I confess. I helped put the first nole coaches highlight show on television

The year was 1968 and my then partner who was a nole fanatic ( God rest his soul ) approached me one day with the most bizarre request of my young life. Would it be OK if we produced for the noles, a version of what the University of Florida had and they coveted.....The Ray Graves Football Highlight TV Show ?

You can guess my first reaction, “ Get your Ass out of here, you must be #badword#ing kidding me !” Well, he kept on hounding me….seems he was approached by some well heeled boosters and had their guarantee to indemnify us against any losses. We could keep any ad revenues over and above our costs and Coach Peterson’s fee. I seem to remember that Ray Graves got about $18,000, a tidy sum in 1968, and they wanted to put about $10 k in Coach Pete’s pocket…..noles ALWAYS had lower expectations. Well, finally to keep peace in the business I agreed to let my partner proceed with limited help from our media buying and production staffs and provided that NO one ever know we ( especially I ) were involved in this dastardly venture.

Not to bore you with the entire chronology here are some highlights and interesting factoids from those bygone days of shame:

I will never forget our first meeting in Tallycrappy with coach Pete in old #badword# hole Tully Gym. I went along just to keep my partner from giving away the store. We were sitting in the waiting area when a loud voice rang out, “ Jones !” It was coach Pete summoning us into his office like we were some recalcitrant students. I knew the day was going to go down hill fast. Meeting Coach was even worse….what a buffoon. The noles had two of the dumbest sounding coaches in America in those days….Peterson and Hugh Durham neither of which could utter a complete sentence and even gaffed up their incomplete ones. Coach Pete wanted to be on the air right before The Ray Graves Show and he wanted $18,000. I was the one that had to tell him both were pipe dreams. He grunted and asked what we could give him…..I explained the realities to him and he quickly acquiesced …..he also understood the noles lower expectations. My partner was elated.  I left that cracker box high school gym feeling slimy.

We sent two camera guys to every game, home and away armed with two black and white hand help 16mm cameras ( one shot field level and one in the press box- or on top of it. ) They flew with the team to the away games, I was always afraid they would want combat pay for that. When they returned in the middle of the night they processed the 16mm film at WTVT-TV in Tallycrappy…..spliced everything together and then woke up Coach Pete who was sleeping on a couch at the station to film the final show.

Once the finished product was processed and in the can, there was no time to edit or correct mistakes and believe me there were dozens of screw-ups in every show., our camera men / producers put the film prints on Greyhound Busses to get the film to the TV stations around the state. A few had to be flown by boosters in private planes due to the piss poor bus schedules out of Tally.

Most of the shows barely arrived in time to air…..many never made it. It was a good thing NONE of the TV stations in the state would clear time in a morning slot because we could never have made the on air deadline. The Ray Graves Show aired in most markets at 11:30 AM Sunday which was considered prime because it preceded the live church service and then the NFL game in most cities. The best we could do was 11:30 PM after the Sunday night local news when most football watching males and already passed out from a hard weekend of heavy beer drinking. Again short shrift for the noles.

We had to use ALL the media buying clout we had to get on the air in 80 % of the markets in Florida. Some we had to threaten with a call to the FCC. No TV station wanted the show. We weren't’t about to actually BUY the air time. We offered a portion of the commercials to the station for local sales in return for airing the show and that was it. Not a very attractive package…..late Night Sunday….no audience….no front money to the stations.....a product the local stationa couldn't sell time on…..fsu football ( losers in those days - just like present day )…..and the worst TV production values in the history of the medium.

Well, we did it.  Even broke even ( no small feat.  ) Put the monosyllabic murderer of the English language, Bill Peterson on TV ( I will always be ashamed for doing that. )  Produced the first ever nole football highlight television show and paved the way for blotchy to drool into the camera every football weekend for the past 35 years.  Dear God, I must seek forgiveness.

I have sinned against the Gator Nation and I am ashamed.

 It has taken me all these years to confess.  There, I‘ve done it…..I feel better.  In spite of my sin I can’t help but notice the present day comparisons to those early pioneering days of B&W TV.  The noles are still a distant second in every category involving football, their coaches show still really sucks and they still really suck. Thank God my involvement in their TV debut all those years ago didn’t really help them in the long run.

fsu….still sucking after all these years. God is in his Orange & Blue Heaven and all is still right with the world. Go Gators ! Kick the Crap out of the noles Saturday !