Do you remember THE pass? Do you remember how you held your breath the moment you saw the ball leave John Reaves’ hand? Do you remember watching Carlos Alvarez streaking down the West sideline, a good 10 yards behind the Houston corner? Do you remember how you jumped up and down, screaming your lungs out when Carlos made the catch somewhere around the Houston 35 and how you hugged people you didn’t even know as he crossed the goal line to stake the Gators to a 6-0 lead on the third play of the game?
That was September 20, 1969 and if there is one single play that defines a season opener for the Florida Gators it is THE pass — Reaves to Alvarez, 78 yards, touchdown! It is such an important play in Gator football history that all you have to say is THE pass and Gators know exactly what you’re talking about.
It’s one of those moments that you don’t forget. Ever.
In the 1960s, the two moments that are super glued to a spot in my mind are November 22, 1963 and September 20, 1969. No matter what I do, no matter where I go, I’ll never forget where I was when I heard the news that President John Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas nor will I forget watching THE pass.
I was in Fuzzy Fratella’s phys ed class at Westwood when our principal, Mr. Simmons, announced on the loud speaker that when class ended, everyone was to go to their home room. That was pretty weird because we still had two classes to go. When we got to the locker room, David Bricker was crying.
“President Kennedy got shot!” he said through the tears.
We knew it wasn’t a joke. He kept on crying and kept on saying it over and over again. When we got to our home rooms, Mr. Simmons announced on the loudspeaker that President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. He asked us to bow our heads and he said a prayer for our country and for Mrs. Kennedy and her two kids.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. A piece of my childhood died that day when I had to come to grips with the fact that someone would actually shoot and kill the President of the United States. All those World War II stories that my dad and his friends would talk about while drinking endless cups of coffee suddenly weren’t entertainment anymore but a testament that there truly is evil in this world. That is a tough pill to swallow when you’re 12 years old.
I remember THE pass because it was the defining play of a game that ushered in the most exciting year of Gator football that any of us could remember. In those days we were “Wait ‘til next year” Gators. We were always hoping and praying that somehow, some way, that next year would be the year that the Gators finally won the SEC.
That one pass gave us hope that next year would come in our lifetime. Little did we know that Florida’s offensive coordinator Fred Pancoast planned that play back in the spring and all through the summer, Reaves and Alvarez practiced that throw and catch hundreds, maybe even thousands of times. By the time September 20 arrived, Reaves could have probably thrown the pass with his eyes closed and Carlos could have made the catch blindfolded.
Houston came in to Florida Field ranked seventh in the country and predicted by at least one major publication to win the national championship. The Cougars liked to cheat their safeties towards the line of scrimmage so Pancoast suckered them with dive plays up the middle on first and second down. It was all part of the plan. Since the Gators were such a bad throwing team the year before, Houston’s safeties edged even closer to the line of scrimmage on third down. They expected a short pass to the tight end, which is was the staple of Florida’s passing game in 1968 when the Gators were lucky to finish 6-3-1 amid dissension and a quarterback controversy.
Nobody noticed that Carlos Alvarez lined up five yards wider than usual and because this was the pre-internet days, nobody on the Houston sideline or in the booth had bothered to check that Alvarez was the Dade County sprint champion in his high school days. He ran a 9.6 100 yards.
There was no way the Houston safety on the left side of the field was going to be able to help out the corner. Carlos Alvarez blew by the corner like he was standing still. Reaves lofted the pass perfectly and Carlos caught it in stride. The race to end zone was like a gazelle outracing an armadillo.
That one play defined an entire season. The Gators finished 9-1-1 and while they didn’t win the SEC — again — Reaves, Alvarez and the rest of the Super Sophs like Andy Cheney and Tommy Durrance and Mike Rich had two more years. We knew the SEC could be won. In our lifetime. Maybe even next year. And we knew that Florida football would never be the same
Little did we know it would be another 22 years before Florida would finally win a Southeastern Conference championship that actually counted, but during that entire period we clung to the memory of THE pass. It was our watershed moment and we remembered it like it was yesterday.
We still remember it like it was yesterday. The Gators have gone on to win the SEC six more times since that 1991 SEC title and they’ve done the unthinkable by winning two national championships. Yet for those of us who were there that day — the stadium held something like 60,000 but judging by the number of people who have told me they were there, I know at least 400,000 were in attendance — we will never forget THE pass.
It was a play that defined an era. It was a play that made us proud to be Gators. It was a play that gave us hope that we held onto … hope that we still cling to. We still wait for that next play, that one pass or that one run that will define an era in a season opener.
It could happen today. The Gators crank up a brand new season and they’ve got a legitimate chance to win Florida’s second national championship in the last three years. When your offense begins with the Heisman Trophy quarterback and he’s still learning on the job, you’ve got a cornerstone for great expectations. Throw in more talent and more depth than perhaps any Florida team in history and there is a reason why so many experts think the Gators will be there playing in the final game of the 2008 season down in Miami.
At some point against Hawaii today, some Gator is going to have a chance to make a play that will define a season and perhaps define an entire era of Florida football. It might be a Tebow pass to Louis Murphy or a shot out of a cannon run by Chris Rainey or one of those bobbing, weaving, make everybody look silly punt returns by Brandon James, but this might be the year when one Gator etches his name permanently in stone with a play that will always be remembered.
In 1969 it was Reaves to Alvarez. It was THE pass.
Will there be such a play in 2008? Will some Gator make that play you will be remembering 30 years from now when you attend another Florida home opener? We hold our collective breaths. We wait. We hope.
FEARLESS FORECAST: The Gators will get at least one highlight reel run from Emmanuel Moody and perhaps another from Chris Rainey. Tim Tebow will run less and gain more and throw fewer passes but for more yards and more touchdowns. The defense will defend at least 60 Hawaii passes and the Gators will win in a blowout. And maybe, just maybe some Gator will make that play that we’ll be talking about or years and years to come.
I like it Florida 59, Hawaii 21.