The Florida Gators honored Steve Spurrier on Saturday night with what he said was the single biggest honor he will ever receive in his life. Just before the Gators took the field for the first time of the 2016 season, the new name for the field was unveiled for the crowd: Steve Spurrier-Florida Field.
The crowd kept a steady roar going as Spurrier took the field to give his speech. Gators fans continued to cheer so loud for the winningest coach in Florida football history, it was almost impossible to hear what he was saying. It was just a special moment.
The night continued as Spurrier led the fans as Honorary Mr. Two Bits. He finished with Usain Bolt’s “lightning bolt” celebration. “I told them I was going to do something that nobody’s ever done before,” he said. “I like trying to do stuff that’s never happened before, so I did it.”
Spurrier compiled a 127-22-1 record in his 12 seasons as a coach at Florida and led the Gators to win six SEC Championships and a National Championship. As a player, he won the Heisman trophy, the highest award a college football player can receive, yet he still believes the renaming of the field is his biggest achievement.
“They don’t put guy’s names on a stadium every year,” said Spurrier. “Somebody asked me ‘is that bigger than the Heisman?’ I said well, you know, they do the Heisman every year.”
At halftime, the band wore Steve Spurrier visors as they honored Spurrier and his 1996 National Championship team by spelling out “1966 Spurrier”, “1966 Heisman”, and “1996 Champs”. Members of the 1996 championship team held Spurrier on their shoulders as they were being honored.
Spurrier was emotional as he remembered the players he coached, especially the 1996 team. “One good thing about the guys I coached 20 years ago and so forth is of course they want to win for themselves, their coaches, and their teammates, but they want to win for the University of Florida,” he said. “They want to win for all Gators, so we all shared in the success.”
Spurrier has been welcomed back with open arms as an ambassador for Florida Gators athletics. Now that he is back, it was only appropriate for the man who gave Florida’s field the iconic nickname of ‘The Swamp’ to officially have his name etched on the walls.