Veteran sports writer Buddy Martin, left, co-authored Steve Spurrier's memoir titled "Head Ball Coach," set for release on Tuesday. (Photo: Provided by Buddy Martin)
Head Ball Coach: Spurrier Book Hits Shelves on Tuesday
Saturday, August 27, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
Gators icon has a book signing at UF Bookstore prior to season opener.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – To the best of their recollections, they first met in 1963 at the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. Steve Spurrier an aspiring college quarterback unable to play in Florida's 21-14 victory that day due to freshman eligibility rules, and Buddy Martin an aspiring young sports journalist.
You never know what the mind will save as a lasting memory.
"He came to the game in street clothes,'' Martin said. "Good-looking young guy. Nicely dressed. He had a black umbrella. I don't know why that stuck with me. He was just hanging out."
By 1966 Spurrier was the Heisman Trophy winner and Martin was on hand to write all about it. The genesis of the Spurrier-Martin relationship may have pedestrian roots, but 53 years later, their professional bond reaches a milestone with the release of "Head Ball Coach: My Life in Football, Doing It Differently – and Winning."
The book is Spurrier's memoir and one of Martin's most treasured assignments.
"I'm the small-type guy on the front. I'm the caddie,'' Martin said. "I felt really privileged when he asked me to do it. I always wanted to do this book and I'm glad I didn't do it before. This is the perfect time to do it. Who knew what was ahead? When we signed up to do the book, I had no idea he was leaving South Carolina."
When Spurrier returned to UF in 1990 to become Florida's head ball coach, the Gators instantly took off, winning four consecutive Southeastern Conference championships from 1993-96. They won the program's first national title in 1996 as Spurrier became the first (and still only) Heisman Trophy winner to win a national title at his alma mater as a head coach and coach a Heisman Trophy winner (quarterback Danny Wuerffel in '96).
Martin first approached Spurrier about writing a book about his life and career in the early 1990s, but Spurrier passed at the time. His outlook changed a couple of years ago when he called Martin, who hosts a radio show on station WOCA-FM in Ocala, off-air one day.
"Remember that book we were going to write?" Spurrier asked. "You want to do it?"
Martin quickly agreed and "we went from there."
Two years of research, interviews and lots of time with Spurrier culminates on Tuesday when "Head Ball Coach" hits book shelves around the country. Publicity for the book includes this Q&A with Spurrier from The New York Times and these excerpts posted by ESPN.com.
Fittingly, Spurrier is wearing a visor on the book's cover. And he addresses many of the quotes throughout his career that made him a media favorite and legend in the eyes of Gator Nation.
A sample excerpt from the ESPN.com article:
Other times in the off-season when I spoke to alumni groups and told jokes, they were meant to stir up a little fun, or in some cases use humor to point out a discrepancy or a serious issue. Such as the shoe scandal in Tallahassee during Florida State's national championship season in 1993 when agents were found to have bought more than $6,000 worth of shoes for Seminoles players.
At a Gator Club meeting the next year, I said: "You know what FSU stands for, don't you? Free Shoes University." That one stuck.
A lot of times us coaches would use humorous stuff to fire up our fan bases in the off-season. I just enjoyed commenting and joking about our opponents. And they told jokes on us and it never bothered me. Including Bobby Bowden! You'll never see me upset when somebody says something about us.
So just like my visor, my quotes were very much a part of who I am and how I coached.
Spurrier's surprising decision to step down as South Carolina's head coach in the middle of last season is also discussed in-depth in the book.
Martin said fans will be especially interested in learning more details from the final chapter of Spurrier's coaching career.
"I think people are wondering why did he leave South Carolina,'' Martin said. "People have their own versions. He also goes in depth to explain some things – and it's nothing bad on South Carolina – it was something very personal to him. When you read that you'll have a better sense of his decision and why he made it in the middle of the season."
Spurrier returned to Florida for the second time last month when he accepted a position as Ambassador to Florida Athletics. Spurrier appeared on the first "Gator Talk" radio show of the 2016 season on Thursday night with Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley.
They spent much of the hour discussing their careers with the Gators. Spurrier did drop in a reference to why he wanted to write a book at this time in his life.
"If you don't write your book, then somebody else will,'' Spurrier said a friend once told him.
Martin is amazed at how the timing of the book's release has worked out. Not only is Spurrier back at UF, Steve Spurrier-Florida Field is set to be unveiled on Saturday at Florida's season opener against UMass.
