His brief, eventful football career,
After a brief career as a player, actor stayed close to program for decades.
Before he was Burt, he was Buddy. Before he was the Bandit, he was an all-state football player for Palm Beach High (now Dreyfoos School of the Arts) in West Palm Beach.
Yes, iconic Hollywood movie star, director and sex symbol Burt Reynolds, who died Thursday at 82, was a star on the football field long before he made women swoon in his string of starring roles in the 1970s and ’80s.
In his movies, Reynolds often played big-screen-sized versions of the fun-loving, good-looking boy who grew up in Riviera Beach and went on to play football at Florida State, where one of his roommates was Lee Corso, who later was a college foot
ball coach but became famous as an ESPN analyst. “Burt was a lifelong friend who was extremely
Kentucky at Florida
7:30 p.m., SEC GAINESVILLE — It’s no secret
Florida’s offense looked in sync in the first half Saturday night.
Feleipe Franks and com2014, Florida’s 3,834 penalty pany helped lead the Gators yards ranked atop the SEC, to a 38-0 halftime advantage and recent history hasn’t been over Charleston Southern, much better — the transition with Franks’ five touchdown to an up-tempo offense wasn’t passes paving the way in UF’s expected to be seamless. season opener. Yet the Gators were penal
The potent offense was ized just twice for 15 yards the main takeaway for many, in the first half, a noticeable but it overshadowed the improvement for an offen- revamped up-tempo system sive line that struggled with that coach Dan Mullen and clean play last season. quarterbacks coach Brian And that’s the message in Johnson implemented this Florida’s locker room: Avoid offseason. penalties to keep the offense
The Gators ran 45 plays in moving swiftly and decisively. the first half, as opposed to “Playing clean is always 21 plays in the second half great. You get a holding call with backup quarterbacks or an illegal procedure or Kyle Trask and Emory Jones something like that, it’s going under center. to set back the whole drive,”
Following Saturday’s con- left guard Tyler Jordan said. test, Franks said the empha- “Makes it harder to move sis on an up-tempo style of down the field.” play gives him an advantage in And the key to clean play? reading the opposing defense. That often comes from the
“It’s kind of like we can see cerebral facet of the game. what defense they’re in with Every player on the ros30 seconds left on the play ter is experiencing a transiclock,” Franks said. “So you tion when it comes to menhave time to kind of adjust tal preparation, yet Florida’s or whatever we want to do veterans on offense said they at that point. It’s definitely have taken the responsibil- to our advantage.” ity of mentoring the under-
Considering Florida has classmen about the cognitive struggled with penalties over requirements that come with the past decade — from 2010 to an up-tempo offense. close to me for the last 64 years,” Corso said in a statement. “We have always stayed in touch, through the good and the bad times of our lives, talking about once a month for as long as I can remember.
“It was just two weeks ago that we were talking about the upcoming college football season and the Noles. Burt, better known as ‘Buddy’ to his friends, loved FSU football and no matter how big a star he became, he never forgot his friends TALLAHASSEE — There aren’t from the FSU football fammany positives to a short touchdowns ily. I will forever remember week for a college football 35 seconds prevented an our conversations and the team. embarrassing loss to an FCS true friend that he was.”
Practice time is condensed again, you don’t learn a lot school. Reynolds played parts of dramatically. So is recovery from the wins. You learn a Nine years later, the Semtwo seasons at FSU beforea time. There are fewer hours lot about yourself, and you inoles are playing another knee injury ended his foot- to correct the mistakes from learn a lot about what really FCS program in a short-week ball career but steered his the Monday night opener, matters as a football team, game. This time it’s a Samlife toward acting. and fewer hours to prepare when you get a butt-whip- ford team coming off a 66-7 Still, his connection to the for the following Saturday’s ping.” win over Division II Shorter Seminoles remained strong opponent. What Florida State fans are University. for the rest of his life. He was
It’s not an ideal situation hoping to see Saturday is a Quarterback Devlin frequently around the pro— no matter who the upcombutt-whipping of an oppo- Hodges, the returning South- gram and even had a reging opponent might be. nent. And Samford, an FCS ern Conference Player of ular spot on “The Bobby
But if there is one positive school, would seemingly be the Year, completed 25 of Bowden Show,” where he for the Florida State Semi- the perfect candidate. 36 passes for 330 yards, five introduced film clips of vin- noles after their 24-3 loss to Especially if you go by touchdowns and no intercep- tage Seminoles moments. Virginia Tech in the season recent history of short-week tions. Samford, which went Reynolds was an all-state opener, it’s that they don’t games. 8-4 last year and advanced and All-Southern fullback have a lot of time to feel sorry Since 2009, 17 teams have to the FCS playoffs, was the at Palm Beach High and for themselves. played on a Monday night preseason choice to win the accepted a scholarship to
