One of the best to play QB at Florida.... John Reaves.. passed away yesterday. "John was one of the all-time best quarterbacks to play here. That ’69 Gators team — with John and Carlos Alvarez and Tommy Durrance — that came within one game of winning our first SEC championship was one of the really special teams in the history of our school.” Elected to the UF athletic Hall of Fame in 1985, Reaves led the Gators to one of the most successful seasons in school history in 1969. Reaves, along with several other top sophomores mixed in with a strong group of seniors, helped the Gators go 9-1-1 (the best record in UF history at the time), including an upset of SEC champion Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. The highlight of that season, and perhaps of his stellar three-year UF career, came in his very first start against Houston, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation in one preseason publication. On the third offensive play of the game, Reaves launched a 70-yard touchdown strike to Carlos Alvarez and the Gators were on their way to a 59-34 victory over the Cougars that set the tone for the season. One of those fan moments you never forget.
You know, sometimes I forget that back then we usually only got to watch one game a week and it was a really big deal if your team was on that week. Some really great performances were only seen by maybe 50000 fans in attendance. Reaves was a UF great.
Older Miami fans probably will not be mailing in flowers as the only thing we think of when John Reaves is mentioned is this..... http://www.espn.com/blog/colleges/florida/post/_/id/400/the-gator-flop-40-years-ago https://youtu.be/v-kizAC4bnQ
I remember that Houston game very well, everybody around here was shocked by the loss and monumental game that Reaves had against the Cougars. I remember his short stint with the Oilers as well. Too bad that he struggled with addiction, he clearly had a lot of talent. RIP.
Kp I was only a 14 year old listening intently to the radio call of that 70 yard bomb to Alvarez. As radio can be.... it was an electriying call by the announcer Otis Boggs and quite a start to the Reaves-Alvarez combo at UF.
John was also the grandfather to Lane Kiffin's three kids with Layla Reaves..... John's daughter: "Football has always been a part of Layla’s life. Her father, John Reaves, was an All-American quarterback at the University of Florida and led the Gators to one of their best seasons in 1969 with a victory over Tennessee in the Gator Bowl"
That's an interesting tidbit, I did not know that his ex-wife was the daughter of John Reaves. I wonder how they even met.
I was home listening to that game with Houston on the radio and screaming at the top of my lungs as the game progressed. It was unbelievable.
I always thought the Gator flop was over rated by Miami. Big deal the Gators did not score again they just got Reaves his yardage.
Bill your in a unique position as you attended both Universities if memory serves me right. I understand why the Gators did the flop, everyone does with the game out of reach already. It was the lack of respect towards the other team and fans by in essence laying down and changing how the game is played as expected. To the best of my knowledge its never been done again in such a manner. Can you imagine in today's era of sports media coverage if this was done. The outcry would be the top sports story for weeks at the travesty of poor sportsmanship as the articles and commentary on it piled up. The NCAA would be pressured to reprimand in some fashion as the pressure built up and the SEC would say they would do a thorough investigation into the act. Some extreme sports nuts would probably say Reeves probably shouldn't be eligible for the record because of how the events worked out. But it was 1971 and as kp mentioned in another topic, most games were not televised and very regional where finding out who won the game wasn't realized until you read the Sunday morning paper. Nobody really knew about the flop and really didn't care because it didn't pertain to their team and wasn't replayed 200 times a day on TV as it would be today. Besides the dastardly deed wasn't the flop in my opinion. It was the entire Gator team jumping into Flipper's pool and desecrating his swimming area...Flipper was never the same after that...
I met an ex-Miami cheerleader in the late 80s at a party in Detroit and when I mentioned I was a Gator all she could talk about was her hatred for the Gators because she was on the field that night of the flop cheering for the canes. It really did rub canes fans the wrong way but I was a Reaves fan and was elated that he got the record in what otherwise was a very crappy senior season.
That post game interview cracks me up, coach didn't tell the players to flop down it was the players who decided...Yeah...Right... And I also enjoyed the sports anchor commentary...Bush league I tell ya!!
Actually just having a little fun with the Gators, the team jumping into the pool cracks me up every time...Just another reason why college football is the best game in town in my opinion...Yesterday and today..
What to you want to know? I was there. 2 great teams. 10 NFL first round draft choices and 31 future NFL players were in that game. By far they were the best 2 teams in the nation. End of discussion.
Gipper, I knew I would get a rise out some of the Notre Dame faithful. It's all a matter of perspective.
If the Irish hadn't beaten USC after that game with a backup QB, without their AA QB (Terry Hanratty) and their AA RB (Nick Eddy) at USC when they were ranked #10 by 51-0 they might not have been given the vote. I'm guessing then that Mich State would have won the Nat'l Title instead of Notre Dame. I don't think that year that anybody considered that Alabama even though undefeated was in the same class with either Notre Dame or Michigan State. But I absolutely get it that Alabama fans would think so and I'd be shocked if they didn't. Lou Holtz thought the Arkansas in 1977 should have won the NC, but they finished 3rd behind 2 other 1 loss teams. Irish jumped from #5 to #1 after thrashing Texas in the Cotton Bowl ending their 33 game winning streak and stuffing the Heisman Trophy winner in Earl Campbell. I don't really think Holtz had much of a case as Ark had lost to Texas earlier. I'm sure we can find other times when teams feel like they were deserving of a Nat'l Title, Irish in '93 and '89 felt they were deserving. But that's life. I know I still think that Texas would have beaten Alabama if it weren't for Marcel Darius injuring ( clean hit) Colt McCoy...but that's life. They didn't and Alabama was Champions.