More than 325 Gator games later, Houts ready to put away video camera and see what's next
Sunday, January 4, 2015 | Football, Scott Carter
Longtime Gators football videographer Dave Houts shoots his final practice. (Photo: Tim Casey)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- He arrived at Legion Field early Saturday morning to prepare for another day's work. Except this time, it was his final day.
The old stadium, a Southern landmark where Bear Bryant, Shug Jordan and other titans of the sideline once roamed, was quiet and empty.
Florida's game against East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl was still a few hours away, but Dave Houts, longtime director of video services for the University Athletic Association, began to set up shop high above the field, dressed in his orange-and-blue Gators gear to protect him from the elements and armed with his video camera.
Coincidentally, the last time Florida played a bowl game in Birmingham -- in fact, the only time prior to Saturday -- was the last time Houts wasn't shooting video of a Florida football game for the coaching staff to review and use a coaching tool.
That was the 1988 All-American Bowl when Florida defeated Illinois. Houts joined the UAA full-time at the start of the 1989 season and on Saturday, shot video at his 328th consecutive game.
Over that span Houts has worked for head coaches Galen Hall, Gary Darnell, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook, Charlie Strong, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp, and for his final game, Florida interim head coach D.J. Durkin.
While the Florida football program is in a transition period with new head coach Jim McElwain set to take over day-to-day operations this week, there are many comings and goings.
For the 69-year-old Houts, the decision to leave his post came long before any coaching change.
"I'm ready to start the next part of my life,'' Houts said prior to Florida's 28-20 win Saturday. "This really isn't my last game because every time the Gators play, I will be there one way or another in spirit. I'll always be playing with them. I've had memories of a lifetime."
He certainly has.
Since his first game as a full-time member of the UAA -- a 24-19 home loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 9, 1989 -- Houts has watched and recorded the best moments in the program's long history, including three national championships.
The technology and methods have changed over the years, but not Houts' passion for the Gators.
"I love what I do and have met so many great people and experienced so many good times,'' he said. "It's been a thrill."
While working with the football program was his most visible role, Houts has also served as longtime videographer for the baseball team and works directly with video coordinators for all of UF's athletic programs.
Houts isn't going away permanently. His retirement doesn't go into full effect until May. A native of Pontiac, Mich., Houts and wife Beth will then pack and spend much of their future together in a summer home in Kalamazoo, Mich.
They plan to return to Gainesville for the winters, a place they have called home since the late 1970s when Houts first started helping out around the football program on a freelance basis.
Houts is looking forward to what the next phase of life has to offer.
"The thing I'm going to try and do is slow down the aging process," Houts said. "If I can do that, then I will be successful. Read some great books, get my golf game and fishing improved a little bit, and spend time with my family."
After all those football games over all these years, Houts has earned it.
