boosters, Inc. “You can’t go to an athletic event of any kind that you don’t see both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos together. They love their university as much as they love each other.”