Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 12

E) ST. PETERSBURG TIMES seondloiFiF Gators wore literally blue, 6-C By AAV HOUIMAN section SUNDAV. DECEMBER 3. 1978 Gattoro muU Dickey 1111 1 Ei FX3 OAINKSVIIXK Fliiriiln i plara Ui win one lt xum for Ifcmg Jn key tnM Snturdiiv fli-rnini with an incredible run of wcond hulf niininkex thai nulili-d Ihr I'niVfmilv of Miiiini Ui tne 21 'HI diTicit mid ln-Ht th 2l. Florida had I lie hull nine Um in I hill dim-trou fcMnrid hull und not rid of it only one lime withuul dnini! u'tne ihniK wriinii- The other eight poMmoiuni ended, in order: Khankvd yard punt, lt fumhle, interreption, I5 ynrd wiuilty after punt for interiereme with fair tuti interreption, twt fumhle, inter reptinn, interceptmn.

"It really hurt that we couldn't pull it off," mikI Florida wnior defenmvt tackle Mike llul'ree in the Klm.iiiv (ialor linker rnim. "Hut what hurt even mure win the fart that we know we hmild hiive wnn." THI I)I( KF.Y ended hi nine-year nirccr at Klnrida with a 4 7 record, whii MjiiiiU his Worst. Hit 4-7 team in I'J'I wn hin only other loner, and the hms to Miami Siiturday marked the fir-t lime in Him.I hixtnry the (iator have lost to their archrival Miami, Florida State and GenrKia the ame year. The win gave ti f) Miami its first winninK -nson since 1974 and only iu third in a doien year. I'p 11(1 liefore the icame wa five minutes old and ahead 21 at the half, he Gatnrx seemed alniut to express via a lopsided victory their disappointment at Dickey's firing during the middle of last week.

Dressed in snlid blue for the first time in memory to stress the special nature of the game, the Gators scored quickly on touchdown passeof and 37 yards hy substitute quarterback Tim Groves, who started in place of John Brantley when he continued to be bothered by a bruised chest suffered last week against Florida State. Scot Brantley intercepted a Kenny Mi'Milliun pass on Miami's first offensive series and returned 1 1 yards to the Hurricanes' 1H. Two plays later, Groves flipped to Oollinsworth in the end zone. The was to Tony Stephens, who got a couple of steps on defender Fred Azrak and took Groves' perfectly thrown puss in full stride. See GATORS, 7-C it "Sit YS n' iM.

A Of SI Miiibuil Timai JACKIE GRf ENF Doug Dickey makes grim-faced final exit from Florida Field, land of the Gators. SPORTS EDITOR A MAM OF REAL CLASS HUBERT mizEU cLA Applehy's 80-yard tight-end-around pass for Georgia in 75." Unquestionably. Florida was within one step of the SKC" championship altar. The Gators needed only to beat Georgia and Kentucky. Florida led the well-bottled Bulldogs until the final minute.

It was 7-3 and Georgia had fourth down at its own 20. Appleby, the tight end, came chugging eastward on an apparent reverse. Then he stopped and cocked his arm. Henry Davis, a good Florida defensive back, fell down. Appleby heaved and hit Gene Washington on an 80-yard scoring play that heat the Gators 10-7.

Florida beat Kentucky 48-6 the next week. Too late. "Football goes in cycles, you're down and then up and then down again," Dickey said, keeping his emotions well-chained. "That is, unless you're Bear Bryant and I'm not. We came to Florida in tough times when the Vietnam war talk and revolt dominated college campuses.

See MIZELL. 6-C GAINESVILLE Doug Dickey's eyes had rims of red, not from weeping or anger hut from exhauating torment. He had walked his last mile as University of Florida football coach. He seemed at peace. "I'm tired, worn out from this week." Dickey said, sitting on a folding chair in the Florida Field room where football coaches change clothes.

"I want to let myself get caught up emotionally and physically. Then I can assess what the future holds." Saturday's 22-21 loss to the Miami Hurricanes, Dickey's final curtain rail on the Held where he began as a kid quarterback 25 years ago, was hardly mentioned. Dickey's hair was in disarray, still uncombed after his shower. His cleated coaching shoes sat in a locker, never to be laced on again in these environs. His "UF" rap was on the top shelf.

