Garnet and Great

He made over 200 tackles as a Nole, including one that stunned a national TV audience

Dan Whitehurst was a big ol' linebacker from a little South Georgia town. During the 1970 - 72 seasons, Dan brought down many opposing ball carriers with teeth-rattling tackles. But the one that older Noles remember best goes back to Thanksgiving night in 1970. FSU was playing Houston, the final game on the turkey day TV menu. The Noles had a fairly stout defense that year, but Houston took advantage of a key second half injury and...But let's allow Whitehurst himself to tell the story.

"We were ahead 26 - 12 at the half. And then Tommy Warren (QB) dislocated his shoulder and didn't tell Coach Henning (offensive coordinator Dan Henning). So he was throwing wounded ducks out in the flats, and they kept intercepting for touchdowns. And on the third one that was going for a touchdown, the guy (Nick Holm) came down our sideline and (Bill) Parcells said 'somebody oughta get him.' And I go, 'I got him, coach.' So I held onto Parcell's arm and reached out just as far as I could -- I had to lean way out there to get him with my foot to trip him. So I didn't even think, I just did it on impulse." 

Were the coaches upset?
"Well, we wound up losing the game 53 - 21, one of the worst defeats we had in ten years or so. But Coach Peterson said he felt like doing it himself. And Parcells's reaction was 'at least I know he's paying attention.' So they didn't give me a real hard time about it."

What was your most memorable game at FSU?
"I guess it would be the inaugural Fiesta Bowl. We couldn't stop Danny White and Arizona State. And Parcells was openly weeping after the game. He just couldn't get the defenses right and Danny White just picked us apart. It wasn't lack of effort, he knew it was coaching, so that's why he was so upset after the game (Note: FSU's Gary Huff threw for 347 yards and two TDs in a seesaw battle won by ASU 45 - 38)."

You played under both Bill Peterson and his successor Larry Jones. Was that a tough transition for the players?
"Jones kept the assistant coaches, so it didn't change too much except that Parcells kind of ran the show. He was a dominating kind of guy. Larry was a good coach, too, a good organizer. But he didn't have an aggressive personality like Parcells did."

Johnny Grubb on the 1970 team that came came within a whisker of winning the College World Series

A trip to the College World Series by the '08 Noles merits a rare baseball tribute here on G&G. We rewind to 38 years ago, back when Florida State's 1970 team came the closest ever to bringing home a national title. FSU played Southern Cal in the championship game, taking the Trojans 15 innings before Frank Alfano's bases loaded infield single broke the 1 - 1 deadlock.

Johnny Grubb was the Centerfielder on that '70 team. Grubb, who went on to play 16 years in the majors, told us it's a game he'll never forget. 

"It was a heartbreaker, because we were leading 1 - 0 and had Pat Osburn pitching for us, a real good lefthanded pitcher. We just battled all the way through, and they happened to tie the game up and brought in Jim Barr, and we had our relief pitcher, Mac Scarce -- both of whom went on to pitch in the majors. And we hooked up 1 - 1 until the 15th inning*. They made a lot of good plays and we made a lot of good plays, but they ended up beating us 2 - 1. I remember standing on the first base line receiving the awards for second place and none of us were very happy about it. I think we should have won it, but we gave it a good battle.

"We got a fantastic reception when we came back, with a police escort and everything. As a young kid it was quite impressive."

Tell us about your Coach, Jack Stallings.
"We had a real good coach in Jack. I think he had played pro baseball so he knew the game and pretty much treated us like pro ball players. He just put us out there and let us play. He was an aggressive coach and we learned a lot from him."

Another Bowden First: FSU wins in the snow

1976 was FSU's season of rebirth under a new head coach. And no victory was more improbable than the game in which a bunch of Sunshine State kids beat North Texas State on a snow covered field.

Kurt Unglaub slushed 91-yards with a Jimmy Black pass for one TD. Later, it was his 2-point conversion catch -- from halfback Larry Key, no less -- with 2:13 left to seal a 21 - 20 outcome. Listen to what Kurt remembers most about that special day in our second Unglaub Audio Extra.

Kurt Unglaub Audio Extra

 

Kurt Unglaub Audio Extra: "We played with intensity."

In this two minute sound clip, Kurt takes another look at Bowden's early days at FSU. While the players of that era didn't have a landmark stadium and two national championships to brag about, they did share a key ingredient missing in the seasons between Peterson and Bowden: a fierce commitment to working hard to win. And not just because the coaches pushed them to go that extra yard.

Kurt Unglaub Audio Extra

 

"We had an attitude. We walked out there and said 'they're not gonna stop us.'" -Kurt Unglaub

Unglaube is the German word for disbelief.

For Kurt Unglaub (1976 - 80) it's a fitting description of his career at FSU: an unbelievable journey from a downtrodden program to top 5 finishes and New Year's day bowl games. 

Kurt could write the book on how Bobby Bowden rebuilt FSU football. He was there from day one, overachieving as a sure-handed receiver who played far bigger than his size and speed might suggest.

In our latest Garnet & Great, Kurt talks about the plays and players that ignited a dynasty, and compares his era to the FSU teams of today.

Kurt Unglaub

 

Darrell Mudra, the Rodney Dangerfield of FSU Coaches

Darrell Mudra gets no respect. Older Noles remember him as "that guy who coached from the press box." Younger FSU fans barely show a flicker of recognition if his name comes up.

But Mudra, who coached only two years, was one play away from possibly turning a team, a season, and a program around. In his first year, his winless Seminoles were playing Alabama off their feet in Tuscaloosa. Had 'em down 7 - 3 with about 90 seconds left in the game. Then, a fateful decision that Mudra fully admits lost it for FSU.

