Gator Bowl Memories: Victory Over Tulsa in 1953 Gave UF First Bowl Victory in School History
Sunday, December 25, 2011 | Football
By Chris Harry
GatorZone.com Contributing Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- For the countless University of Florida football fans who began the season with sky-high expectations and perhaps even dared dream of a BCS berth for Will Muschamp's inaugural squad, a trip to Jacksonville and date in the Gator Bowl may not seem like much of a consolation prize.
But to better appreciate the present, it helps to revisit the past. The Gator Bowl, from its name, its proximity and its 65 years of tradition, is a landmark that dots Florida football throughout more than a century of existence.
When UF (6-6) clashes with Ohio State (6-6) on Jan. 2 at EverBank Field, it not only will mark the program's ninth appearance in the Gator Bowl -- the most of any UF bowl destination -- but also will return the Gators to the game that gave success-starved UF fans their first taste of postseason play when the Coach Bob Woodruff rebuilt the World War II-torn program, arguably the worst in the Southeastern Conference, capture the first bowl berth in school history.
Over the next eight days, GatorZone.com will revisit Florida's previous eight trips to the Gator Bowl, some of which provided memorable milestone moments in the program's 105-year history.
Make no mistake, that first one was special.
The date was Jan. 1, 1953.
The opponent was Tulsa.
The atmosphere was one of excitement for an orange-and-blue fan base that had never rang in a new year with its beloved Gators still playing.
“You're darn right it was a big deal,” said Gators assistant athletics director and historian Norm Carlson, who was a UF student at the time. “It showed that Florida football can amount to something. It helped recruiting and Florida's image and really was a stepping stone to everything.”
The journey to get there from literally the bottom of the heap.
Florida football was mostly a wasteland during the 1940s, fielding teams mostly of 4-F deferred students deemed unfit for military duty. Think Steve Rodgers before the “Captain America” injections.
From the start of WW II in '41 to the end of the decade, the Gators went 5-33-1 against the Southeastern Conference, including a 75-0 loss to a Georgia team in '42 that was loaded with top-shelf military personnel in training. UF did not even field a team for the '44 season and went 0-9 in '46.
In 1950, UF hired Bob Woodruff as the 13th coach in school history. Woodruff, by way of Baylor, inherited a mess of a program sorely in need of organization. Woodruff founded Gator Boosters and immediately began raising money, raising awareness and raising the talent level of Florida football.
With his emphasis on defense and the kicking game, Woodruff went 5-5 in both '50 and '60, losing tight close games to Georgia along the way, then guided the Gators to a 7-3 record in '52 -- highlighted by a 30-0 trouncing of the hated Bulldogs -- and was rewarded with the first bowl invitation in UF's 46-year history.
At the time, there weren't 70 college football teams playing in 35 postseason bowls with names like Insight.com, Little Caesar's or Meinekie Car Care. There were just seven bowls -- the Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange, Sun, Citrus and Gator -- and Florida was in one.
Consider this the first of eight history lessons.
To the time capsule we go.
THE DATE: Jan. 1, 1953
IN THE HEADLINES
* Heavy allied artillery barrages roared a thunderous welcome to the new year at midnight along the snowy Korean front and communist big guns replied, as United Nation's troops crouched in virtually the same snow-covered bunkers they occupied a year ago in what became a 1952 bloody battle to nowhere.
- In Washington, Secretary of State Dean Acheson bitterly denied his State Department aids were lax in screening disloyal Americans in the United Nations, as mounting fear of communism continues to rise.
- President Truman declared the prospect for world peace is better than 18 months ago, telling a news conference that his optimism embraces the Cold War fronts all around the world, despite being unable to appear behind the Iron Curtain.
- Queen Elizabeth II was named Time's “Woman of the Year,” just the third female to be honored in the magazine's 27 years of pegging the world's top annual newsmaker.
IN THE THEATERS
“African Queen” -- starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn
“April in Paris” starring Ray Bolger and Doris Day
“The Stooge” starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
ON THE TUBE
“I Love Lucy”
“The Ernie Kovacs Show”
“American Bandstand”
ON THE AIRWAVES
(Billboard's Top 3 songs of 1952)
1. “Blue Tango” by Leroy Anderson
2. "Wheel of Fortune" by Kay Starr
3. "Cry" by Johnnie Ray & the Four Lads
FOR SALE
3-bedroom, 2-bath home (avg. cost): $9,050
New Cadillac Coup DeVille: $4,850
Average cost of 3-bedroom home: $9,050
Gallon of gasoline: 20 cents
Pound of hamburger: 53 cents
THE GATOR BOWL SET-UP
The Ninth Gator Bowl pitted the No. 15 Gators (7-3) against the No. 12 Tulsa Hurricanes (8-2), who came to Florida as an 8-point underdog despite questions at the quarterback position, where converted safety Doug Dickey was questionable with a pulled leg muscle.
Florida, with its first winning season in 18 years, leaned on the power running game and triple-threat of big fullback Rick Casares and a defense keyed by All-America tackle Charlie LaPradd. The Hurricanes boasted one of the nation's best rushing attacks and outweighed the Gators by 15 pounds at virtually every position on both lines.
THE GAME
Florida rushed for 233 yards, but it was the foot of Casares, the burly and brutish fullback from Tampa, that made the difference in a 14-13 victory that gave the Gators their first bowl win in school history.
Casares scored on a 2-yard run in the first quarter and also converted a pair of extra points, while Tulsa end Tom Miner, who came into the game have made 41 of 45 extra points, missed a PAT in the fourth quarter and short field goal that would have given the Hurricanes the lead with two minutes to play.
Borrowing a play made famous by Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd, the Gators surprised the Hurricanes by going with the “belly” option that helped J. “Papa” Hall run 17 times for 94 yards and Casares 21 times for 86 yards.
After the Gators took a 13-0 lead on a 37-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Fred Robinson to Hall in the second quarter, Casares actually missed his second extra point, but a Tulsa defender was called for holding and Casares' second kick was good and turned out to be the slim winning margin.
Hall was voted the game's Most Valuable Player.
IN THEIR WORDS
Florida's first bowl game was succes for the Gators, but only by the skin of their teeth. The Gators have come a long way since Bob Woodruff took over in 1950. When the '52 season began without Haywood Sullivan at quarterback, Woodruff had to move big Rick Casares to fullback and use hyperextended men at the signal-calling job. Doug Dickey held down the job with assistance from Fred Robinson and the Gators had their best record since 1929. ... Both Dickey and Robinson handled the job well today. The victory was a tribute to fine team cooperation and the help of numerous penalties to Tulsa.
--The Tampa Morning Tribune
“I'm so very proud of my boys.”
-- Gators coach Bob Woodruff
“It really did surprise us. We were not expecting him to work wide and it worked wide with great effect.”
-- Tulsa coach J.O. “Buddy” Brothers on Florida's “belly” play.
“I don't know. I just missed it.”
--Tulsa kicker Tom Miner