"We came close," he said of his nine years as Florida's head coach. Close, he meant, to winning the Southeastern Conference championship that Gutor people crave as diabetics crave insulin. "We went from the 4-7 (his 1971 record) to the 9-2 and No simple chore finding someone superior to Doug Dickey, whose farewell included an admission that you have to be a Bear Bryant to solve football's up-and-down nature, 'and I'm not' to 19 straight wins at home," he said, "but then we missed it. Missed good chances to win championships in 1975 and 1976. The tail's been down since then.

It'll he somebody else's job to pick it up. I thought we could do it. Other people didn't think so. I hope the right fellow will come and get total support of the university." Dickey feels it was losses to Georgia in 1975 and 1976, both daggering Gator chances to win the SKC, that were the pivot that eventually led to his hanging. More important than losing the last two to Florida State? "Yep, I think so." "If I had to look back on one play in horror from my nine seasons here," Dickey continued," it would be Richard Hinkle-Bradley hold slim lead in JCPenney By BOB LeNOIR StPalartburg Ttm Staff Wntr Leaders Hinkle-Bradley 196 M.Hill-Brownlee 198 Colbert-Bertolaccini 202 Purtzer-Blalock 203 Pate-Stacy 204 Complete scores, 2 INSIDE The battle the Bays Green Bay's Packers visit Tampa Bay's Buccaneers today in an NFC Central clash, Page 3-C Sugar berth orthe Tide Alabama nailed down its Sugar Bowl showdown with Penn State by demolishing Auburn 34-16, Page 4-C Rowdies vs.

the Cosmos The date to remember is May 12, 1979. That's when the Cosmos invade Tampa to exchange kicks and headers with the Rowdies, Page 8-C The man and the mullet Malcolm Hepperle once caught 103 mullet with one accurate toss of his net. Hepperle's story, and other outdoors news, can be found on today's Page 16-C LARGO Fending off a stern challenge by the birdie-bunching Mike Hill-Vivian Brownlee duo, Lon Hinkle and Pat Bradley clung to a two-shot lead at the close of Saturday's third round of the $300,000 JCPenney Mixed Team Classic being conducted at Bardmoor Country Club. The fourth and final round unfolds today beginning at 10:05. Hinkle and Bradley go into it having dipped 20 strokes beneath par, shooting 66-65-65196.

Hill and Brownlee have carded 69-66-63198. The best of the rest are Jim Colbert amd Silvia Bertolacci-ni, six shots hack after rounds of 69-69-64-202. Saturday's shootout was a head-to-head hostility, the Hinkle-Bradley twosome playing in the 'same foursome as Hill and Brownlee. And the leaders spent the first six holes watching their four-stroke lead gradually evaporate. The pursuers birdied the first two holes, then pulled within a shot of the lead with a birdie on No.

6. They also birdied the seventh, but Hinkle rose to the challenge by blasting a 117-yard shot into the cup for an eagle that preserved his team's advantage and pompted Bradley to nearly level her 215-pound partner with a bear hug. "I almost put him on the ground," she said later. "I jumped all over him." Hinkle didn't mind at all. "When you do something like that," he said, "it's nice to have someone to share it with.

It gives you twice the pleasure." It was twice the grief for Hill and Brownlee, though, who continued to apply generous amounts of pressvire but could never finagle their way into the lead. They birdied No. 8 only to have Hinkle and Bradley do the same on No. 9. Both teams added birds on the 10th and 12th, but the unlucky 13th restored some breathing space to the leaders when Hill and Brownlee two-putted the par-three hole.

The challengers birdied three of the last five holes, but netted only one stroke as Hinkle and Bradley came up with two birds of their own. Both sides agreed, however, that the pivotal shot of the day was Hinkle's eagle on No. 7. "They didn't make a thing until the seventh," said Brownlee. See PENNEY, 15 it i -I St Pattitburg Timl STEPHANIE JAMES Leaders Pat Bradlee (left) and Lon Hinkle eye the Bardmoor cour.se Saturday..