February 3, 1964: Three UF faculty members are among 10 people killed when a twin-engine aircraft crashes immediately following takeoff at Gainesville Municipal Airport. South Central Airlines Flight 510, departing for Jacksonville, loses power in its left engine and falls about 75 feet to the runway. William G. Cowperthwaite, James W. Willingham and David V. Legate are on board.
February 1, 1966: The athletic department announces plans to expand seating at the football stadium, bringing its capacity to 56,000. The added stands on the east side will mirror the already existing stands on the west side. The expansion is made to solve what track and field coach Percy Beard calls “the student seating problem.”
“With the added 10,000 seats there should be ample seating for all,” Beard said.
February 3, 1982: A university police officer draws his revolver on two UF students he believes to be armed. The students are actually carrying two toy dart guns as part of a campus-wide mock assassination game called “Killer.” UF Police Capt. Vernon Holliman uses the incident as an example for why the game is dangerous.
“If one of them gets killed, it’ll be on all their hands,” Holliman said.
