Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>Don Crews shows off his UF football ticket stubs. On Saturday, he attended his 500th Gators football game.</p>

Don Crews shows off his UF football ticket stubs. On Saturday, he attended his 500th Gators football game.

As fans poured into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday night for the UF versus Florida Atlantic University match-up, UF alumnus Don Crews celebrated a milestone few Gators only dream of achieving.

He attended his 500th Gators football game.

He made the trek up to his row-81 seats near the 25-yard line - seats he's had for 39 years as a season ticket holder - and watched Coach Will Muschamp lead the Gators to a win for his UF debut.

Crews, 76, graduated from UF in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in building construction.

He went to the Gators home games as a student, but he couldn't afford to attend away games.

He started going to away games in 1965 when he and his wife of 53 years, Lu, returned to Florida after spending a year in New Jersey.

Crews has about 502,000 miles on his Ford, which he's had for eight years and drives to every away game because he doesn't like to fly.

"I'm not one of those guys that have flags and banners and all that junk," he said. "When the game comes, I go to the game. Every Florida game is important."

When the Gators season starts, Crews' family knows where he'll be every gameday. Whether the game is in Gainesville, a few hours away from his Cocoa Beach home, or in another state, he'll be there.

"I can't remember when I missed a game," he said.

His family also knows not to plan any important events on Gators gamedays. When his oldest daughter, 45-year-old Christine O'Shea, set her wedding date, it was unfortunately on the same day as a UF football match.

"I said, ‘Well, I won't be there,'" Crews said. "‘I'll be at the Gator game.' So she changed the date."

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

He doesn't miss a game.

His youngest daughter, 38-year-old Cathleen Gray, was born on a Friday in October.

Crews spent time with his wife and newborn daughter in the hospital that night.

The next morning he headed out to watch the Gators play.

"He's just that kind of guy," Lu Crews said. "He's very consistent."

For the past several years, the Gators football team has kept one date open for Crews -Oct. 20, his wedding anniversary.

The couple has a tradition of traveling to away games before their anniversary and then continuing their trip up to the mountains to spend time together every year, Lu said.

This year, they'll attend the Louisiana State University and Auburn University games during their anniversary trip, which will end at the UF versus University of Georgia game in Jacksonville.

"That's kind of very special for us, those fall games," Lu said.

When Crews was younger, he would get into a fight every time he went to the Florida-Georgia game, according to his friend Fred Sharp, whom he has known since the 1960s.

"Georgia has always been the most vehement of our opponents," said Sharp, who is also a UF alumnus. "The fans have been at odds with each other ever since I've been going, too."

After decades of Gators games, Crews has a few favorite players.

Former UF quarterback Tim Tebow is one of them, along with Emmitt Smith and Danny Wuerffel.

But the best football player he's ever seen? That's Wilber Marshall.

Now that the Gators football season has officially started, Crews will start his ritual over again.

For every home game, every away game and every championship or bowl game the Gators play this season, he'll be there in the stands cheering them on.

After 500 games, Crews has seen the Gators win and loose.

He's seen them win national championships and lose Southeastern Conference championships.

But after 500 games, there's still one thing he's never seen.

"I've never seen them win every game in one year, and I'm hoping I'll live long enough to see them win every game in a season," he said.

But whether they achieve that goal or not, one thing won't change.

Don Crews will always be at the Gators games - rain or shine, win or lose.

Don Crews shows off his UF football ticket stubs. On Saturday, he attended his 500th Gators football game.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.