Author Q&A: Historic Photos of University of Florida Football

Wednesday, 23 September 2009 09:27

In honor of another season of Gator football, we recently talked with Kevin McCarthy, whose book, Historic Photos of University of Florida Football, comes out this month. McCarthy has written about the University of Florida and Gainesville for years. He shared with us his season predictions and some fun facts about the making of the book.

By Casey Goldstein

Many of your books are about Florida. Are you from Florida?

I am from New Jersey. I came down in 1969 to work for the university.

How did you learn so much about Florida football?

I taught a course for about 10 years on writing about football (in the fall), and writing about baseball (in the spring). So I came to know about the history of the SEC football and football at the school. Now I’m writing about the city of Lake City, where the university used to be, and I’m now discovering that there was a football team there in the 1890s.

How has Gainesville changed since you first started teaching here?

The University has grown dramatically; there was probably about half the student body. The city has slowly grown but it has remained a small tree city that is still a nice place to raise children.

You’ve written about everything from a history of Christmas in Florida to a book on Saudi Arabia.

I’ve had about 44 books published; about 95 percent are about the State of Florida. I’ve written about arts, history, baseball and this is probably the third book I’ve written about UF football.

How did you get the idea for this book?

The University had just won the third national championship, so there was much more interest in the University and the sports, especially football and basketball. I have a wonderful collection of photos going back 100 years and I thought I’d like to share them with the public.

Many of the photos haven’t been seen in a long time, or at all. How did you get access to all the pictures and research?

From two sources—my own collection of photographs, which I’ve collected from the sports info archive on campus and the Florida archive in Tallahassee. I also collected pictures from UF archives and old yearbooks.

Do you prefer writing books like this, in which you provide small pieces of information to accompany pictures?

I prefer books with pictures, paintings and illustrations. I think that people enjoy—as I do—reading books with illustrations in them.

What was the most interesting fact you learned?

One of the earliest coaches became a general in the army: James Van Fleet. The UF ROTC building is name after him. After coaching, he became the head of allied forces in the Korean conflict.

What was your greatest challenge in writing the book?

Deciding which pictures to put in and which to leave out; I had a limitation of about 200 pages.

What was your favorite Gator football season?

1969, because that was the beginning of the modern football era. The coach was Ray Graves, and the Gators were supposed to be a mediocre team. The first game, the Gators were playing the No.1 team—University of Houston. In the third play, the quarterback, John Reaves, threw to Carlos Alvarez; he scored a touchdown. Those touchdowns lead to a wide-open offense for the rest of the season, and throughout Steve Spurrier’s coaching career at UF.

Any predictions for this year’s season?

It much depends on injuries. If the Gators can stay injury-free, they can win the SEC championship. Then it depends on what other teams do.

Is Tim Tebow going to win the Heisman again?

Yes, I think he has a chance, because of his receivers. They worked hard over the summer; they know each other very well and get along very well now. Tebow is a very strong runner-passer and a very strong leader.

I know you mentioned you were working on a book about Lake City. Any other current projects?

There is the History of Lake City book. Second, the biography of Judge Mickle, the first black undergrad at UF, the second black student at UF and also the first black county judge of Alachua county.

Third, I am working on the biography of a man who only has one leg, but was a very successful basketball player, football player and high-jumper. He is an inspiration to others who have had physical aliments.

What’s your favorite past time, other than writing?

Traveling. My wife and I do a lot of cruises. We lecture on cruise ships in the Mediterranean and South America.

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