"Like many of my generation, I grew up loving the Bandit
and other Burt characters in movies, but never had the proper appreciation for
what he meant to FSU and the football program. I used to live just hundreds of
feet away from his dorm Hall and had friends living there and even then didn't
know how much he gave until I read the story below from our Boosters. I always
love learning more about our program and it seems with each story I hear, the
more love and appreciation I gain for our program and this is one of the best
ones ever.
Even if you don't read the whole thing, I hope you
will at least glance at the bold parts to gain an idea of how much he is
connected and meant to us if you didn't already know.I wonder
if Burt was consulted at all about the uniform changes and if not, I wish he
could have been given what he has given to FSU since he has been such a large
part of our traditions for so long, helped design and buy our golden pants of
the 90's and he and Bobby designed the spears on our helmets.
How long
has he been with the TV show? He was instrumental in our uniforms before, would
only seem logical we got his opinion once again. Even Lee Corso for that
matter.
Here is a fun tidbit from FSU boosters and below I linked a video
showing Reynolds' role with our team uniforms below and moving away from the
mustard yellow.
Link:
Question: "What's the deal with Burt Reynolds?" This
question comes from many angles, and the corollaries are along the lines of "Was
he really a football star, or even really on the team?" "What is Burt's
real relationship with Florida State?" "Is he actually
involved with the University?" "What kind of guy is he?"
My answer: Burt Reynolds is one of the best guys ever.
Much better even than you think. If Bobby Bowden's professional life is
the story of Seminole football's ascent to greatness, then Burt Reynolds' is the story of the maturing
of our alumni, and of their passion and lifelong commitment to
FSU.
Our fans and alumni know that Burt is an actor and an
alumnus who has been involved with the University. Most have little idea who
the man really is, and to what extent his life reflects all that is good
and noble about FSU. Burton "Buddy" Reynolds was a highly recruited
high school star from West Palm who committed informally to Miami, but
was turned toward FSU by Seminole Coach Tom Nugent. Another man who
influenced his decision was his close friend from high school, a
Seminole baseball player named Dick Howser. Nugent jested with the
young Reynolds that FSU wanted him so bad they had named a freshman girls' dorm
on campus in his honor. "Reynolds Hall - my own dorm filled
with beautiful women!" he says smiling at the memory.
Nugent was in his second season as the Seminole Head Coach,
and FSU was quickly upgrading its schedule to that of a major college program.
Our little Seminole team was truly a David against the Goliaths of the SEC and
Coach Nugent
knew the Tribe needed a serious upgrade in talent. His
recruiting of halfback Buddy Reynolds and quarterback Lee Corso was part of that
project.
Decades later, the smiling, graying men of that era still
proudly refer themselves "Nugent's Boys". The Boys went 8-3
that year against very tough competition, and in fact Nugent's
innovative passing offense set what was then a national record for the number of
touchdown passes in one season with nineteen.
Burt was a star from the first day he arrived on
campus. He bypassed the freshman team directly to be made a member of
the varsity and a starter. In recording a bitter loss to Auburn, the FSU
yearbook Tally Ho described, "Freshman left halfback Buddy Reynolds almost
turned the trick for the Seminoles in the third quarter. He broke through left
tackle and dashed for 54 yards." Unfortunately, as he crossed the goal line
Burt was knocked cold by Tiger defensive back and future Alabama governor Fob
James.
Spring came to Tallahassee. One day in practice Burt went
up to catch a ball and came down awkward on his knee. As simple as that, his
football career was finished. Oh, he tried to re-habilitate, made an
attempt to come back later, but the intricacies of knees were still mysteries in
that earlier day. It was over.
He told me once, "If I hadn't busted my knee I'd be a high
school football coach in West Palm today." He sounded as if that would have
been a fine outcome as far as he's concerned. He is and was a man at peace with
himself.
Those who've seen his movies know Reynolds is clever.
Few realize that he is such a devoted academic and
intellectual. As Coach Bowden's assistant through all of the 1980s and
1990s Sue Hall developed a close relationship with Reynolds. "You would
not believe the size of his personal library," she says. "Entire walls of
shelves of books. It's not unusual for him to read a book a day.
