BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
On Oct. 1, an event that took place inside Bradford High School’s David Hurse Stadium was all about Hurse himself.
Hurse, the legendary coach who passed away on July 25, was honored as part of David Hurse Night. Approximately 50 former players (representing any sport coached by Hurse) and cheerleaders were led onto the field by Hurse’s widow, Myrna Lou, during halftime of the Tornadoes’ game against American Collegiate Academy, which Bradford won 14-12 (see related story).
BHS Principal Angela Ward presented Myrna Lou Hurse with a bouquet of flowers, while Athletic Director Sampson Jackson presented her with the plaque that will be attached to the stadium seat Coach Hurse sat in, forever reserving it in his honor.
Prior to those presentations, the gathering on the field and the fans in the stadium were treated to a video on the scoreboard screen, chronicling Hurse’s life and narrated by Terry Vaughan, who served as the Voice of the Tornadoes for 30 years on WEAG 106.3–FM.
Vaughan described what the country was like leading up to Hurse’s birth on Oct. 10, 1930 (Herbert Hoover was president, Prohibition had been in effect for more than a decade, gas was approximately 10 cents per gallon, etc.), before saying, “Thus began a remarkable life journey that led to monumental wins on the football field and the shaping of young lives in preparation for the game of life.
“He became a kicker and a track athlete at the University of Florida, but the school that is synonymous with his name is located right here in Starke, Florida. Within his veins flowed blood that was colored Scarlet and Gray.”
Vaughan talked of Hurse’s 193 victories from 1962 through 1991, the state runner-up finish in 1985 and, of course, the two “glorious” state championships in 1965 and 1966.
“If someone chiseled a Mount Rushmore in honor of Bradford High School, his likeness would be front and center,” Vaughan said. “No one before or since has embodied the essence and spirit of this school quite like David Hurse.”
Vaughan said the key to much of Hurse’s success could be found in the hours upon hours of preparation he undertook before each game.
“Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.’ No one was sharper at preparing for a big game than Coach Hurse,” Vaughan said. “His work ethic was second to none, and no one studied film more diligently. On game day, he knew more about the other team’s tendencies than the other team’s coach, and his players will attest that ‘repetition’ was his middle name. ‘Run it again,’ was his constant mantra, and they kept running the same play in practice until it became second nature.
“While his Tornado teams were typically smaller than the competition, no school relished the thought of going toe to toe with Bradford because every opposing coach knew the better-prepared team was wearing scarlet-colored jerseys.”
Football defined a large part of Hurse’s life, but his goals went beyond the sport.
“While he was proud to have produced great football players, he was even more proud of the successful young men he mentored, who would go on to become great fathers, great leaders and great examples of the Christian way of life,” Vaughan said.
Larry Brown, the first Black football player for BHS in the wake of desegregation, was a part of the gathering on the field. He played for the Tornadoes in 1966 and went on, after attending the University of Kansas, to play in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers, being a part of four Super Bowl teams. He listened as Vaughan shared the tribute Brown wrote on the Jones-Gallagher Funeral Home website after Hurse’s death: “I am eternally grateful for the confidence, support and opportunity you gave me to play on the 1966 Bradford High football team. Playing for you on that team was a life-changing experience for me. It provided an opportunity that I otherwise would not have gotten. I will always regard you with the highest esteem. You were a teacher, a coach and a leader of men. The leadership you commanded gave everyone the confidence and belief that if we followed you, and followed your directions, that we would be successful as a team and as individuals.
“You didn’t just coach football. You coached life skills on how to be successful at whatever we may have chosen to do in life.
“Thank you. Rest in peace. A job well done.”
Vaughan then shared a quote by College Football Hall of Fame Coach Lou Holtz: “It’s good to be successful, but it’s great to be significant.”
After a moment of silence, the video concluded with Vaughan saying, “Now please join me in a Scarlet-and-Gray salute in the stadium that bears his name as we tip our caps and provide a round of applause in recognition of a life well-lived and a man who was both successful and certainly significant — our beloved coach, David Hurse.”
Prior to the game, former players and cheerleaders attended a gathering in the BHS cafeteria, visiting with Myrna Lou Hurse and perusing the displays of old team photos and yearbooks and other memorabilia from Coach Hurse’s time at the school.
Donnie Falcon, who played on the 1965 state-title football team and graduated in 1966, read a letter to the gathering written by Mike Sexton, who coached alongside Hurse. The letter began: “If Coach Hurse could be with you at this gathering, he would thank you — thank you for remembering him at this time, but also thanking you for your commitment to Bradford High School. You made a commitment years ago to the athletic programs, and because of that commitment, we were able to build a successful program.”
Sexton wrote in his letter that through good and bad seasons, the goal never changed — to strive to be the best. He wrote that Hurse believed that goal was accomplished through hard work and determination.
Striving to be the best was about more than just football.
“(Hurse) would say that nothing comes easy,” Sexton wrote. “You work hard, and you have a plan for accomplishing things we need to be successful. In our conversations over the years, Coach would say that what we are doing is more important than Xs and Os. It’s about life itself.”
With that in mind, Sexton believed Hurse would be pleased if he had been able to be at the Oct. 1 event.
“Coach would feel successful as he looked around this gathering today,” Sexton wrote. “He’d see people who have been successful in so many ways. You have been an important part of your community and productive citizens. You are family people, good husbands, fathers, grandfathers and followers of the Lord.
“He could not have wanted more.”
