The Gators face USF on Saturday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida's first regular-season game in the city since 1989. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Tampa Ties: A Different Kind of Trip This Time for Gators
Tuesday, September 7, 2021 | Football
TAMPA — When the Florida Gators travel Saturday afternoon to Raymond James Stadium for a football matchup against the USF Bulls, it's a visit to the Tampa Bay area, which has historically been a Gators hotbed. It might seem like a rare opportunity.
Historically, though, it's not that unusual.
It's UF's 45th all-time game in Tampa, including five Outback Bowl appearances, but the Gators' first regular-season contest here since 1989. The Gators have played at Plant Field, Phillips Field, Tampa Stadium and the city's current venue (Ray-Jay, as it's affectionately known).
Here are some Gators-in-Tampa highlights:
Cuba Bound (1912)
It's not officially noted in history, but UF's first postseason/bowl game actually occurred in 1912, when the Gators traveled to Cuba and faced Vedado Athletic Club on Christmas Day (UF won 27-0). Before then, though, the Gators stopped in Tampa for a Dec. 20 game against the hastily assembled Tampa Athletic Club (which included Plant High senior Rex Farrior, a future UF football captain).
The Gators stayed at the old Tampa Bay Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders camped during the Spanish-American War. That building is now part of the University of Tampa's campus.
UF's arrival was a big deal and received coverage from the Tampa Morning Tribune. "The University of Florida football eleven, under the protecting wing of G.E. Pyle, who in turn is under the protecting wing of Mrs. G.E. Pyle, arrived in the city late last night,'' the report said.
Before 250 people, the Gators won 44-0.
The Tribune headline: "Alligators Romp On Local Foot Ballers In Uninteresting Game.''
UF's Dummy Taylor was the "shining star'' who "gave a sample of his hair-raising sprints'' when he "squirmed and dodged his way through the entire local eleven for a 60-yard touchdown.''
Florida-Georgia (1919)
It's true. There was a Florida-Georgia football game played in Tampa. Georgia prevailed 16-0, but that couldn't stop the local enthusiasm.
Georgia's team was given a tour of Tampa's cigar factories. The UF band led a parade through downtown as the Gators players followed. Despite the game's outcome, UF athletic officials were so delighted that they agreed to hold an annual game in Tampa. The Bulldogs enjoyed their stay, too.
"I find I am about to fall in love with Tampa,'' the UGA athletic director, Professor [Steadman Vincent] Sanford, told the Tribune.
The Florida-Georgia game was played at Plant Field, also the site for baseball spring training. Six months earlier, during an exhibition between the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants, Babe Ruth hit what was believed to be the longest home run of his career (587 feet). The site of that clout is commemorated by a plaque outside UT's business school, close to where the old home plate was located.
Packed House (1949)
Through the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression and the World War II era, the Gators played numerous SEC teams in Tampa (including Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi State). In 1949, at Tampa's Phillips Field, the Gators faced the No. 14-ranked Kentucky Wildcats and a 36-year-old head coach named Paul "Bear'' Bryant.
It became a fiasco.
Ticket demand was immense. The Tribune declared it "an absolute sellout,'' only the third time at that point in UF football history for all the tickets to be gone (including a 1948 win against Auburn in Tampa and a 1949 homecoming game against Georgia Tech).
Attendance was announced at 20,000, but there were a few thousand counterfeit tickets circulating. Fans lined the sidelines and some actually spilled onto the field. The Tribune reported that UF manager Dick Stratton, tending to an injury near the sidelines, came on the field to tackle a Kentucky ball-carrier.
Bryant was angered by the crazy atmosphere and growled that he wished the final margin was greater than 35-0. The next season, Bryant's Wildcats went 11-1 and beat Bud Wilkinson's top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. A few non-official polls declared UK as national champions.
Meanwhile, the Gators, after playing games in Tampa during 25 of the previous 34 seasons, decided to cool it after the frantic experience. UF officials called for Tampa to build a bigger stadium, similar to Jacksonville's Gator Bowl or Miami's Orange Bowl, in order to hold future Gators games (10,000 additional fans were said to have wanted to attend the UF-UK game, but tickets were long gone).
THE TAMPA GATORS
Here are the University of Florida's all-time players from a Tampa high school who received All-SEC Freshman, All-SEC or All-American honors:
Disappearing Act (1968)
The original Tampa Stadium was constructed in 1967 (46,000 seats and two free-standing sides with palm trees in the breezy end zones). It became home to the UT Spartans football team, some annual NFL summertime exhibition games (as Tampa worked to attract an expansion franchise that became the Buccaneers) and occasional high-school games.
