Steve Spurrier keeps a special game ball from the 1990 season in his office. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
His Champs: Spurrier Set to Honor 1990, '91 Gators for Impact on Program
Friday, November 11, 2016 | Football, Scott Carter
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The teams will be recognized on Saturday between the first and second quarters.
By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Steve Spurrier has spent much of the week in his office at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium flipping through old media guides and game programs to check facts from his first season at UF.
He keeps a constant reminder of that team on a shelf, the game ball from Florida's 47-15 victory at Kentucky on Nov. 17, 1990.
A game that ended with Spurrier and former UF President John Lombardi standing on the field watching the Gators celebrate and Florida fans who made the trip to Lexington chant "SEC, SEC, SEC."
Twenty-six years later, the 1990 Gators remain close to the head ball coach's heart. So do the 1991 Gators, who stood on the foundation the '90 team built to officially claim the University of Florida football program's first Southeastern Conference championship. Gators tight end Kirk Kirkpatrick was a senior on the 1990 team. (File photo)
In his short time as ambassador for Florida athletics, one of Spurrier's top priorities has been to hold a public celebration for the '90 and '91 teams. Those teams will be honored between the first and second quarter on Saturday during Florida's game against South Carolina.
"They started championship SEC ball here at Florida. I've looked forward to the reunion of the 1990 team for 26 years now,'' Spurrier said. "I don't know how many Gators out there even realize the 1990 team won it first."
The 1990 Florida team finished 6-1 atop what was then a 10-team SEC. Tennessee finished second at 5-1-1. However, due to ruling handed down by the NCAA two months earlier, the Gators were ineligible to play in a bowl game during Spurrier's first season, and according to an SEC rule, if a team is banned from a bowl game, it is therefore ineligible to compete for the conference title.
Spurrier or none of the players were part of the NCAA's decision. The ruling stemmed from an alleged child-support payment of $360 arranged by former UF coach Galen Hall for defensive back Jarvis Williams four years earlier.
In the wake of Florida's troubles with the NCAA in the early-to-mid 1980s when the football and men's basketball programs faced major sanctions for violations under Charley Pell and Norm Sloan, the NCAA came down harder than expected in 1990.
"The primary issue we faced was whether to let them continue to play football,'' NCAA Executive Director of Enforcement David Berst said at the time.
The '90 Gators had other ideas since the ruling didn't involve them and was out of their control.
"I don't know who's on the NCAA infractions committee, but I can guarantee you this – they've never suited up a day in their life,'' Gators senior tight end Kirk Kirkpatrick told The Tampa Tribune in 1990. "They have no idea how we feel."
The ruling came the week after Florida won at Alabama to open conference play.
"They were devastated. They wanted to be the first in school history to win the SEC,'' Spurrier said this week. "They got together and said let's go win the dadgum thing anyway. Let's win it and maybe make it easier for next year's team to win it. Which is exactly what happened."
The 1991 team went 7-0 in the SEC to finish a game ahead of the Crimson Tide – who Florida defeated 35-0 that season – and claim the first conference championship in school history recognized by the SEC.
Spurrier has always recognized it and gathered with members of the '90 and '91 teams on Friday for a trip down memory lane.
"I really believe the '90 team made it much easier for the '91 team," Spurrier said. "The '91 season, we're progressing, we're 3-0, 4-0, 5-0, and at this time all the writers in Atlanta and Birmingham and Mississippi and Baton Rouge, they all said, 'watch the Gators choke like they always do when they're about to win their first ever SEC.'
"When they asked me and the players, all we said was this: 'All we're trying to do is what last year's team did. They won it last year, they just didn't get credit.' No pressure on us. And away we went. Once you knock a barrier down, it's obviously a lot easier to keep going."
To Spurrier, who thanked current Gators coach Jim McElwain and University Athletic Association officials for their support, another barrier will be knocked down Saturday when the '90 Gators are publicly recognized along with the '91 team.
For seniors in 1990 such as Kirkpatrick, Ernie Mills, Terence Barber, Richard Fain, Jerry Odom, the late Godfrey Myles, Huey Richardson and others, their head ball coach never forgot what they did.
He wants to share their place in history with others Saturday.
"We'll honor both of them. One can't be called champs, the other can. We'll live with that,'' Spurrier said. "But I want the Gator fans to know what those guys did. They were probably the most mistreated, unfairly punished team in SEC history.
"Hopefully the Gators will give those guys a wonderful ovation."