Every night he falls asleep listening to books on tape, but don't ask me how I
know that," she laughs.
And what feeds that voracious appetite?
History, art, architecture, social commentary, the classics. "Burt told
me he acquired his appreciation of fine art and literature from his close friend
Dinah Shore," Sue says. "He has an amazing mind. I've been
fortunate to be on movie sets while he's working. He reads the script at night,
memorizes it, and knows it cold the next day. I've never seen him ask for a
prompter. He's modest about it; says it's all due to the training, but I've
never seen anyone who could absorb that amount of material that fast.
He is an extremely gifted man in terms of his intellect."
Reynolds tries to come to at least one game a year,
usually watching from Bobby Bowden's private office where he can see the action
unfold and then watch the replays on TV. "He's a real student
of the game," Hall says. "I always try to send him media guides at the
beginning of each season. He never needs a script for the Great Moments
segments. He remembers just about everything that has ever
happened in Seminole football."
Joel Padgett believes that Reynolds was the first
Hollywood star to aggressively promote his alma mater in film.
If you'll think about it, he really is still the only one who does that to any
extent. Hall remembers, "We used to send him boxes and boxes
of stuff all the time. He wanted something in every movie. It might
be coffee cups on the desk, or waste baskets or game jerseys or sweatshirts;
anything with FSU on it got crowded into the set. We just cleaned out the
office whenever Burt called."
And it wasn't just FSU jerseys and sweatshirts that popped
up across the landscape of Reynolds' signature series of movies.
Reynolds once had his pal, actor Dom DeLuise, play a character named
Doctor Victor Prinzi. Vic Prinzi of course was Florida State's
long time radio commentator, partner to Gene Deckerhoff.
Prinzi was also one of Nugent's Boys, and Burt's
quarterback.
Hall recalls the Bobby Bowden episode of Reynolds' hit TV
series Evening Shade. "It got a lot more involved with television. I
had to go find Tommy Wright here on campus and get notarized permission for Burt
to use the FSU Fight Song." Reynolds' relationship with Bowden
goes deeper than many realize. "Coach Bowden and Burt talk a lot about
religion," Sue says. "I get the impression that Burt…" she searches for the
right words, "used to have a reputation for enjoying parties…" She believes
that Bowden's close relationship has made a substantial difference in Reynolds'
spiritual life.
Bowden has
mentioned that he and Reynolds designed the arrow helmet
together. Monk Bonasorte was an FSU safety and All-American who
now directs the fabulously successful Varsity Club program. "Back in 1979 when
I played, our uniforms were actually in kind of poor condition. They were
patched up because uniforms were expensive and the school didn't have a lot of
money," he says. "Burt bought
the first set of gold pants - they were actually called Notre
Dame gold.
It was the first time we'd had new uniforms in
awhile." Reynolds bought the first set of all-garnet uniforms
too, and had some of his Hollywood pals tweak the design.
Monk is close to Reynolds now. He describes Burt as
unfailingly charming, a splendid looking man. He still has quite a bit of The
Bandit in his smile, but once in awhile you can also see those dangerous eyes
from his character in Deliverance. "He's a complicated guy," says Monk, "but
he's the best." Yes, the best.
Had Reynolds not been such a great football player out of
high school, he and Bobby Bowden might have met sooner. The talented Reynolds
bypassed FSU's freshman team entirely. In those days the freshman squad plus
walk-ons and whoever else could fill in from the varsity played its own schedule
of games. One of their regular opponents was South Georgia Junior College in
Douglas, a team whose new 24-year-old Head Coach was also required by the school
to drive the team bus and to coach basketball as well. But it was not time yet
for Bowden and Reynolds to cross paths.
I first met him in 1987 at the lavish Seminole Booster
"Bernie & The Bandit" production enjoyed by the thousands of fans who
crowded into the Tucker Center the Friday before the first home game. Burt
brought some pals with him, including actors Dom DeLuise, Bernie Casey and
Ricardo Montalban to be his guests at the official dedication of Burt
Reynolds Hall.
