We need you, Mr. Two Bits

[78]

Florida fans have always been a tough sell. Take 1949, for example. After the Gators went all Butters and dropped five of their final six games the previous season, the fans had become a bit, shall we say, put off. They mercilessly booed the team for the home opener against the Citadel. Morale was at a low point

Enter George Edmondson, a retired WWII Navy fighter pilot who worked in the insurance biz in Tampa. From the stands, he led the fans in a highly demonstrative and energetic cheer by adding up bits, or eighths, of a dollar while wildly waving his arms to lead the fans along.

The Gators won the game and so began a tradition that has lasted till this day.

Mr. Two Bits.

George Edmondson is 96 now, too frail to attend the games but still every bit as much a diehard Gator. He and his wife, Jane, watch the games on TV. They sponsor the Mr. Two Bits Scholarship Fund that benefits UF cheerleading. He was inducted into the UF Athletic Hall of Fame as an honorary letter earner in 1992 and was named an honorary alumnus in 2005.

Edmondson is the very essence of why it's great to be a Gator.

I can't imagine life as a UF student or fan without the crazy gray-haired guy in the yellow button down and saddle shoes maniacally leading the stadium in his famous cheer.

TWO BITS, FOUR BITS, SIX BITS, A DOLLAR.

ALL FOR THE GATORS, STAND UP AND HOLLER!!!

We need you more than ever, Mr. Two Bits. Please help us, will you?

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

I'll gladly take up the torch. I'm young, I'm able, I'm always at games.

 

[stephenPE]

It was a goal of mine and I actually took the whistle to a game or two and led my section back in the 80s. The guy was one of a kind. You want a real statue of a real gator for over 8 decades......he is your guy.

 

[NovaGator]

A new Gator tradition in the making? Seems like a natural to select an honorary "Mr. Two Bits"
for the Gator home games to help carry on the memory of old George.

 

[cs_gator]

A new Gator tradition in the making? Seems like a natural to select an honorary "Mr. Two Bits"
for the Gator home games to help carry on the memory of old George.

That's what they've been doing for the last few years.

 

[78]

That's what they've been doing for the last few years.

Who's the dimwit who interviewed him? Fuchs' first comment was how amazing it felt leading 90,000 people in a cheer. Fifteen seconds later, she's asking how it feels leading a stadium of 90,000 in a cheer.

 

[CGgater]

I remember going with dad to my first Gator game (77 or 78). I kept seeing a section of fans stand up and holler and had no idea why. Dad explained the Mr 2 Bits tradition and later in the game he showed up to lead our section. It’s one of the Gator traditions that has me hopelessly hooked on UF for life, in all kinds of weather!

Go Gators!!!