Maybe you care, maybe you don't. But, I think you'll find this to be an intersting story. For those of us at various outposts in Gator Nation, it is truly something special to get together with fellow Gators on Saturdays. For us, here's how it began as told from one of our founding Gators:

My wife and I moved to Sugarloaf Mountain, above Boulder, from G'ville in August, 1984. We were diehard Gators - never missed a home game in 8 years in G'ville.

When we got here, we couldn't get TV reception up on the mountain. It was also at a time when the Buffs were a joke and NO ONE was interested in them. So, we found ourselves wandering around the Pearl Street Mall, on a Saturday morning, looking for a sports bar that might show the Gator game. We stumbled into JJMcCabe's which, as I recall, was on Walnut street between 9th and 10th. It's long gone now. They had a big screen TV and no one was watching it, or even there (including Buffs). (Imagine that in a sport's bar in G'ville on game day? NOT). So, we went in and asked them if they'd mind tuning in the UF Gator football game. They asked us if we were drinking? We said, "if we can watch the game". It was a match. They found the game and we drank.

For the next several Saturday's, we would show up at McCabe's in the morning, just about the only one's there (and none were Gators), they'd tune in the game, we'd drink, and the only thing missing was the other 75,000 people at Florida Field (I think this is before it was dubbed "The Swamp"). Then, in October, about midway through the season, we were again at McCabe's to watch the UF/Kentucky game. As usual the only one's there. However, on this occasion, another guy and his girlfriend showed up and also watched the game. At first, I thought he was a wayward Buff looking for some real football to watch. Turned out to be a rabid Gator fan, even worse than we were. That was Steve XXX and his girlfriend, later wife. We had a ball, just the four of us in this big room watching the game.

I'm not sure how things evolved after that, I'm sure Steve's recollection is better than mine. I think we met there each Saturday after that, and I think Steve may have met some other Gators who joined us periodically.

Then came 1985. As I recall, we were on probation, and were blacked out of TV. Someone came up with the cockamamie idea of getting together at someone's house and listening to the games on long distance phone. I think Steve contacted UF and arranged for us to be patched in. Then, someone got a speaker to attach to the phone. I think, the first game(s) of the season we met at my house, up on Sugarloaf , called WRUF in Gainesville, hooked up the speaker to the phone and listened to the entire game on long distance. As I recall there were about 8-10 of us by then. Phone call cost us about $30 for the game. Three or four bucks apiece which was a steal, all things considered. It was during that season that we decided to "formalize" the club. We drafted up some official-looking paperwork, elected some officers, and became an official "Gator Club". This was long before we were ever affiliated with the Alumni Association. I think I still have that paperwork, but it's buried away so deep, I may never find it.

Then disaster struck. Our treasurer absconded with all our dues money. Understand, back in those days, we probably didn't have more than $100-200 in our account, but to us, that was a lot.

We continued to meet alternately at my house, or at his apartment over near the CU campus.

About that time, we also ran into some other Gators who had been meeting, as I recall, in Longmont. We teamed up with them and the "club" grew.

In December, 1985 (24th to be exact) my son was born and he was dubbed the "Gator Club Baby". He was the first boy. Then, along came Steve's daughter and she became the first girl born to a member of the "club".

Seems that we then found a bar in Federal Heights, the Sports Channel (??), that we started meeting at, and the club just grew and grew, thanks largely to Steve's incredible enthusiasm.

So, I think if you can go back through UF Sports archives, and find the date of the UF/Kentucky game in 1984, you'll have the exact date that we first met and the seeds were planted.

How's that for some Orange and Blue history, fellow VSers?