March 1, 2010
Orlando, FL (www.UCFAthletics.com) - The below feature is my second tale in a series of eight exclusive short stories around the founding of the UCF Football program. The series is entitled "Saturday Knights Live...the History of UCF Football."
During the summer of 2007 and prior to the opening of Bright House Networks Stadium, former inaugural team member Michael O'Shaughnessy, and I sat down to recount all of the old tales, myths and characters associated with the launch of our historic 'Fighting' Knights. I've sewn together all of these tidbits and anecdotes into these short reads.
Once again, thanks to Michael, UCF University Archives, Central Florida Future, the Orlando Sentinel and UCF Athletics Communications for their outstanding chronicles of past UCF football seasons.
This particular story details the events surrounding the first-ever game at St. Leo in 1979, and what an incredible, but horrible day (weather-wise) it was for UCF. We also recap the short, but integral, UCF career of coach Don Jonas and his D-3 Knights.
Enjoy!
Joe Hornstein
Associate Director of Athletics
Part 2 of 8: Saturday Knights Live...The History of UCF Football
St. Leo wanted to call off the game. The sky had gone dark and a torrential downpour turned the football field into a flooded cow pasture. However, UCF head coach Don Jonas insisted that the game must be played; history would not be halted.
Waiting out the storm, the team assembled in a hallway of a nearby classroom building for Jonas' inaugural pre-game speech. He spoke of the game's importance and how future UCF football teams would either succeed or fail based on the day's results. UCF could establish a winning tradition if it could win this game.
UCF went on to shutout St. Leo, 21-0. Bobby Joe Plain scored UCF's first touchdown on a 13-yard pass reception from Mike Cullison in the first quarter. Cullison registered UCF's first rushing touchdown on a 2-yard plunge in the second quarter, running behind standout center Dan Burke. Mike Stapp was the first 100-yard rusher with his 101-yard effort. Plain, Jim Taylor and Bobby Ross were catching slippery passes all day. The defensive blanking was led by a 17-year-old kid named Bill Giovanetti, the team's leader on defense, along with the likes of Michael O'Shaughnessy, "Big" Ed Gantner, Doug Gatewood, Eddie James, Ron Johnson, Tim Kiggins, Bill "the Rooster" Ray and "Spiderman" Mark Robinson.
A week later, in a defensive slugfest, UCF hosted its first home game and defeated Ft. Benning, 7-6, in front of a Division III record 14,138 fans. UCF went on to post a 6-2 record in its inaugural season that featured a bare-bones budget. Away games often meant 12- to 20-hour bus rides, a $6 meal allowance per player with stops at cheap little markets for food and many sleeping four to a room for overnights. Even with the hardship, the team established an NCAA Division III record for attendance with an average of 11,240 per home game at the Tangerine Bowl and the program finished the year in the black with a surplus of $20,000.
Plain led the inaugural team with 308 yards receiving and five touchdowns, while Stapp rushed for 444 yards and two scores. Cullison finished the year with 904 yards passing and eight touchdowns. Giovanetti paced the defense with 96 tackles and O'Shaughnessy had 10 sacks. Kiggins and Gatewood each had three interceptions.
The next season, the UCF Athletic Authority announced that the head coach position would become full-time on January 24, 1980 and extend the position to Jonas on March 26, who would receive $23,000 as salary along with an additional $10,000 to hire up to five assistant coaches. The team's local popularity grew since the first season, with close to 200 players trying out for the Knights in their second year.
UCF's first game in 1980 resulted in a 30-21 loss to Carson Newman, but by season's end the result was overturned when an Eagles running back was later declared ineligible. The only tie in UCF football history also occurred in 1980, when O'Shaughnessy preserved an 11-11 tie against Miles with a forced fumble on the quarterback on third-and-goal with minutes left on the clock. In the season finale, UCF battled to preserve a non-losing record by scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter for an 18-14 win over Emory & Henry and a 4-4-1 record. In the game, O'Shaughnessy once again preserved a UCF victory with a school-record five sacks, all in the second half.
Stapp again led the team in rushing with 319 yards, while Cullison passed for 1,039 yards and 10 touchdowns, and Jeff Froehlich led all receivers with 26 catches for 275 yards and three touchdowns. It was an identical repeat on defense with Giovanetti (108 tackles), O'Shaughnessy (12 sacks), Kiggins (3 INT) and Gatewood (3 INT) all atop the statistics.
Kiggins became the first decorated Knight in 1980, earning third-team All-America honors while also being the first UCF football player to sign a professional contract, joining the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts.
Jonas would be at the helm for the first three seasons, leaving after the 1981 campaign to take control of UCF's Gridiron Club just prior to the team's move to NCAA Division II.
The following year, 1981, UCF finished 4-6 in its final season as a Division III member and the team's associate head coach Sam Weir, who was previously the head coach at nearby Lake Howell High School, assumed the reins as interim head coach after Jonas' departure on July 2. UCF and Bethune-Cookman would play in the first annual Mayor's Trophy game in the season finale. The Knights narrowly fell short to the Division I-AA Wildcats, 24-20.