Spurrier has a book signing on Friday night in Ocala and on Saturday at the UF Bookstore prior to the game.
"That's quite a week,'' Martin said. "It really has been like something bigger than us is orchestrating it. We couldn't have planned this. There's a lot of interest in it."
Martin is appreciative Spurrier picked him to tell his story his way.
"He put a lot of effort into it and so did I," Martin said. "He's not a guy who said, 'hey, let's do a couple of interviews.' We really worked at it. He wanted to get every word right. I feel like he is an interesting person who has a lot to offer. He is unusual in his approach to things. He's not your average everyday football coach. I love his originality and what he did.
"He had a great capacity for making the game fun for everybody – the players, the media, everybody around him."
Much has been written about Spurrier over the years, and Martin has written much himself.
Still, after two years of working closely with Spurrier, he learned more about the man than he realized. He said readers will, too.
"For a guy who is regarded as kind of cocky and some people say is arrogant, he would rather not have it be about him all the time,'' Martin said. "He really is a humble guy. Everything Spurrier is in this book. This is in his words, his perspective. I think we've pretty much answered the question: Who is Steve Spurrier?"
A look at Spurrier's upcoming media tour to promote "Head Ball Coach" –
*****
ESPN – Tuesday, Aug. 30
8:20 a.m. – SportsCenter
9:05 a.m. – Mike & Mike
10:20 a.m. – SportsCenter (Host TBD)
11:15 a.m. – First Take
11:35 a.m. - Championship Drive podcast recording (broadcast time TBA)
12:00 p.m. - Le Batard & Stugotz Radio Show
12:30 p.m. – SportsCenter
1:30-2:00 p.m. – College Football Live
2:10 p.m. – The Paul Finebaum Show
2:30 p.m. - The Stephen A. Smith Show
TBA – Hannity on FOX (Weeknights at 10 p.m. EST, time TBD)
WEDNESDAY
7:30 a.m. -- The Takeaway podcast on NPR
8:20 - 8:40 a.m. -- FOX & Friends
9:30 a.m. -- Interviews at Sports Illustrated
*****
BOOK SIGNINGS
Barnes & Noble / Ocala, Fla. @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 2
Follett / University of Florida Bookstore @ 2 p.m. – Sept. 3
College Football Hall of Fame / Atlanta, Ga. @ Noon – Sept. 7
Atlanta Journal-Constitution @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 7
Books-a-Million / Columbia, S.C. @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 8
You never know what the mind will save as a lasting memory.
"He came to the game in street clothes,'' Martin said. "Good-looking young guy. Nicely dressed. He had a black umbrella. I don't know why that stuck with me. He was just hanging out."
By 1966 Spurrier was the Heisman Trophy winner and Martin was on hand to write all about it. The genesis of the Spurrier-Martin relationship may have pedestrian roots, but 53 years later, their professional bond reaches a milestone with the release of "Head Ball Coach: My Life in Football, Doing It Differently – and Winning."
The book is Spurrier's memoir and one of Martin's most treasured assignments.
"I'm the small-type guy on the front. I'm the caddie,'' Martin said. "I felt really privileged when he asked me to do it. I always wanted to do this book and I'm glad I didn't do it before. This is the perfect time to do it. Who knew what was ahead? When we signed up to do the book, I had no idea he was leaving South Carolina."
When Spurrier returned to UF in 1990 to become Florida's head ball coach, the Gators instantly took off, winning four consecutive Southeastern Conference championships from 1993-96. They won the program's first national title in 1996 as Spurrier became the first (and still only) Heisman Trophy winner to win a national title at his alma mater as a head coach and coach a Heisman Trophy winner (quarterback Danny Wuerffel in '96).
Martin first approached Spurrier about writing a book about his life and career in the early 1990s, but Spurrier passed at the time. His outlook changed a couple of years ago when he called Martin, who hosts a radio show on station WOCA-FM in Ocala, off-air one day.
"Remember that book we were going to write?" Spurrier asked. "You want to do it?"
Martin quickly agreed and "we went from there."
Two years of research, interviews and lots of time with Spurrier culminates on Tuesday when "Head Ball Coach" hits book shelves around the country. Publicity for the book includes this Q&A with Spurrier from The New York Times and these excerpts posted by ESPN.com.
Fittingly, Spurrier is wearing a visor on the book's cover. And he addresses many of the quotes throughout his career that made him a media favorite and legend in the eyes of Gator Nation.
