Go Gators!: An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory

by Peter Golenbock

Go Gators! takes the reader through every milestone of this legendary team, from their humble origins through their gradual rise to perennial New Year’s Day bowl-game contestants. Widely considered to be one of the dean of sportswriters, Peter Golenbock has authored six New York Times bestsellers including The Bronx Zoo, Personal Fouls, and Cowboys Have Always Been My Heroes. 30 black-and-white photos and first-time interviews with over 60 Gators who played between 1946 and 2001 are offered.

722 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Golenbock grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, and in 1963 graduated St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut. His heroes were Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford. One day in the local library he discovered the book, The New York Yankees: An Informal History by Frank Graham ( G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1943) and it made a strong impression on him.''

Golenbock graduated from Dartmouth College in 1967 and the New York University School of Law in 1970.

He was a radio sports talk show host in 1980 on station WOR in New York City. He was the color broadcaster for the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Senior Professional Baseball League in 1989-90 and has been a frequent guest on many of the top television and radio talk shows including "Biography on A&E," the "Fifty Greatest Athletes and the Dynasties on ESPN," "Good Morning America," "Larry King Live," "ESPN Classic," and the YES network.

Golenbock lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his two basset hounds, Doris and Fred.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a Florida Gator fan and I never will be. But you don't have to give a crap about the Florida Gators football program or their success to enjoy this terrific oral history of Gator football from 1958 to 2001.

There were so many insightful and candid interviews in this book, which made you really appreciate Peter Golenbock's efforts in putting this book together.

The only ingredients that I wished that this book had was interviews with Steve Spurrier about his legendary coaching career (1990 to 2001); star receiver Reidel Anthony on his career at Florida from 1994 to 1996; stud running back Errict Rhett (1990 to 1993); and quarterback Eric Kresser and his thoughts on being in Danny Wuerffel's shadow and his subsequent decision to transfer to Marshall after the 1995 season.

You know what though? Maybe Spurrier, Anthony, Rhett, and Kresser didn't return Golenbock's calls for interviews or maybe the author didn't ask those guys for interviews. I don't know.

Meanwhile, this book aint for casual football fans. You really have to love football or be a football historian to finish this book. Me, I'm a football nerd so reading this 695-page book was nothing for me.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a huge Gator fan, this book disappointed me a lot. One of the biggest problems is that is was POORLY edited. I was constantly distracted by the misspellings and other basic errors. Get a proofreader.