It was a heady time for the Seminoles and although
we didn't realize it, it was the first game of the first season of the fourteen
year Dynasty. But as I watched I also remembered the Baylor game back
in 1974, a miserable night in a miserable season in which FSU defeated only one
opponent: the hapless Miami Hurricanes. We played Baylor at home in October.
"The Longest Yard" had been released in the summer
was a huge hit, and Burt Reynolds was in Tallahassee to watch the game.
He was introduced to the wildly enthusiastic crowd, standing at mid-field with
his friend, the gigantic Richard Keil another actor in the movie.
Burt Reynolds was pretty much all we had in those
days. I don't think anyone knew at the time how important it was to Burt that
he had us as well. This past fall, Reynolds was again introduced to
the crowd in Doak Campbell Stadium, this 2004 collection of Seminole fans
somewhat larger than the one thirty years ago. Once again, he brought fellow
actors with him including the gigantic fellow who plays the old Richard Keil
character in this current remake of "The Longest Yard."
At that 1987 meeting we discussed the details of
the weekend, including the dramatic pre-game surprise where Reynolds would throw
the flaming spear into the turf. I was impressed with his size; he's
big. For some reason most Hollywood actors tend to be on the small side.
Reynolds looked more like a bodyguard or stunt man than an actor. You can see
the athlete.
He made quite a show of it. Chief Osceola handed
him the burning spear at mid-field. Reynolds stood facing the alumni side of
the stadium then raised the spear triumphantly overhead. The crowd roared.
Then he turned to the student side and did the same. Fans were in frenzy when
he finally rammed the fiery point into the turf.
At a distance, no one could see the emotion on his
face. But whatever it meant to us, it meant even more to him.
I saw him another time after that, years later in Palm
Beach. He was a surprise visitor to the Palm Beach Seminole Club's annual Bobby
Bowden Banquet. We were back stage getting ready for him to make his
appearance. It wasn't the best time in his personal or professional life. He
was holding his little son. He looked tired. I said I didn't want to intrude,
but I wanted him to know that there are lots of us FSU alumni who love him and
appreciate what he's done for the University, and that fans like the ones here
tonight will always be there for you. You can always come home to Florida
State.
His voice cracked just a little. He said that his
relationship with the fans gave him strength, and that was why he was there,
that he needed now to draw on that strength.
Of course once the curtain went up and the hundreds of
Seminoles whooped in shocked surprised, he was the ultimate professional. He
was classic celebrity Burt, the personality so familiar to everyone. He and
Coach Bowden shared the microphone. After our traveling party packed in the van
to drive to the airport, Burt stayed behind for nearly an hour, patiently taking
photos, smiling, talking football and anything else his fans
wanted.
They crushed in to be close to him, just to be with
him. And he wanted to be with them.
He loved FSU from the time he first saw the red
bricks and the rolling hills and towering pines at age
eighteen. He loved the cool, green campus and the scented
spring breeze and the pretty girls in their bright dresses. He loved football
and Phi Delta Theta and the food in the big dining hall where all
Florida State students took their meals together. He liked knowing everyone and
knowing that everyone liked him.
Burton Reynolds was a devoted Seminole long before
he was Burt Reynolds of the movies, decades before he was the #1-ranked
male box office draw in the world. And now, in the afternoon of a celebrated
career as an actor, teacher and director, he remains a completely
devoted son of Florida State University.
From time to time something from him, always welcome just
shows up in the mail. Most recently it was an autographed photo of him sporting
the Mean Machine football uniform of his character from the new 2005 version of
"The Longest Yard" charging full ahead with game-faced fury.
He's written: "Charlie - Do you know anybody that would
like a mean, not fat but not too swift sixty-six year old running back?"
Well yes, pal. Yes I do. And there are tens of thousands
of us.
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After reading all of that, I gained a brand new
appreciation for Burt Reynolds regarding his relationship with FSU and I hope
you did as well.
As for the uniforms, the video says, they were "voted the
best by Sporting News."
This post was edited on 9/12 7:45 AM by Singleshot
