The Bill Peterson Years

By Jim Joanos

Recently, I got a telephone call from a longtime Florida State football fan. He suggested that I should write something about Bill Peterson. He pointed out that in a recent news article about T.K. Wetherell and Bobby Bowden, no mention was made about the head coach at FSU at the time that Wetherell played and Bowden was an assistant coach.

Bill Peterson

Bill Peterson was Florida State's head football coach from 1960 to 1970. Under his command, FSU moved from a promising program to one that could win consistently against some of the better teams in the country. During that span, FSU attained higher rankings than ever before, secured its first consensus All-Americans and became a leader in changing the very manner in which college football was played.

A native of Toronto, Ohio, Bill Peterson attended and played football at Ohio Northern University. After college, he coached high school football for ten years. He was then hired by head coach Paul Dietzel at Louisiana State University as a line coach. Thereafter, LSU won the national championship in 1958 and followed that with a 9-1 record the next year. Consequently, FSU came calling and hired Peterson to take over as FSU's head coach.

Peterson faced many obstacles in Tallahassee. The first Peterson year at FSU was filled with close games and ended with a 3-6-1 record. The next year, 1961, FSU went 4-5-1. There were two very memorable games that season. The first was a 3-3 tie at Florida. The second was a 3-0 victory over Georgia.

Peterson's third year was a real break through year for the Seminoles. Although the record was a modest 4-3-3, it was Peterson's first winning season at FSU and proved that FSU could hold its own consistently against major teams. FSU's victory over Georgia for the second straight year was especially noteworthy. The amazing 14-14 tie at Georgia Tech was another high point as Georgia Tech was then among the country's powerhouses. The season also ended on a high note with 14-14 tie at Auburn.

Bowden joined the FSU coaching staff prior to the 1963 season as the receivers' coach. Wetherell came to FSU that same season but as a freshman he was relegated to play on the freshman team. The 1963 season started out exceedingly well when the Seminoles defeated the University of Miami. However, optimism was dulled the following week with the Seminoles unexpectedly loss to Texas Christian. Up and down the entire season, FSU finished the year with a 4-5-1 record.

In 1964, the dreams of FSU fans who wanted a big time program came true. The team that season went 9-1-1. The victories included a special homecoming victory over a Kentucky team ranked number five in the country at the time, another victory over Georgia, a first in the modern era win over the University of Florida, and the destruction of the University of Oklahoma team in the Gator Bowl game at the end. Following the season, Biletnikoff was selected as the first ever Seminole to be a consensus first-team All-American.

In 1965, the team went 4-5-1. It was the first year that Wetherell emerged as a starter at wide receiver and was coached by Bowden. However, it was Bowden's last at FSU as an assistant as he left FSU at the end of the season.

Another roller coaster type year followed in 1966. FSU looked very good at times and if one official's "out of bounds" call in the Florida game had not occurred, it would have been a very special year. In the closing moments of the third game against Florida, FSU completed what looked to be a winning touchdown pass from Gary Pajcic to Lane Fenner in the end zone. But, an official ruled Fenner to be out of bounds, and Florida held on to give FSU a 22-26 loss. The play is regarded by many FSU fans as the most controversial in the team's history. The rest of the season went well and FSU with a 6-4 record, was invited to play Wyoming in El Paso's Sun Bowl. In the bowl game, FSU lost 20-28.

Florida State began the 1967 season by losing badly at Houston, 13-33. In the very next game, FSU shocked the college world by going into Legion Field in Birmingham and tying, number two ranked Alabama, 37-37. In the next week, FSU was beaten by North Carolina State at home, 10-20. But that was the end of the losing for FSU that season. After a 0-2-1 start, FSU won all the rest of its regular season games. The game at Florida is also regarded as one to remember for Seminole fans. FSU led early in the game, 14-3. However, in the second quarter, FSU's quarterback Kim Hammond was injured and the Gators took over the momentum of the game. But then in the fourth quarter, Hammond, returned to the game. After three plays, two of them being pass completions to Ron Sellers, FSU had scored another touchdown and re-established control of the game. The 21-16 victory was FSU's first in Gainesville. At season's end FSU was matched against Penn State in the Gator Bowl. That game ended in a 17-17 tie. Following that, Ron Sellers became FSU's second ever consensus All-American.

In 1968, the Seminoles did well again and went 8-2 during the regular season. The season ended with FSU's third bowl trip in a row and the fourth in five years. This time the Seminoles played the LSU Bengal Tigers in the inaugural Peach Bowl game in Atlanta. At Grant Field, FSU lost to LSU, 27-31.

After the first six games of the 1969 season, FSU was 5-1, and it looked like FSU was on its way to another bowl season. But FSU won only one of its last five games and finished the season at 6-3-1 and no bowl game.

In Peterson's last year at FSU, the team went 7-4. Following the 1970 season, Rice University came calling with lots of money and a number of other incentives that amounted to too much for Peterson to turn down. He moved on to that institution where he stayed for a short while as their head coach before becoming the head coach of the professional Houston Oilers football team. After the Oilers, he later served as the athletic director at the University of Central Florida. After his retirement, he spent the last years of his life back in Tallahassee working at FSU in an administrative and fund raising capacity. He died in 2002.