Gator Country

GreenandScaly · 03-08-2013, 12:44 PM

Watching Florida win its fourth SEC hoops title the other night against Vanderbilt got me thinking about another UF-Vandy game, the 1988-89 season contest that gave UF its first-ever official SEC title in either football or basketball.

That first title came in a weird, wacky way. Florida was at Vanderbilt with the title on the line. The Gators were down by 2 with two seconds left and turned the ball over. That should have been the game.

But some fool in the stands threw a tennis ball on the court - a reminder that UF center Dwayne Schintzuis has hit some UF student with a tennis racket some time before and had been suspended for four games. The refs called a technical foul on Vandy and Big Dwayne hit both free throws to send the game into OT. Florida eventually won 81–78 to capture the school's first conference crown in either football or basketball.

I wonder if they ever found out the name of the Vandy fan who threw that infamous tennis ball and helped us win our first title. Did he make it out of the arena alive? Whoever you are, you played a key role in UF's first conference championship. And the floodgates opened after that year and conference titles and NCs poured into Gainesville. Who knows? That unknown Vandy fan might have been the catalyast for two decades of Gator greatness!

g8rvet · 03-08-2013, 01:08 PM

very funny. I was telling my son this story (I graduated in 89 and he was born in 89). I remembered as I was telling him the story that it was "fans" not "fan" throwing tennis balls, but it was a long time ago, it could have just been one person. As I am telling him this story, the announcer on the telecast (who was a Vandy player on that team) started telling the story. I had forgotten Vandy was the team we were tied with.

Profgator · 03-08-2013, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenandScaly

...The refs called a technical foul on Vandy...

The head ref was John Clougherty (now retired) ...always liked him.

**32806Gator** · 03-08-2013, 03:10 PM

Was Big Dwayne a good free throw shooter? Seems odd you would send your big man to the line to shoot those shots.

Jonas · 03-08-2013, 03:20 PM

The commentators were telling the story at the Vandy game on Tues. I think one of them (his name escapes me) was actually on that Vandy team that lost.

BA69MA72 · 03-08-2013, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 32806Gator

Was Big Dwayne a good free throw shooter? Seems odd you would send your big man to the line to shoot those shots.

IIRC he wasn't bad. And I think Sloan wanted to give him a chance for revenge.

tilly · 03-08-2013, 03:50 PM

Anyone know where Steve Bartman's dad went to school?

TWGator · 03-08-2013, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonas

The commentators were telling the story at the Vandy game on Tues. I think one of them (his name escapes me) was actually on that Vandy team that lost.

It was Barry Booker.

I recall that it was at least several tennis balls - but I could be wrong. I don't even remember watching or listening to that game - so who knows?

TheRealTejasGatorII · 03-08-2013, 04:19 PM

I was listening on radio (game wasn't televised), but I remember that it was multiple balls that were thrown. And Norm Sloan wanted Dwayne to shoot the FTs because of the reason they were thrown and because he had confidence in him as "The Lobster" was a good freebie shooter.

gatorbogey · 03-08-2013, 04:21 PM

perhaps the fan should be enshrined - or the act memorialized - in the gator ring of honor...eh?

GatorPlanet · 03-08-2013, 09:04 PM

As I recall, a good number of fans were throwing balls.

gatorfansrule · 03-08-2013, 09:36 PM

Is there anything to stop a visiting teams fan from doing something like that to help their team at the end of a game or at any time for that matter? How are the refs supposed to know which team to penalize? I don't agree with penalizing a team for actions of a fan.

InstiGATOR1 · 03-08-2013, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g8rvet

very funny. I was telling my son this story (I graduated in 89 and he was born in 89). I remembered as I was telling him the story that it was "fans" not "fan" throwing tennis balls, but it was a long time ago, it could have just been one person. As I am telling him this story, the announcer on the telecast (who was a Vandy player on that team) started telling the story. I had forgotten Vandy was the team we were tied with.

Number 5 on this site:

http://www.vucommodores.com/sports/m...030212aac.html

on the history of Memorial Gymn says:

Quote:

a person or persons in the crowd threw at least four tennis balls at Florida center Dwayne Schintzius

jnierth · 03-09-2013, 06:07 AM

if i remember correctly the Vandy win opened the door to winning the title for florida but i think we won it by beating lsu in the next game

i remember seeing dwayne and his brother playing doubles one day, try lobbing those two lol

**BajaGator** · 03-09-2013, 08:13 AM

The game was in January, so it wasn't until the season was over that it became apparent that the Tennis Ball Game had cost Vandy the title. In fact, the Gators beat Vandy later that year in the ODome, in another OT game. (jnierth is right that we clinched the title in the following game against LSU, but that second Vandy win wasn't the Tennis Ball Game).

I remember at the time a reporter asked Sloan why he sent Schintzius to the line for the FTs, and Sloan said that he was the best FT shooter on the floor at the time.

Dwayne was a pretty good FT shooter for a big man, about 75%, and we did had some pretty bad FT shooters on that team. Liv Chatman and Dwayne Davis were painful to watch at the line, and Clifford Lett and Renaldo Garcia weren't any better than Schintzius.

But I still think that Sloan also did it in part to send a message to Dwayne, and maybe to the Vandy fans as well.

austingtr · 03-09-2013, 10:25 AM

The free throws didn't win the game. If they wanted to claim the title, they should have beaten us in overtime.

That win was super sweet.

GreenandScaly · 03-09-2013, 04:12 PM

Is there any video of that Vandy game or the LSU contest? No record of our first-ever title in either basketball or football?

mac4lyfe · 03-09-2013, 05:53 PM

I thought there was at least 4 or 5 balls thrown his way but there were several other games where fans threw balls at him so I could be mixing it up.

I remember Vandy coach Newton saying that the balls didn't come from Vandy fans so it must have been more than 1. I would think if it was just 1 that they would have identified the culprit.

Schintzius hit those 2 free throws then hit like the next 7 points for Us. Loved that win but had to be a bad beat for Vandy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GatorPlanet

As I recall, a good number of fans were throwing balls.