Science Hill High School

Steve Spurrier

Steve Spurrier 1963

Steve Spurrier was a high school All-American quarterback at Science Hill, a buzzer-beating team MVP in basketball and helped the Hilltoppers to two state titles in baseball.

Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy at Florida in 1966 and coached Danny Wuerffel to a Heisman in 1996, the year Florida beat Florida State for the national championship. Spurrier's athletic feats are legendary. Not the regular kicker, he made an impromptu 41-yard field goal late to beat Auburn in '66. High school basketball coach Elvin Little remembers Spurrier "making a long one as the gun went off to beat Erwin. He knocked the bottom out of it. Of course it didn't surprise me; he was the greatest performer under pressure I've ever seen."

Indeed, Spurrier allowed one earned run while pitching a six-hitter in the '63 state championship victory against Memphis Christian Brothers, finishing his senior season with a 7-0 record. He also went 2 for 3 and scored a run.

Spurrier’s RBI single scored Tom Hager to win Science Hill the 1962 state championship 1-0 over Memphis Messick in Nashville. Lonnie Lowe struck out six in the two-hit shutout.

"Steve could just do whatever he wanted to," said former AD Sid Smallwood, who suggested Spurrier's father Graham for a preaching position at Calvary Presbyterian Church when they lived in Newport in 1957.

Spurrier is one of the best coaches in college football history. He won an ACC championship at Duke when Danny Ford had things rolling at Clemson. A decade later, Ford still shook his head about the job Spurrier did at Duke.

Spurrier returned to Florida in 1990 and won a staggering seven SEC titles in 12 years. The four Tennessee teams Peyton Manning played on were outscored 161-86 while going 0-4 against the Gators. Spurrier had an .817 winning percentage at Florida (122-27-1).

He was held in high regard while getting the low-payroll Tampa Bay Bandits to the USFL playoffs and coached the Washington Redskins in 2002-03.

He began at South Carolina in 2005, where he compiled a five-game game win streak. It was an unprecedented 15th straight year he'd done so at the college level. The streak, which came in year one of what the pundits saw as a considerable rebuilding project, included South Carolina's first-ever win at Tennessee and its win against Florida in 70-plus years. It landed him SEC Coach of the Year, his ninth such award.

He says none of the accolades mean any more than those baseball titles in 1962-63 at Science Hill. Sharing memories with friends like Cotty Jones, Ken "Big Boy" Lyon, Jimmy Sanders and the late Lonnie Lowe apparently won't ever take a backseat to anything.

Spurrier has also visited Smallwood, Little and his prep football coach, Kermit Tipton, through the years.

"I saw all three of them last summer," Spurrier said. "All three of those men, and of course (baseball coach) John Broyles who passed away, were a big influence on me. I feel very, very fortunate to have gone to Science Hill."