First game you ever attended in The Swamp?

[gatormandan]

1979 FSU game. Top row of section 39, had a cousin who worked as a tutor in the athletic department at the time and got us freebies. 9 years old, remember hearing Jim Finch and being in awe. Remember how a controversial call on an onside kick late in the game pissed a whole lot of people off. Gators played hard that day, nearing the end of the 0-10-1 debacle. Hooked.

I actually remember that year. I got out of the army a few months prior to that game.

 

[GatorJB]

I had seen many Gator games at other teams' stadiums before I finally made it to the Swamp, but my first game at Ben Hill Griffin was Mr. Two Bits' farewell game. It was really cool to see Edmondson do his last cheer.

 

[Gatorphan]

Wow, I been to all but about ten of these games.

Tallygator, that AU game we shut Bo down was Homecomimg!

Alagator, I wish Houston '69 was my first game. My dad went, but I missed as I was only 2.

 

[PastyStoole]

1979 FSU game. Top row of section 39, had a cousin who worked as a tutor in the athletic department at the time and got us freebies. 9 years old, remember hearing Jim Finch and being in awe. Remember how a controversial call on an onside kick late in the game pissed a whole lot of people off. Gators played hard that day, nearing the end of the 0-10-1 debacle. Hooked.

A few things about that game:
1)They were 10-0 we were 0-8-1.
2) Up by 11 at the end of the game, Bobby Bowden, scum bag that he is, ran a reverse on the second to last play, and a fake reverse on the last play to try to get into the endzone and run up the score.
3) Cocaine trafficker, "fixer," and future associate AD at FSU Monk Bonasorte was a starting DB on the F$U team.
4) You were watching the last home game of Gator legend Chris Collinsworth.
5) Dr. O, aka Larry Ochab, was the starting QB in that game. Ochab was a walk on who had been working as a janitor the year before.
6) If the refs weren't on the take in that game, they certainly were well qualified to be. Ochab threw a 4th quarter incomplete pass inside the Gator 10 and they ruled it a fumble, and the call they made on the onside kick was completely bogus.

 

[crosscreekcooter]

Fuk the Noles..I remember sitting in the rain in their POS erector set and watching Bobby"The Snake" Hewko come in for Wayne Peace who was injured and rally the Gators for the win. Fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts and paraded them around the track and carried them out the gate. They turned the sprinklers on to get the fans off the field and they tore the sprinkler heads out of the ground. The water was shooting up into the air and people were goin to jail. Hilarious.

 

[MJMGator]

Good thread KC.

Excellent thread!

 

[klgator]

I think my first game was 1957 (I was 6 years old), but I do know I saw every FSU home and away game from 1958 to 1967.

 

[PastyStoole]

Fuk the Noles..I remember sitting in the rain in their POS erector set and watching Bobby"The Snake" Hewko come in for Wayne Peace who was injured and rally the Gators for the win. Fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts and paraded them around the track and carried them out the gate. They turned the sprinklers on to get the fans off the field and they tore the sprinkler heads out of the ground. The water was shooting up into the air and people were goin to jail. Hilarious.

Great game. That was the only time I've ever seen a team pull down the goal posts after a game on the opposing teams HOME field. Awesome.

 

[Jbossgator8]

1992 vs Louisville and won 31-17. Go Gators!!

 

[Okeechobee Joe]

1964 vs. Ole Miss, coached by John Vaught and at the time an SEC powerhouse. Ray Graves' Gators were big underdogs, but pulled off a big upset 30 - 14.

A lot of the younger crowd does not know that Ole Miss coached by the great Johnny Vaught was not only an SEC powerhouse, but a national powerhouse in the late 1950s early 1960s. It was unheard of at the time for Ole Miss to lose a game by 16 points. It was a big upset. As you know, the Gators had a sophomore quarterback who started that year by the name of Steve Spurrier.

This was a turning point game. Soon Ole Miss would fade into oblivion due to the baggage they carried when the SEC integrated football. They are just now, fifty years later, beginning to re-emerge on the national stage again. Florida, we all knew, would not always remain a middle of the pack SEC team, but would go on to someday win a SEC titile, and yes, even a national title. It just took a lot longer to get there than some of us thought.

 

[OllieGator]

1984 against LSU. Was a 21-21 tie.

 

[Alagator]

My first ever was a regular season game vs Clemson in Jacksonville in 1954... I was nine. Hooked ever since... First "Swamp" game was 1962 Georgia Tech, my freshman year.
(Jacksonville ,and later Tampa, used to buy the home games of away teams for many years. For you noobs.)

Well I guess that makes you a dirty old man then judging by your Av. :)

 

[Alagator]

Fuk the Noles..I remember sitting in the rain in their POS erector set and watching Bobby"The Snake" Hewko come in for Wayne Peace who was injured and rally the Gators for the win. Fans stormed the field and tore down the goal posts and paraded them around the track and carried them out the gate. They turned the sprinklers on to get the fans off the field and they tore the sprinkler heads out of the ground. The water was shooting up into the air and people were goin to jail. Hilarious.

I remember sitting through a monsoon like downpour in Tally. We were in the end zone and after the game we saw Deon Sanders with the team jogging by and all of the Gator fans started wadding up their soaking wet programs and chunking them at the players. One player got hit in the helmet and stopped and starting pointing up in the stands and yelling...

My Dad looked over and saw me and my brother participating...he snapped us in line and gave us a stern lesson in sportsmanship and told us the team had already lost the game. No need to beat them twice. I always remembered that lesson. Of course if it had been 10 or 15 years later and it had been Darnell Docket my Dad may have handed us a brick and looked the other way...

 

[HogtownGator]

My first game was in 1979, freshman year. I have no idea who we played, but I went with my friend and XC teammate who had a friend in the band, so we went to support the band. In 1979, that turned out to be he thing to do.

 

[Leroy Jenkins]

First game I remember at least was against Central Michigan in 1997. We won 82-6. Pretty good game to see for the good guys, huh? :-)

 

[Alagator]

First game I remember at least was against Central Michigan in 1997. We won 82-6. Pretty good game to see for the good guys, huh? :-)

Still can't believe we gave up 6 points to them. What an embarrassment. :cool:

 

[Leroy Jenkins]

Still can't believe we gave up 6 points to them. What an embarrassment. :cool:

Modern day record for points scored and margin of victory. I'll take it. ;)

 

[ReelGatorDoc]

Sept. 25th, 1971 vs BAMA - Doug Dickey - John Reaves (Lane Kiffin's father-n-law) and Carlos Alverez

BAMA was good, top 10 team and we were bad 4-7 bad. But little did I know that the worst was yet to come in 1979, when I graduated (0-10-1)!
Now that set the bar for head shaking misery.

Still great, although fuzzy memories of:

- not very crowded at the games
- passing people up thru the stands
- drinking was just part of the gameday/in the stadium experience
- having the time of my life!

 

[LagoonGator68]

Well I guess that makes you a dirty old man then judging by your Av. :)

Some people are old at 40.

 

[78]

1984 against LSU. Was a 21-21 tie.

Pell was fired after that game. We ran the table the rest of the season.