A nd if they play well and then on the following Southern Conference in 2018. Florida State, where he against Samford on Satur- Saturday. Those teams are The Bulldogs have played played parts of the 1954 and day, that taste from the sea16-1, with an average mar- SEC teams each of the last ’57 seasons. He suffered a son-opening defeat won’t be gin of victory of 34.9 points. two seasons, losing to Geor- knee injury that led to his quite as bitter. The only program to lose gia 41-14 in 2017 and to Misreturn to South Florida,
“I wish we played tomor- the second game? Virginia sissippi State 56-41 in 2016. where he took acting classes row,” FSU offensive coordiTech in 2010, when the The Seminoles are heavy and set off on his transfor- nator Walt Bell said. “I wish Hokies were upset by FCS favorites, obviously, but there mation from Buddy to Burt. we’d come out here and prac- James Madison. (The Hokis the challenge of playing a Realizing he could no tice a little bit and then go ies went on to win 11 concapable, albeit smaller, collonger play football, Reynplay. Because really, at the secutive games, including a lege football team that has olds told his teammates: end of the day, that’s the only win over Florida State in the four extra days of rest. “I’m leaving. I’m not the way to (get over the loss). ACC Championship Game.) “We’re going to be ready,” player I was. I’m going to
“But these next couple of But FSU fans also recall running back Jacques Patgo off to Hollywood to be days of practice are going to how difficult their own shortrick said. “It’s tough to play a movie star.” be critically important for us. week game was in 2009. two games in one week, but Over the course of his Not just for Saturday, but for After losing to Miami in heart- we’re up for the challenge. collegiate career, Reynolds moving forward. Because, breaking fashion, the Sem- This is Florida State.” ran for 146 yards on 19 car- Samford at Florida State, 7:20 p.m., ACC
“I would say the most dif- ficult thing would be thinking fast,” wide receiver Dre Massey said. “You’ve just got to click, you’ve got to know what you’ve got, hurry up and get it.
“I think being younger, it’s kind of harder to do that, but it goes with confidence and then knowing the playbook. We just make sure the younger guys understand what to do within their plays. We know how to line up and how to line up fast . ... We’ve got to pay attention to the details.”
For an offense with as much skill-position talent as the Gators have, an up-tempo offense gives Mullen a chance to get everyone involved. That should keep the unit fresh — and potentially lethal — in the process.
Now, with SEC play swiftly approaching, it’s a matter of Florida implementing what it has preached and practiced.
“I love that. If we can go up-tempo ... I think it keeps the defense on their toes,” Mullen said. “That was one of the things for us going into the game: I want to play with great tempo, get up, get down, get adjusted to doing that. And I thought they handled that. Our (offensive) line, I think we can be a little bit faster at getting moving at times, but they did a good job.” ted on TV attending games, especially during the dominant seasons under coach Bobby Bowden.
The easygoing, dadgummit-dropping Bowden and the affable, witty actor were a pairing straight out of central casting when they stood together on the field before games at Doak Campbell Stadium. One story Reynolds frequently retold was how impressed he was that Bowden knew his real name when they first met. Later, Reynolds realized that Bowden called everyone “Buddy.”
Bowden referenced his friendship with Reynolds during some of his many ries and scored two touch- speaking engagements. One downs. of his favorite stories:
A bio of Reynolds on SemBefore the 2007 season, inoles.com details his brief Reynolds wanted to buy football career in garnet the team new uniforms, and gold: but Bowden declined his
“Buddy Reynolds began offer. Reynolds then gave his Florida State football Bowden a check for $50,000 career with a 33-yard pass and told Bowden to use it reception against the Geor- to buy whatever the playgia Bulldogs as a freshman ers needed. in 1954. knee injury forced Before a game against Alahim from the lineup in midbama that season, Reynolds season and he missed the and Bowden were on the entire 1955 campaign folfield together and Reynolds lowing surgery. He returned asked what Bowden had to Florida State in 1957 but used the money for. once again was sidelined by Bowden, reminding Reyninjury, which ended a prom- olds that he said to spend on ising career. He went on to the money on whatever he become one of the most thought the players needed successful actors in box most, told the actor: “I gave office history and earned it to the officials.” an Academy Award nomiBowden was traveling to nation in 1999. For years he Akron, Ohio, on Thursday has hosted a segment of ‘The to watch his son Terry’s UniBobby Bowden Show’ along versity of Akron team play with close friend Gene Deck- Morgan State. He could not erhoff and he has remained be reached for comment. an ardent supporter of SemiActing carried Buddy nole Athletics and the entire Reynolds far from Riviera university.” Beach and Tallahassee, but
Reynolds’ playing days football never left his blood, ended, but his love for FSU as he starred in the popunever waned. He made genlar gridiron movies “Semierous donations to the uni- Tough” and “The Longest versity for uniforms, scholYard.” arships and endowments. Reynolds was elected to Reynolds was often spot- the FSU Hall of Fame in 1977.
A