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Some Stuff I Wrote (2001) H. Morris Williams

You heard of “Everyday Heroes” like Jimmy Greene and Linda Gail Thomas and Raymond
Dykes. And you read of the great day some kids had at the carnival using some winnings from

“Bolita and Cuba.”
And you read about some “firsts,” like Coach Gene Cox who became the first CHS graduate

to win a state high school football championship. And CHS Coach Ed Williamson who became the
first football coach of the FSU Seminoles.

You read of three CHS graduates — Clayton Calhoun, Richard Adicks and Frank McNeil —
who became authors. And a passel — like Buddy Bedenbaugh, Dean Arnold and Marilyn Willis -

who became college professors.
And that Ed Montgomery once said “damn” in a school play; that 85-year-old volunteer

Evelyn Metzger still teaches three days a week; that Buck North once paddled his teacher, P. A.
Browning by accident; and that Tiny Long, Sr. once hit a home-run for UF in a game broadcast by

a young Red Barber.
Column 34 is next week. Stay tuned.

The FSU Crackers

May 11,1993

Back in 1947, the FSU student body seemed determined to vote to name its brand new

football team the Crackers. But student signs began to appear on campus, reading “Crackers Have
Crumbs” and the Crackers nickname began to lose favor and the name Seminoles won out. Actually
there wasn’t that much interest one way or the other as only 25% of the students voted. Other names

seriously considered: Golden Falcons, Statesmen, Senators, and Indians. Less seriously considered:
Fleas, Gold Diggers, Pinheads, and Sandpipers.

Interestingly, FSU played its very first game (a 14-6 loss to Stetson) with no mascot name,
being referred to only as the Garnet and Gold. But by the second game (a 6-0 loss to Cumberland,

Tennessee), they had become the Seminoles.
Giving equal time to the University of Florida, a Jacksonville lawyer named Austin Miller

is usually credited with choosing the mascot Alligator for UF. It seems the name Alligator was

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