Just came from the Capital Area Gator Club kickoff dinner and it was awesome. They had Gators Bruce Culpepper, Carlos Alverez and Gary Rolle reminisce about Gator football in the 60’s 70’s and 80’s. It should have been videotaped as it was priceless and my mental notes will not in any way do justice to the couple of hours of memories they shared with a big group. Bruce began with some stories of the early sixties and beating Georgia and playing nose tackle, center and kicker. Spoke of how he missed kicked in Jax because of nerves and it spun about 20yds and we recovered and scored,… kicked off again and accidentally just about missed the ball a second time and it happened again and we got a field goal and went on to beat the dawgs…. Said he and Coach Graves tried to practice it again and he never could replicate those two kicks. He brought his old helmet and brought Brad’s also and passed them around and talked about the differences of gear and players in the 60’s and 90’s. Mentioned his QB, Lindy Infanti was almost exactly 100 pounds less than Timmy T. The Cuban Comet was next and he spoke of course of the super sophs and the number 1 ranked Houston Cougars coming to Gainesville in his first varsity game. What Houston did know is what they were about to face…the 68 Gators had thrown for about one touchdown and were a running team. Alverez and reeves had done very well against the varsity as freshmen and the coaches had planned to throw the bomb on the third play…Reeves hit him in stride and he said no one was going to catch him. Said at a Miss St game up there he caught a ball several steps in bounds and the homer ref said he was out of bounds. Said he was discussing the call with the ref and a cop came over and yelled at him that it might have been in bounds in Havana but not in Mississippi. He spoke with great great regard for Coach Meyer and spoke to the team last year and loves the staff. Carlos said he believes this receiving group is probably the best by far that the Gators have ever fielded… Dr Rolle was next and he spoke of the eerie feeling of following a Gator great like Alverez he had awed and never met before. Spoke of the impact of Lee Macgriff on teaching him how to catch and the process of walking on to the Gators after transferring from West Point. He said he read defenses well and called many of the audibles for Kerwin. Said the SEC would have to pry his Championship ring off his body before they ever took away his Chapionship, the first of the Gators. Said he spoke to the team before the South Carolina game last year and really enjoyed it but that he was a bit embarrassed because he had thought that maybe Chris Leak should at that point been giving more plays to Tebow because his style was better for the teams offense. Never said anything to anyone of course but said he was embarrassed because after his speech to the team CL was the first to come up and tell him how profound his recollections and stories were and they spent a long time visiting about not only the Gator experience but life itself. Rolle had to leave after the Friday night dinner back for Tallahassee as he is the team doc for FAMU but as he drove back he couldn’t stop thinking about what a great young man CL was/is. He said he hoped that we would all remember that every kid who puts on the orange and blue will be giving their all for the team and the game and while it is a very important thing, this game of football, the kids, kids, behind these uniforms are just that…. kids and he love cheering for them. Again, this doesn’t give their remarks justice but I thought I’d try to share. Oh Yeah...can't remember which one told it but it was the story of the 0-5 Gators getting ready to play the 5-0 sow and how the team Captains met on the 50 Friday night before the game and made a pact that they would find a way to win no matter what...they did! All three of these guys are personal friends and not only great Gators but even better , husbands, fathers and people.