But to make the stadium more relevant, the Tampa Sports Authority teamed with UF to stage an annual Gators game, which was held from 1968-76 (except for 1975, when the stadium was expanded to 72,000 seats, taking on a shape that would prompt a nickname, the "Big Sombrero'').
The Gators played Tulane, Kentucky, Duke, SMU, Southern Miss, Maryland and North Carolina during that Tampa swing. But nothing was quite as electrifying as the kickoff game, UF vs. Air Force in 1968.
It was the biggest football event to date in Tampa. Attendance was 52,626. The Gators, ranked No. 6 nationally, prevailed 23-20 in a very nervous affair that had more anxiety for fans because the stadium's scoreboard and clock were not working.
The Air Force team, which got a pep rally at MacDill Air Force Base and was cheered on by four-star general J.P. McConnell, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, broke out with a 98-yard touchdown return from Curtis Martin on the game's opening kickoff. The Falcons led 20-16, but Gators defensive back Steve Tannen recovered a fumble at the Air Force 23-yard line with 6:45 remaining, leading to a game-winning 3-yard run by Larry Smith, Tampa's favorite son.
At halftime, Air Force's fabled falcon mascot performed … and promptly disappeared. The falcon flew high in the air, took a lap around the stadium. Instead of returning to the trainer, it kept going to parts unknown (it was found a few hours later and returned to the academy).
Sunshine Showcase
There were three Tampa-based Gators games in the 1980s, including a 41-13 win against California in 1980 (Charley Pell's first UF victory after an 0-10-1 debut season) and a 21-0 triumph against Mississippi State in 1989 (when the TSA guaranteed the Bulldogs $500,000 to move their home game from Starkville, an easily achieved payday when the contest attracted 68,189 fans).
But the biggest spectacle occurred on Sept. 1, 1984, when the Gators tangled with the Miami Hurricanes, the defending national champions, before a packed house of 72,813 and a prime-time audience on ESPN.
The game was held in Tampa as a compromise when UF and UM could not agree on how to extend their contract. Tampa's neutral site allowed a Gators-Hurricanes game in 1984 — and it did not disappoint.
It was Miami 32, Florida 20 in a deceptive-sounding score. This was an all-out thriller. With Pell still coaching the team after giving his resignation the weekend before, the Gators rallied and took a 20-19 lead with 41 seconds to play on a 5-yard pass from freshman quarterback Kerwin Bell to Frankie Neal.
But the Hurricanes needed just five plays to navigate 72 yards, surging back ahead 26-20 on Bernie Kosar's 12-yard pass to Eddie Brown with 12 seconds remaining. On the game's final play, UM's Tolbert Bain intercepted Bell's desperation pass and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown, padding the final margin.
The game featured 55 players who were drafted into the NFL, including 15 first-round picks — seven for the Gators (Neal Anderson, Lomas Brown, Clifford Charlton, Lorenzo Hampton, Ricky Nattiel, David Williams and John L. Williams) and eight for the Hurricanes (Bennie Blades, Eddie Brown, Jerome Brown, Bill Hawkins, Alonzo Highsmith, Michael Irvin, Kosar and Vinny Testaverde).
Urban's Farewell (2011)
The Gators have appeared five times in Tampa's Outback Bowl, which matches the SEC against the Big Ten, including three games against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
But the most memorable matchup occurred on Jan. 1, 2011, when Urban Meyer (age 46) coached his final Gators game. Penn State's Joe Paterno (age 84) was on the opposing sideline.
After six seasons and two national championships, Meyer hung it up with the Gators (although his renaissance continued with seven more seasons — and another national title — at Ohio State — and now this year's NFL debut with the Jacksonville Jaguars).
Meyer's Gators prevailed 37-24 in a game where the Nittany Lions were driving late and threatening to surge ahead, but UF defensive back Ahmad Black sealed it with an 80-yard interception return for an Outback Bowl-sealing touchdown.
"I'm at full peace because I saw smiles in that locker room,'' Meyer said. "There was a lot of fun in there. A lot of fun.''
Now UF is back to face USF in Tampa, a place of longtime Gator memories and generations of fun.
Historically, though, it's not that unusual.
It's UF's 45th all-time game in Tampa, including five Outback Bowl appearances, but the Gators' first regular-season contest here since 1989. The Gators have played at Plant Field, Phillips Field, Tampa Stadium and the city's current venue (Ray-Jay, as it's affectionately known).
