FLORENCE – The iconic visor. The fiery sideline personality. The championships. The Heisman Trophy. If you know college football, you know who this is about.
Steve Spurrier, Heisman winner and former head football coach at Duke, Florida, and South Carolina, will be the keynote speaker at the University of North Alabama Lions Athletic Club dinner and auction Aug. 8.
The 2024 Lion Pride event will be at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center at 5 p.m. and will include UNA speakers, a silent auction, and a keynote address from Spurrier followed by a Q&A session. A news conference at 4:30 p.m. will kick off the evening’s festivities.
Sponsorship and meet and greet packages for the event are available immediately and will likely sell out quickly. Tables of eight are on sale for $1,240 each, while individual tickets will go on sale in the summer, if any are available.
For more information, contact Megan Dye at 256-765-4615 or at [email protected]. The event is sponsored by the UNA Foundation.
“The Lions Athletic Club is proud to bring such a distinguished guest to the entire UNA community,” said club Vice President Dan Penny. “Steve Spurrier is not only a Heisman Trophy winner but an accomplished coach at the college and professional levels. We look forward to another sellout in August.”
The last three Lion Pride Dinner and Auction keynote speakers included Pete Rose, Bill Walton and Archie Manning last year, who entertained a sold-out crowd.
Spurrier coached more than 400 games, won a national championship team and seven conference titles, garnered nine conference Coach of the Year awards and won 72.5% of the college games he coached. He spent 11 seasons as head coach at the University of South Carolina until 2015.
He compiled a 226-85-2 (.725) won-loss record in 25 seasons as a major college head coach, including an 84-45 mark (.651) at Carolina. He became the 71st collegiate coach (all divisions) and the 22nd in Division I to record 200 career victories when he defeated UAB on Sept. 15, 2012, and logged his 250th all-time coaching win (including his stints in the pros) against Georgia in 2012.
A Johnson City, Tenn., native, Spurrier led Duke to the 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference championship before returning to his alma mater, the University of Florida, as head coach in 1990. During his 12 seasons with the Gators, Spurrier’s teams won six Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, one national title and finished ranked in the nation’s top 10 nine times.
Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback for the Gators, also had a stint in the NFL with the now-Washington Commanders. He returned to the college ranks in 2005 after a one-year absence from the sidelines.
As a player, Spurrier established himself as one of the best passers in SEC history en route to the 1966 Heisman Trophy. He finished his college career with 4,848 passing yards and 37 touchdowns, breaking numerous Florida and SEC records along the way.
He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers as the third overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft. He played for nine years, spelling John Brodie as quarterback in 1972 and leading the 49ers to a third-consecutive NFC West Title.
“The Head Ball Coach” is a member of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame, the National High School Hall of Dame, the Florida Football Ring of Honor, the South Carolina Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame as a player (1986) and a coach (2017) — becoming just the fourth person to be selected as both a player and a coach.
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