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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Think you're just another orange-and-blue-painted face in the crowd?

Think again.

Audience turnout, growing technology and even a horde of hate mail have played an immense role in shaping today's 85th annual Gator Growl.

The tradition began in 1907. UF was an all-male school then, and students invited their fathers to come to Gainesville for a late-October football game weekend called Dad's Day.

In 1916, amid the backdrop of World War I, Dad's Day tradition morphed into a Friday night pep rally.

Scores of young UF men were required to scavenge the local forests in search of wood before nightfall. Students were checked at gates, and if they didn't bring their weight in wood, they were referred to the Freshman Guidance Committee, according to UF archives.

The wood was burned in a large bonfire, which was said to "fire up" student spirit before the Saturday football game.

Despite the pre-game festivities, the Gators football team lost every game in the 1916 season, managing to score only one field goal against Indiana University.

UF's two national football championships and three Heisman Trophy winners show that the times have clearly changed.

On came the roaring '20s. The birth of jazz music, Model Ts and flappers influenced style and Florida's college scene.

An increase in automobiles led to the first paved highway, Waldo Road, which led to a boost in attendance for the annual Dad's Day.

Increased interest in the pep rally prompted the administration to assemble a group of 20 student leaders to help plan Dad's Day in 1923, according to the Florida Blue Key Web site.

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The group was called The Knights of the Blue Key, now known as Florida Blue Key, according to archives. Because more families were able to travel, the name was changed to Homecoming.

With more people flocking to campus for the event, each year's show needed to trump the previous one.

In 1927, the first fireworks display forced the pep rally to move outdoors. The ceremonies were moved to Florida Field, now known as Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, in 1930.

Blue Key students replaced traditional boxing matches and evening sports with comedy skits in 1932 and called the mainly student-produced event "Gator Growl."

Legend has it that the rally's title came from a 1931 Florida Blue Key meeting to come up with a new name. Discouraged after not producing a proper name, one member walked out of the meeting in exasperation, saying, "Oh, let the Gator growl!"

The name stuck.

New technology sparked public interest in the show with the first televised broadcast to more than 100 stations in Florida, Georgia and a number of Southern states in 1952.

Sharon Connell, Florida Blue Key office administrator, said the increase in automobiles made preparing for the parade a big deal for fraternities.

"The floats became more elaborate as years went on," Connell said.

During fall semester of 1953, the first homecoming queen pageant marked an increased interest in student groups' involvement in Growl, which further increased attendance.

Unlike later Growls, skits were performed live on the field, Connell said. Students tried out beforehand, and a winner was chosen live out of three finalists.

With increased attendance at Growl and football games, UF administration had to add bleachers to the stadium. The stadium filled with women in bobby sox, saddle shoes and poodle skirts, Connell said.

Men sported letterman sweaters, varsity jackets and blue jeans with the greaser style.

"But it was a lot like today where people decorate houses and banners the week before Growl," said Connell, who graduated from UF in 1969.

She has worked for 18 years in the Blue Key office and observed changes in the quality of acts over the years.

"It's a lot more professional now, only because Blue Key had to be," she said. "There are more factors added into the show today, like fireworks and staging, that need to be hired professionally. But students still run every aspect of the show, right down to the costumes used for the skits."

Connell said when she was in school, high school bands used to play on the field for a pre-Growl show to entertain people while they were in their seats.

Tickets were free for a number of years until 1973, when Growl tickets were upped to 50 cents a person because of its first big name act: comedy duo Cheech and Chong.

High attendance wasn't always an easy feat.

In 1982, a crude performance from Robin Williams resulted in hundreds of angry letters to the Blue Key office and a loss of alumni confidence, according to Blue Key records.

Ryan Merkel, a 2008 economics graduate and a member of the Gator Growl 2006 and 2007 board, remembered when his parents took him to Growl at age 5 and years later when family-friendly comedians, such as Bill Cosby, performed.

Merkel said after offensive performances from Jim Breuer in 2001 and other recent comedians, the show began to see a decline in crowds.

"It's hard to convince people to bring their kids when the comedy is so crude," he said. "Alumni didn't even want to come, and students were even getting tired of it. When Breuer stormed off stage, the Growl fell apart."

As a result, Blue Key made a push toward a more general community interest in 2006 with Jim Gaffigan's performance and the 2007 performances of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Frank Caliendo.

New traditions, such as crowning a homecoming king, brought new interest from students, doubling attendance at the homecoming pageant, said Merkel, who was crowned the first homecoming king in 2007.

Although students have tweaked Growl's appearance over the last 85 years, it remains one of the biggest and most popular traditions in UF history.

"Gator Growl is extremely unique," Merkel said. "No other college or university has anything to come close."

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