Here are some Gators-in-Tampa highlights:
Cuba Bound (1912)
It's not officially noted in history, but UF's first postseason/bowl game actually occurred in 1912, when the Gators traveled to Cuba and faced Vedado Athletic Club on Christmas Day (UF won 27-0). Before then, though, the Gators stopped in Tampa for a Dec. 20 game against the hastily assembled Tampa Athletic Club (which included Plant High senior Rex Farrior, a future UF football captain).
The Gators stayed at the old Tampa Bay Hotel, where Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders camped during the Spanish-American War. That building is now part of the University of Tampa's campus.
UF's arrival was a big deal and received coverage from the Tampa Morning Tribune. "The University of Florida football eleven, under the protecting wing of G.E. Pyle, who in turn is under the protecting wing of Mrs. G.E. Pyle, arrived in the city late last night,'' the report said.
Before 250 people, the Gators won 44-0.
The Tribune headline: "Alligators Romp On Local Foot Ballers In Uninteresting Game.''
UF's Dummy Taylor was the "shining star'' who "gave a sample of his hair-raising sprints'' when he "squirmed and dodged his way through the entire local eleven for a 60-yard touchdown.''
Florida-Georgia (1919)
It's true. There was a Florida-Georgia football game played in Tampa. Georgia prevailed 16-0, but that couldn't stop the local enthusiasm.
Georgia's team was given a tour of Tampa's cigar factories. The UF band led a parade through downtown as the Gators players followed. Despite the game's outcome, UF athletic officials were so delighted that they agreed to hold an annual game in Tampa. The Bulldogs enjoyed their stay, too.
"I find I am about to fall in love with Tampa,'' the UGA athletic director, Professor [Steadman Vincent] Sanford, told the Tribune.
The Florida-Georgia game was played at Plant Field, also the site for baseball spring training. Six months earlier, during an exhibition between the Boston Red Sox and New York Giants, Babe Ruth hit what was believed to be the longest home run of his career (587 feet). The site of that clout is commemorated by a plaque outside UT's business school, close to where the old home plate was located.
Packed House (1949)
Through the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression and the World War II era, the Gators played numerous SEC teams in Tampa (including Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi State). In 1949, at Tampa's Phillips Field, the Gators faced the No. 14-ranked Kentucky Wildcats and a 36-year-old head coach named Paul "Bear'' Bryant.
It became a fiasco.
Ticket demand was immense. The Tribune declared it "an absolute sellout,'' only the third time at that point in UF football history for all the tickets to be gone (including a 1948 win against Auburn in Tampa and a 1949 homecoming game against Georgia Tech).
Attendance was announced at 20,000, but there were a few thousand counterfeit tickets circulating. Fans lined the sidelines and some actually spilled onto the field. The Tribune reported that UF manager Dick Stratton, tending to an injury near the sidelines, came on the field to tackle a Kentucky ball-carrier.
Bryant was angered by the crazy atmosphere and growled that he wished the final margin was greater than 35-0. The next season, Bryant's Wildcats went 11-1 and beat Bud Wilkinson's top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. A few non-official polls declared UK as national champions.
Meanwhile, the Gators, after playing games in Tampa during 25 of the previous 34 seasons, decided to cool it after the frantic experience. UF officials called for Tampa to build a bigger stadium, similar to Jacksonville's Gator Bowl or Miami's Orange Bowl, in order to hold future Gators games (10,000 additional fans were said to have wanted to attend the UF-UK game, but tickets were long gone).
THE TAMPA GATORS
Here are the University of Florida's all-time players from a Tampa high school who received All-SEC Freshman, All-SEC or All-American honors:
| PLAYER | POS. | SCHOOL | UF SEASONS |
| Andre Caldwell | WR | Jefferson High | 2003-07 |
| Reche Caldwell | WR | Jefferson High | 1999-01 |
| Rick Casares | RB | Jefferson High | 1951-53 |
| Arden Czyzewski | K | King High | 1989-91 |
| Malik Davis | RB | Jesuit High | 2017-21 |
| David Galloway | DL | Brandon High | 1977-81 |
| Chaz Green | OL | Tampa Catholic | 2010-14 |
| Vernon Hargreaves III | CB | Wharton High | 2013-15 |
| Darrell Jackson | WR | Tampa Catholic | 1997-99 |
| Kirk Kirkpatrick | TE | Brandon High | 1987-90 |
| Jimmy Kynes | OL/LB | Plant High | 1946-49 |
| Lynn Matthews | DL | Chamberlain High | 1963-65 |
| Lee McGriff | WR | Plant High | 1972-74 |
| Mike Pearson | OL | Armwood High | 1999-01 |
| John Reaves | QB | Robinson High | 1969-71 |
| Larry Smith | RB | Robinson High | 1966-68 |
| Shannon Snell | OL | Hillsborough | 2000-03 |
Disappearing Act (1968)
The original Tampa Stadium was constructed in 1967 (46,000 seats and two free-standing sides with palm trees in the breezy end zones). It became home to the UT Spartans football team, some annual NFL summertime exhibition games (as Tampa worked to attract an expansion franchise that became the Buccaneers) and occasional high-school games.
