1950, A New Place To Play And A Fight Song

By Jim Joanos

Sewanee Game Program Cover Game played on Oct 28, 1950

It was 1950. I was in the eleventh grade at Tallahassee’s Leon High School. Members of Leon’s football team were given free passes to FSU’s home games so I went to them.

That season was a very successful one for FSU’s football team which at the time competed at the small college level. Head Coach Don Veller led the team to an 8-0 undefeated season and a 4-0 Dixie Conference championship. The team moved into a new stadium and got a fight song. Since 1947, when FSU, converted from a fine women’s college into a co-educational one, began anew an intercollegiate football program, they had been playing their home games at the old Centennial Field which was located where Cascades Park is now. Sometime in the mid 50’s some Tallahassee business men led the way and raised the funds necessary to build a stadium. Most of the money was raised by folks buying a $50 “Stadium Ticket Agreement” that entitled the bearer to a seat in the stadium for the home games for the first five seasons of FSU football. Yes, $50 for five seasons!! The new stadium had total seating for up to 16,000, composed of bleacher-like stands with half that number on each side of the playing field.

FSU beat Troy State on the road, 26-7, to open the 1950 season. Next on October 7, 1950, FSU played its first game ever at the new Doak S. Campbell Stadium, defeating Randolph-Macon College, 40-7. The next week FSU played Howard at the new stadium and beat them, 20-6. The losing Howard quarterback that day would come back to that same place years later as a coach and do much better. His coaching was so successful that the same field that he had lost on as a quarterback would be named for him. His name was “Bobby Bowden.”

The following week FSU won at Newberry College, 24-0. Of special note, was the performance of FSU’s tailback, Nelson Italiano. He ran for 110 yards, including a touchdown, and completed two touchdown passes. One was for 80 yards to Eddie Gray and the other for 20 yards to Clint Thomas.

FSU played its homecoming game the next week against Sewanee (The University of the South) and won, 14-8. FSU had been the heavy favorite to win the game but was fortunate just to pull out the narrow victory. FSU’s big play of the game enabling the victory occurred in the third quarter. On defense, FSU’s Ted Hewitt intercepted a Sewanee pass and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown.

That day, October 28, 1950, is remembered for more than the game. On that day several other important things happened. The stadium was dedicated and named for FSU’s president, Doak S. Campbell, who had been the leader in reestablishing college football at the institution. In attendance was a plethora of state officials including the Governor of Florida, Fuller Warren. A future Governor was also there. Rueben Askew, FSU Student Body President at the time was also among those on the agenda.

On the same day, a new “fight song” was introduced. A student leader, Doug Alley, had written some lyrics that began with, “We are going to fight, fight, fight for FSU…”. A music professor, Tommie Wright, added music to the lyrics and FSU had what has become a well-known anthem.

The next game was at Stetson. FSU’s Nelson Italiano threw two touchdown passes and the Seminoles racked up 215 yards on the ground and defeated the hatters, 27-7. The Seminoles came back to Campbell Stadium the following week and totally dominated Mississippi College, 33-0. FSU’s Harry Bringger had two touchdown receptions.

FSU’s last game of that 1950 season was at home against Tampa and the Seminoles beat the Spartans 35-19. In addition to the victory which concluded FSU’s first ever undefeated season that game is remembered for a number of things. The temperature on that Saturday following Thanksgiving was in the teens. Those of us in attendance shivered throughout. It was and still is the coldest game ever played by the Seminoles at Campbell Stadium. It was so cold that Coach Veller at halftime took the team to FSU’s traveling bus, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” instead of the locker room as it was much warmer there. It must have worked wonders, as FSU’s offense, especially the running game dominated the second half. Another memorable event in that game was a punt by FSU’s Tommy Brown in the first quarter. From the FSU 15-yard line, his punt sailed to Tampa’s 30-yard line where it bounced on the frozen turf all the way into the opponent’s end zone for a total of 85 yards. That 85-yard punt has been the school record ever since. It is very unlikely that it will be broken anytime soon.

FSU turned down another invitation to go to the Cigar Bowl at the end of that season. The players were not on scholarship and most worked during the Christmas holidays to help pay their education expenses. In addition, they had been very disappointed the year before when they defeated Wofford at the Cigar Bowl. Instead of receiving watches or some other satisfactory victory tokens, they had been presented with small, inexpensive, miniature plastic footballs.

So much happened that season. In addition to the new stadium, the fight song, and the last of the Dixie Conference championships, it was the last season that FSU competed as a purely amateur team. Following that season FSU began to award some football scholarships and began slowly at first to play teams in the upper echelons of college football. For me, the 1950 season, was one of the most memorable.

About the author:

Jim Joanos

Memories of Garnet and Gold

Jim Joanos and his wife Betty Lou have deep roots at Florida State University. Avid sports fans, they have literally seen, and done, it all. Fortunately for us, Jim loves telling first-hand accounts dating back to FSU’s first football game, a 1947 clash with the Stetson Hatters on Centennial Field, where Cascades Park is today.

The Osceola will run a series of these colorful stories written by the former Tallahassee lawyer and judge, which we feel our readers will find enlightening and/or nostalgic.

Jim and Betty Lou, who was Associate Director of the FSU Alumni Association (1991-2003), have been married 65 years and are each listed as one of FSU’s 100 Distinguished Graduates. The couple were enshrined in the FSU Hall of Fame in 2015 as Moore-Stone Award Recipients. Ironically, both Deans Moore and Stone were instrumental in the Joanoses career development.

“Both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos have been exemplary fans and supporters of Florida State University, both academically and athletically,” said Andy Miller, retired President and CEO of Seminole Boosters, Inc. “You can’t go to an athletic event of any kind that you don’t see both Jim and Betty Lou Joanos together. They love their university as much as they love each other.”