A sample excerpt from the ESPN.com article:
Other times in the off-season when I spoke to alumni groups and told jokes, they were meant to stir up a little fun, or in some cases use humor to point out a discrepancy or a serious issue. Such as the shoe scandal in Tallahassee during Florida State's national championship season in 1993 when agents were found to have bought more than $6,000 worth of shoes for Seminoles players.
At a Gator Club meeting the next year, I said: "You know what FSU stands for, don't you? Free Shoes University." That one stuck.
A lot of times us coaches would use humorous stuff to fire up our fan bases in the off-season. I just enjoyed commenting and joking about our opponents. And they told jokes on us and it never bothered me. Including Bobby Bowden! You'll never see me upset when somebody says something about us.
So just like my visor, my quotes were very much a part of who I am and how I coached.
Spurrier's surprising decision to step down as South Carolina's head coach in the middle of last season is also discussed in-depth in the book.
Martin said fans will be especially interested in learning more details from the final chapter of Spurrier's coaching career.
"I think people are wondering why did he leave South Carolina,'' Martin said. "People have their own versions. He also goes in depth to explain some things – and it's nothing bad on South Carolina – it was something very personal to him. When you read that you'll have a better sense of his decision and why he made it in the middle of the season."
Spurrier returned to Florida for the second time last month when he accepted a position as Ambassador to Florida Athletics. Spurrier appeared on the first "Gator Talk" radio show of the 2016 season on Thursday night with Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley.
They spent much of the hour discussing their careers with the Gators. Spurrier did drop in a reference to why he wanted to write a book at this time in his life.
"If you don't write your book, then somebody else will,'' Spurrier said a friend once told him.
Martin is amazed at how the timing of the book's release has worked out. Not only is Spurrier back at UF, Steve Spurrier-Florida Field is set to be unveiled on Saturday at Florida's season opener against UMass.
Spurrier has a book signing on Friday night in Ocala and on Saturday at the UF Bookstore prior to the game.
"That's quite a week,'' Martin said. "It really has been like something bigger than us is orchestrating it. We couldn't have planned this. There's a lot of interest in it."
Martin is appreciative Spurrier picked him to tell his story his way.
"He put a lot of effort into it and so did I," Martin said. "He's not a guy who said, 'hey, let's do a couple of interviews.' We really worked at it. He wanted to get every word right. I feel like he is an interesting person who has a lot to offer. He is unusual in his approach to things. He's not your average everyday football coach. I love his originality and what he did.
"He had a great capacity for making the game fun for everybody – the players, the media, everybody around him."
Much has been written about Spurrier over the years, and Martin has written much himself.
Still, after two years of working closely with Spurrier, he learned more about the man than he realized. He said readers will, too.
"For a guy who is regarded as kind of cocky and some people say is arrogant, he would rather not have it be about him all the time,'' Martin said. "He really is a humble guy. Everything Spurrier is in this book. This is in his words, his perspective. I think we've pretty much answered the question: Who is Steve Spurrier?"
A look at Spurrier's upcoming media tour to promote "Head Ball Coach" –
*****
ESPN – Tuesday, Aug. 30
8:20 a.m. – SportsCenter
9:05 a.m. – Mike & Mike
10:20 a.m. – SportsCenter (Host TBD)
11:15 a.m. – First Take
11:35 a.m. - Championship Drive podcast recording (broadcast time TBA)
12:00 p.m. - Le Batard & Stugotz Radio Show
12:30 p.m. – SportsCenter
1:30-2:00 p.m. – College Football Live
2:10 p.m. – The Paul Finebaum Show
2:30 p.m. - The Stephen A. Smith Show
TBA – Hannity on FOX (Weeknights at 10 p.m. EST, time TBD)
WEDNESDAY
7:30 a.m. -- The Takeaway podcast on NPR
8:20 - 8:40 a.m. -- FOX & Friends
9:30 a.m. -- Interviews at Sports Illustrated
*****
BOOK SIGNINGS
Barnes & Noble / Ocala, Fla. @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 2
Follett / University of Florida Bookstore @ 2 p.m. – Sept. 3
College Football Hall of Fame / Atlanta, Ga. @ Noon – Sept. 7
Atlanta Journal-Constitution @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 7
Books-a-Million / Columbia, S.C. @ 6 p.m. – Sept. 8
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