The Penny and Jerry Bus Trips

By Jim Joanos

Lots of FSU football fans, in addition to regularly attending games played at home in Doak Campbell Stadium, enjoy occasionally traveling to and enjoying games at the opponents’ home stadiums or to bowl games at fun cities. For the very wealthy and knowledgeable this can be an easy task. Just call and get game and flight tickets and make reservations at expensive hotels. But for many fans, going to an out-of-town game is not that easy. Getting tickets and transportation and making hotel reservations arrangements can be confusing and overly expensive to the point that it is prohibitive to them.

Since 1991, a Tallahassee couple, Penny and Jerry Scruggs, have provided a system they refer to as the “Seminole Bus Trips” whereby they make the arrangements at a reasonable cost enabling a large number of FSU fans to enjoy some away game trips. Penny and Jerry purchase the game tickets, usually in a block, schedule the travel bus, plan for meals, reserve the hotel rooms, usually with breakfast provided, and make sure all the logistics are taken care of. In addition to being at reasonable cost, the trips include the added additional pleasure of traveling with a group of fellow fans. My wife, Betty Lou, and I have had the good fortune to have made some of those trips. Some of the cities where games were played that we have gone with them to have included Atlanta, New Orleans, Orlando, Dallas, South Bend, Raleigh, Winston Salem, Charlotte, Clemson, and Louisville.

Unfortunately, the 2023 season in which they will have trips to the Wake Forest and Clemson games will be their last. Penny, an FSU administrative staff retiree, and Jerry, a state agency retiree, have reached the age that it is time to “hang it up”. The purpose of this article is to thank Penny and Jerry for having provided this service that has meant so much to so many.

Penny and Jerry were not the originators of these trips. Two men, both now deceased, Kyle Maddox and Bob Walker, who worked together at Centel Telephone Company in Tallahassee arranged the first trip in September of 1983. It was to New Orleans for an FSU game against Tulane. That game is memorable as one in which FSU lost the game on the field, 34-28, but was awarded victory later when it was determined that Tulane had played an ineligible player.

From 1983 through the 1989 season, Kyle and Bob, provided several trips each year. At that point Kyle decided to retire from the venture and Bob continued alone. He asked Jerry Scruggs to help him by keeping the books of the venture and Jerry consented. In 1991, Bob Walker’s health declined. The torch was passed to Jerry and his wife, Penny, who took over the program and have operated it ever since.

The standard trip has utilized one 56 passenger Astro Travel and Tours bus with driver, Tim Lashley, whom Penny and Jerry consider the best there is. The trip would involve a day to drive to the location, the game day, and the drive home on the third day. On occasion when there was a very special game there would be two buses. A few trips were for four or so days. For example two buses were taken to Dallas in 2014 when FSU defeated Oklahoma State 37-31. The logistics of that trip involved three different hotels in three different cities. Another was the trip when FSU lost to Notre Dame in freezing cold weather, 13-42 in 2018. That trip involved five days, four nights. Last year a three-bus, four-day, three-night trip went to New Orleans where FSU beat LSU, 24-23.

Through these trips we have developed friendships with some wonderful people. While most of the travelers have been older retired folks, the bus groups have also included businessmen and women, and professionals, college and high school students, teachers, etc. On a few occasions, there have been one or two of the FSU assistant coaches’ wives among those included. In short, there has been a wonderful mixture of very interesting people who bonded on those amazing trips.

One of my favorite experiences on these trips was to spend time with Penny’s father, Bob Schmidt. Bob, who has since passed, was a real World War II hero. We talked about times we spent together as Boy Schout leaders and how I met him when he ushered at FSU football games in that capacity. We talked about family and football. Bob’s spirits were always high although he needed a wheelchair much of the time and the assistance of folks on the trip I never heard him complain.

On the trips we have had some very special meals at some very memorable places going and coming to the games. One favorite place enjoyed on a number of the trips is a former mansion in Social Circle, Georgia, named the “Blue Willow”. It was not just majestic but had great pies and a gourmet buffet. Another fun regular place was the truck stop just south of Atlanta named “Buckner’s” with the lazy Suzann’s loaded with fried chicken, cream of corn, and all the fixings. Often we shared the venue with groups of bikers who knew of the hidden gem that it was. When we were in Atlanta, a special place was Mary Mac’s Tea Room which featured the best in Southern food. The owners were FSU fans and treated us like royalty. There were some outstanding barbecue restaurants in North Carolina. Most of the hotels where we stayed were Hampton Inns who provided us with buffet breakfasts with lots of choices. In short, major highlights of the trips were the meals we enjoyed as a group.

On game day we would leave for the stadium early to get a good parking spot. Often some would bring out folding chairs and card tables. They would picnic until closer to game time. Others upon arrival at the parking lot would go for exploratory walks in the vicinity. Often, they would come across other FSU fans they knew, tailgating who either lived in the vicinity or who had gotten there in other ways. Soon, all would head for the stadium and find our seats. Most of us from the bus sat as a block as Penny and Jerry had so gotten the tickets through the FSU ticket office. Win or lose, we would enjoy the games. If we won, the ride back to the hotel was joyous. We wore out singing the fight song and the war chant. If we lost, it was quieter but we had each other to commiserate with. By the time we got back to the hotel we had put the loss behind us and went on enjoying the trip.

On these trips there were many hours on the buses going and coming. It was during that time that Penny and Jerry were at their best. They were masters at picking programs for the bus’s CD player. Often it was an episode from the TV series, Evening Shade, that featured Burt Reynolds and Bobby Bowden. We got to enjoy replays of former FSU championship games. If it was somebody’s birth date or an anniversary, we celebrated those special events. There were jokes told and sometimes music. On the way up we would pay a dollar or two and enter a pool where we were assigned potential scores for the game. After the games the winners were announced. A tradition of the trip was when we reached the outskirts of Tallahassee on our return Jerry would tell his train joke about the kid and his mother who had differences as to the language that children at play should use. No matter how many times we had heard it before, it was funny, as Jerry is a master story teller.

Jerry and Penny Scruggs have done so much in providing lots of us with a special way to attend away football games. Hopefully, some other program may arise to fill the gap. Whether it does or not, “it was a good ride”. We had some great trips and carry with us a large supply of golden memories.

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.”