But to make the stadium more relevant, the Tampa Sports Authority teamed with UF to stage an annual Gators game, which was held from 1968-76 (except for 1975, when the stadium was expanded to 72,000 seats, taking on a shape that would prompt a nickname, the "Big Sombrero'').
The Gators played Tulane, Kentucky, Duke, SMU, Southern Miss, Maryland and North Carolina during that Tampa swing. But nothing was quite as electrifying as the kickoff game, UF vs. Air Force in 1968.
It was the biggest football event to date in Tampa. Attendance was 52,626. The Gators, ranked No. 6 nationally, prevailed 23-20 in a very nervous affair that had more anxiety for fans because the stadium's scoreboard and clock were not working.
At halftime, Air Force's fabled falcon mascot performed … and promptly disappeared. The falcon flew high in the air, took a lap around the stadium. Instead of returning to the trainer, it kept going to parts unknown (it was found a few hours later and returned to the academy).
Sunshine Showcase
There were three Tampa-based Gators games in the 1980s, including a 41-13 win against California in 1980 (Charley Pell's first UF victory after an 0-10-1 debut season) and a 21-0 triumph against Mississippi State in 1989 (when the TSA guaranteed the Bulldogs $500,000 to move their home game from Starkville, an easily achieved payday when the contest attracted 68,189 fans).
But the biggest spectacle occurred on Sept. 1, 1984, when the Gators tangled with the Miami Hurricanes, the defending national champions, before a packed house of 72,813 and a prime-time audience on ESPN.
The game was held in Tampa as a compromise when UF and UM could not agree on how to extend their contract. Tampa's neutral site allowed a Gators-Hurricanes game in 1984 — and it did not disappoint.
It was Miami 32, Florida 20 in a deceptive-sounding score. This was an all-out thriller. With Pell still coaching the team after giving his resignation the weekend before, the Gators rallied and took a 20-19 lead with 41 seconds to play on a 5-yard pass from freshman quarterback Kerwin Bell to Frankie Neal.
But the Hurricanes needed just five plays to navigate 72 yards, surging back ahead 26-20 on Bernie Kosar's 12-yard pass to Eddie Brown with 12 seconds remaining. On the game's final play, UM's Tolbert Bain intercepted Bell's desperation pass and returned it 59 yards for a touchdown, padding the final margin.
The game featured 55 players who were drafted into the NFL, including 15 first-round picks — seven for the Gators (Neal Anderson, Lomas Brown, Clifford Charlton, Lorenzo Hampton, Ricky Nattiel, David Williams and John L. Williams) and eight for the Hurricanes (Bennie Blades, Eddie Brown, Jerome Brown, Bill Hawkins, Alonzo Highsmith, Michael Irvin, Kosar and Vinny Testaverde).
Urban's Farewell (2011)
The Gators have appeared five times in Tampa's Outback Bowl, which matches the SEC against the Big Ten, including three games against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
But the most memorable matchup occurred on Jan. 1, 2011, when Urban Meyer (age 46) coached his final Gators game. Penn State's Joe Paterno (age 84) was on the opposing sideline.
After six seasons and two national championships, Meyer hung it up with the Gators (although his renaissance continued with seven more seasons — and another national title — at Ohio State — and now this year's NFL debut with the Jacksonville Jaguars).
Meyer's Gators prevailed 37-24 in a game where the Nittany Lions were driving late and threatening to surge ahead, but UF defensive back Ahmad Black sealed it with an 80-yard interception return for an Outback Bowl-sealing touchdown.
"I'm at full peace because I saw smiles in that locker room,'' Meyer said. "There was a lot of fun in there. A lot of fun.''
Now UF is back to face USF in Tampa, a place of longtime Gator memories and generations of fun.
Players Mentioned
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