hinderance. It took SOS, a Graves man that Pell fired, to get that direction back==============================

failure to recruit left us with  little talent. As Tom McEwen of the Tampa tribune said in 1978, the program was on  a roller coaster to disaster,. The facilities were also in shambles. The fan base was in total disarray. He rallied the  Gator Nation  into a united force that started the return to prominence.

Yes there was cheating, but that was a common practice in the SEC in those days. His biggest mistake was not realizing that he had the talent to build our program without cheating. Anyone who was around Charley in those days knew he had the charisma and work ethic to turn the Gator program around. He took the fall for many of his assistant coaches who committed the majority of the rule violations without his knowledge. They went on to good jobs while he was basically blacklisted.

I spent many post game sessions behind the old south in zone bleachers with the coaches and players when they came out to mix with their families and friends. He and Ward were two of  the most congenial people that I have ever met. You could just feel the energy that Charlie generated.

Years later my daughter was at the beach in Destin and ran into a young man who invited her to super with his parents. She called me an asked if she could go. I said yes as long as one of her friends accompanied her to the door to be sure everything was OK. When the door opened and Charlie and Ward warmly welcomed her, she almost fainted. She had been at many of those post games sessions and recognized them immediately.

She had a wonderful evening and could not wait to call me and tell me about.

For all of his faults he was a wonderful man. He loved the game of football and coaching.

The inability to get back into coaching destroyed him.