Fantastic Four
By Jim Joanos
Through the years, FSU has had lots of outstanding defensive backs. It would be very difficult to take one group of four and proclaim them as the best defensive backfields in FSU football history. I will not try to do that. However, I write this article about my favorite FSU defensive backfield. It was the four that started at FSU for the three seasons, 1977, 78, & 79: Ivory Joe Hunter, Monk Bonasorte, Bobby Butler, and Keith Jones. Not only did they excel on the field and were outstanding in the classroom, all four have had successful and meaningful careers after FSU. Some groups at FSU have been called catchy names like “Fab Four,” “Seven Magnificents” or “Dynamic Duo.” I do not remember them being publicly given any such label, but for me, I regard them as my “Fantastic Four.” They had varied talents. Hunter was great at covering would-be receivers. Bonasorte was like a coach on the field in deciphering the strategy on the field. In addition, he had a knack for making interceptions. Butler was fast and could close gaps quickly. Jones was one of the hardest tacklers to ever play at FSU. Opponents learned to enter his territory with extreme caution. Their position coach was Jack Stanton, whom Hunter described as a father figure. Stanton was ahead of his time in that before it became common he got access to a computer and made detailed specifics of opposing wide receivers in order to anticipate their moves.
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The same four defensive backs playing together for three consecutive seasons is most unusual. I am not aware of any other time when that has happened at FSU. Jones says that they “began to rely on each other and thinking as one instead of four.” As an example, he points to a game-saving interception that he made late in the 1980 game versus Florida when Bonasorte tipped the ball to him. They had never practiced tipping the ball in the circumstances that existed. Hunter who says the others called him “Old Day” in recognition of his being a year older than the other three also points out the closeness that developed among the four.
Of the four, Ivory Joe Hunter, is the one that I have known the longest. When he was in high school at Leon High in Tallahassee, my wife, Betty Lou, was one of his teachers. They became not only teacher and student but friends. We cheered for him and were awed by his football skills. A sad but very meaningful time in our lives was when Joe’s mother died while he was still in high school. We visited the family and were most impressed by the love that the family showed for each other. We were elated when he chose FSU from his options of colleges. It turned out well for him. A four year starter at cornerback, Joe got his bachelor’s degree in Communication and after FSU had a long career in the Florida Department of Corrections. Much of the time he served as a wellness expert working with younger medical inmates. For a short period he worked in the youth “boot camps” where he said he applied some of Coach Bobby Bowden’s techniques. In retirement, he has continued to give back to others. By chance, we ran into Joe recently and he introduced us to a foster child with him that he was helping to raise. He was very proud of him.
Monk Bonosorte grew up in Pittsburgh, Pensylvania. He came to FSU as a walk-on and graduated as an All-American. As a player, he earned Third-Team All-American by the Associated Press in 1979 and Second-Team by Football News in 1980. At FSU he had career interceptions of 15, 8 of which were in a single season (1979). It was amazing. In 1995, he would be inducted into the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame in recognition of his accomplishments as a football player. After his playing days at FSU he was briefly a pro player then was an assistant coach in the USFL. In 2008 he returned to Tallahassee and joined the Athletics Administration staff where he was extremely effective and popular. As part of his duties he served as executive director of FSU's Varsity Club. Eventually he would have the title of Senior Associate Athletics Director. On occasions, I was fortunate to have worked with Monk on several projects. He was extremely easy to work with. After an heroic battle against brain cancer, he died in 2016.
Bobby Butler grew up in Delray Beach, Florida. He came to FSU as a two-sport (football and track) athlete. He became an All-American in both sports. After the 1979 football season he was chosen as an AP Honorable Mention All-American. After the 1980 season, he was named a First-Team Newspaper Enterprises and a Third-Team AP All-American. In track, his membership on the 1980 4x100 FSU relay that finished third in the NCAA National Champions qualified him as an All-American in that sport. In acknowledgment of his accomplishments while at FSU, he was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1981, he was drafted in the first round (25th pick) of the NFL draft by the Atlanta Falcons. After 12 seasons with the Falcons, he retired from the NFL in 1992.
The strong safety in the group was Keith Jones. Jones came to FSU out of Wildwood, Florida. In addition to his reputation as the hardest tackler on the team, he was considered the leader of the group in the classroom. He was named First-Team Academic All-American in 1979 and 80. At graduation in 1981, his Business degree was Magna Cum Laude. He has had a career in the insurance and business worlds. He also teaches business courses as an Adjunct Professor at FSU. You might have heard him on the radio or seen him on TV as a sports commentator. He has done lots of work as a basketball and football color commentator and is very popular among civic clubs as a lunchtime speaker.
About the author:
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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.”