Done Deal: Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

[Okeechobee Joe]

Tigert and Florida Field"John J. Tigert, the University of Florida’s third president, was instrumental in the building and naming of the stadium. Shortly after becoming president in 1928, he enacted plans for a new, larger stadium. Initial construction halted when the nation plunged into the Great Depression. Tigert enlisted a group of friends to raise funds, and together they collected $118,000 in personal loans. In 1934, a plaque was dedicated and placed in the stadium to honor the memory of servicemen who died in WWI. Tigert, a WWI veteran, liked the name Florida Field because it reminded him of Flanders Fields, the famed WWI battlegrounds. The former president said the name "would remind [him] of those boys that died in the First World War.'"

Most people don't know the historical context of the naming of Florida Field. Initially Florida Field referred to both the stadium and the actual field.

 

[Lake Gator]

Tigert and Florida Field"John J. Tigert, the University of Florida’s third president, was instrumental in the building and naming of the stadium. Shortly after becoming president in 1928, he enacted plans for a new, larger stadium. Initial construction halted when the nation plunged into the Great Depression. Tigert enlisted a group of friends to raise funds, and together they collected $118,000 in personal loans. In 1934, a plaque was dedicated and placed in the stadium to honor the memory of servicemen who died in WWI. Tigert, a WWI veteran, liked the name Florida Field because it reminded him of Flanders Fields, the famed WWI battlegrounds. The former president said the name "would remind [him] of those boys that died in the First World War.'"

Most people don't know the historical context of the naming of Florida Field. Initially Florida Field referred to both the stadium and the actual field.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

[CGgater]

I would like to see them add a possessive, especially since the HBC owned/protected the swamp when he was here.

"Steve Spurrier's Florida Field."

 

[rogdochar]

I would like to see them add a possessive, especially since the HBC owned/protected the swamp when he was here.

"Steve Spurrier's Florida Field."

That sounds like it honors Steve even more. The name Spurrier should go hand in hand with Florida.

 

[CGgater]

That sounds like it honors Steve even more. The name Spurrier should go hand in hand with Florida.

Absolutely. Another suggestion is "Spurrier's Swamp at Florida Field in BHG Stadium."

Maybe a bit much?

 

[AlexDaGator]

I would have preferred Spurrier-Griffin Stadium at Florida Field but nobody asked me.

Alex.

 

[78]

Just curious:

Will you still call it the Swamp or will you begin calling it SOS?

I predict it becomes as well known as SOS.

 

[MissouriGator]

It will always be the Swamp.

 

[rogdochar]

I like Spurrier's Swamp.

 

[Gator Fever]

It will always be the Swamp.

This

 

[ATXGator]

Didn't Spurrier name it the Swamp? It will always be the Swamp!

 

[78]

Things change. I like SOS. Has a ring and it's his field. You know the media will like it because it fits in headlines easier.

 

[Gatorbreath]

Having had some time to consider this, I don't think naming field after him goes far enough. I think they should consider:

• Renaming the university after him. Instead of UF, how about Steve Spurrier University? Spurrier University? HBCU? University of Spurrier?
• Or, the town. Instead of Gainesville*, how about Spurrierville? Stevetown?

Just imagine Vern's opening, "Live, from Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida in Stevetown, Florida, the Florida Gators take on the............."

*To the board admins: it is way lame that the revered words "Spurrier" and "Gainesville" get flagged by spellchecker on a friggin Gator board!!

 

[TLB]

It is, and will remian, the swamp.

In part out of respect for Steve naming it that, in part because "SOS" opens up jokes about our team screaming out for help during bad seasons or games.

 

[stephenPE]

I would have preferred Spurrier-Griffin Stadium at Florida Field but nobody asked me.

Alex.

This is what I said years ago. Like Jordan Hare stadium.

 

[78]

WELCOME TO SOS, WHERE THIS AFTERNOON THE DEFENDING EAST CHAMPION FLORIDA GATORS TAKE ON THE TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS, WHO HAVEN'T WON A GAME HERE SINCE THE PLACE WAS KNOWN AS THE SWAMP, WAY BACK IN -- TEE-HEE-HEE -- 2003.

 

[Chomper]

No single person has impacted FLORIDA FOOTBALL as much as Spurrier did. But, let's give Ray Graves some credit too. He did the improbable by luring Spurrier from Johnson City, TN to play ball in Gainesville, F-L-A. That one task, more than any other, is what changed the direction of FLORIDA FOOTBALL forever.

 

[rogdochar]

On this particular Saturday, the national testing service responsible for deciding what serious young men
have the aptitude to become a dentist, so therefore get acceptance into a dental college. Our whole careers
and future depended on doing super-well on this standard test.

Well, after the heavy laden big manila envelopes were handed out, our test procter made an announcement.
He was a full professor. No graduate student could be trusted to administer this life-determining test. I'm glad,
'cause that professor felt the leadership authority to announce. "Men, if we don't take a lunch break and you
agree to cut 30 minutes off your test time, we can all make it to the LSU game." This included rushing a very
precise exacto-knife chalk carving down to the tenths of a millimeter on various shapes.

I took my stadium seat just in time to see soph Steve hand off to senior RB Larry Dupree, who ran a beautiful
8 yard TD for the win. Go Gators.

 

[rogdochar]

Also, I like what John Logue of the Atlanta Constitution wrote about Steve right after his FG beat Auburn.
The thought was prompted by Steve's many last minute comeback wins = "Blindfolded, with
his back against the wall, with his hands tied behind him, Steve Spurrier would be a
2-point favorite at his own execution."

 

[EuroGator]

This

That.