Had the Noles beaten the reigning national champs, who knows. A more confident team that knew it had beaten the best should have won a few more, bolstering recruiting and pulling a losing program out of the ditch. Mudra might have been given more time and resources. And Bobby Bowden may never have gotten the call in 1976.

Coach Mudra took time out from his daily fishing trip in the Gulf to recall how, despite winning only four games in two years, he breathed new life into the program, teeing it up for Bowden to take to heights that FSU fans of the early 70s never imagined.

***

"We made a terrible error at the end of the Alabama game when we took a safety. About the only way they could win was to block a punt. And we didn't take into account that if we hadn't given up that safety, they would have had to score a touchdown. And they hadn't scored a touchdown the whole game. Our punter was a senior and the reason we took the safety is we thought he'd be able to get off a good punt. And without any rush, he had his poorest kick.

"Then Alabama had good field position. They only had one play, I think, and then kicked their field goal.

"Before we took the safety, though, we made a first down and it was bedlam. And, of course, if that first down holds up, the game's over, because there was only about a minute to go. But the officials called us for a movement penalty. We looked at the film (later), and we didn't see anybody moving. That was a terrible call.

"We actually missed three field goals that day. In that first year, we didn't have time to really check out our kicker. So our kicker was a kid from Turkey, who was over here because he wanted to avoid the draft. We just made a mistake playing him. I think we found somebody else before the season was over.

"And I remember we started eight true freshmen against Alabama."

***

"We took over a program that was really in disarray. They didn't even have five pounds of weight. Our weight coach went down to Deland and picked up a bunch of Nautilus machines, and we stared a weight program.

"The other factor when I went to Florida State, the players lived in kind of a den of iniquity at Cash Hall. But we had our study table in the History Building, and our meals at the Student Union. Our players were just all over the place. So the first thing we did is we bought a motel, which was only about a block from the stadium. That got our housing problem worked out. And that first year they had a plan to build a kind of fantasy office for the athletic director. Well, we took the money that was supposed to go into that building, and we built the weight room and an off-season program area. And we used that also for our meals, as well as our study table. So we consolidated everything right there at the stadium to make it easier for the players.

"I think in our second year we lost five games by 15 points. We thought we'd probably win eight games the next year (1976). I remember Bobby Bowden in his book, he said he thought we'd have won more games than he did (in '76). He ended up with a losing season his first year.

"Later, Bobby Bowden invited my team back and he told all my players that he thought our team, the second team that we had there (in 1975), really turned the program around."

Epilogue: After being fired at FSU, Mudra didn't coach again until 1978. At Eastern Illinois University, Mudra took a program that was 1-10 in '77 to a 12-2 record in '78, and won the I-AA National Championship.

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME THREE: Letting a Monumental Upset Slip Away

Losers of 16 straight, FSU came to Tuscaloosa in 1974 and outplayed the outrageously favored Tide. At least until the last 33 seconds of the game, that is, when Bama kicked a  36-yard field goal to lead for the first time.

Final score, 8 - 7. Larry Key scored the only touchdown of the game. But FSU's soccer-style kicker missed three field goals and had one blocked. Any of which could have won it for the Noles. It would have been an upset then akin to App State beating Michigan today.

Darrell Mudra, who coached the Noles in '74 and '75, blames himself. Now retired and fishing the Gulf almost daily, Mudra told us his team would have won if not for making "a huge error at the end of the game."

You're talking about taking a safety?
"We thought the only way they could win was to block a punt. So we took a safety to play it safe. But we didn't take into account the fact that if we didn't take a safety, they would have had to score a touchdown. They hadn't scored a touchdown the whole game. We actually missed three field goal tries (as well as having one blocked). In our first year, we didn't really have time to recruit a kicker. We found a student, a kid from Turkey who was over here because he wanted to avoid the draft.
But he was pretty terrible. We just made a mistake playing him."

You may remember FSU led Bama in every stat except punting.
"We had a good punter, and that's one reason we took the safety. We thought he'd be able to get off a good one without any rush. He had a poor kick. Then Alabama had pretty good field position. They only had one play, I think, and then kicked the (winning) field goal."

How did you get your team pumped up to nearly pull off a major upset?
     "I don't
think we made any special preparation. But we did a real good job defensively against their wishbone. Offensively,
we played a lot of unbalanced line and that caught them off guard.

"After that game, I heard (assistant coach) Dan Henning on the phone with an LSU coach (Bama's next opponent). They wanted to know our (game) plan. So I called Bear and asked 'are you prepared for the unbalanced line?' He said, 'You're damn right. After the fiasco with you guys we're working on it pretty hard.'"

Game photos courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum

The Day FSU Kicked a Field Goal to Beat Miami in the Orange Bowl

Okay, it was September 18, 1971. But you can still amaze your friends with the fact that FSU did beat Miami in the Orange Bowl on a 25-yd. field goal by a little barefoot kicker named Frank Fontes. And with just four minutes and 38 ticks left, the Noles held off two late Miami drives to walk off the winners.

Don Sparkman (1970 — '73) was a sophomore OL that day. Now a Ford executive in Detroit, Sparkman remembers it this way:

"It was a nationally televised game at 1 O'Clock. It was so hot that when we put our hands down on the AstroTurf — the Orange Bowl had one of the first versions of the stuff — it was like putting your hands on blazing asphalt. 

"I recall the game coming right down toward the end. It was pretty close the whole way. Even back then, just like today, Miami sent tons of players to the Pros. They were bigger than Florida State. They were faster than Florida State. But Frank was just an unflappable individual. So when we lined up to kick the field goal, there wasn't much doubt that Frank was going to make it."