Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The quote is most closely attached to Vince Lombardi in the annals of pop culture.

Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing.

But in the age of information and misinformation – and thanks to technological advances – keyboard sleuths have discovered that the famous quote was first uttered by then-UCLA head coach Henry "Red" Sanders a few years before Lombardi. Sanders was a former Vanderbilt quarterback who led the Bruins to their only national championship in 1954 when they shared the title with Ohio State.

Sanders made a stop at the University of Florida in 1938, where he served as an assistant coach and head coach of the Gators freshman team for a season under Josh Cody, a Vanderbilt assistant during Sanders' playing career.

Sanders' famous quote popped into the brain Sunday afternoon as the UF women's tennis team battled Miami in the NCAA Tournament. The match was tied as Florida junior Alicia Dudeney, by way of the seaside town of Hove on the English Channel, played a third set under a warm Florida sun against Miami's Audrey Boch-Collins.

The pressure grew with each stroke.

Dudeney won the first set, 6-3, before losing 6-3 in the second. As their teammates and coaches gathered on an adjacent court, all eyes were on Court 4 as Dudeney and Boch-Collins hammered away with their rackets. The match was paused for a few minutes in the third set as Dudeney received treatment on her aching hip.

Finally, at 3:46 p.m., nearly four hours after the Gators opened with a win in doubles, Dudeney's return shot landed long to give Boch-Collins a 6-3 win and the Hurricanes a 4-3 upset. Miami rushed the court to celebrate, dumping water over Boch-Collins from a cooler. Dudeney took a seat nearby as Gators head coach Roland Thornqvist, who has won four national titles in his 23 seasons at UF, leaned over and whispered encouragement in Dudeney's ears.

The modest crowd at Linder Stadium departed, some already thinking of their Cinco de Mayo dinner plans.

Twenty minutes later, a downcast Thornqvist took a seat behind a microphone, the realization that another season was over spread across his sun-bathed face. He discussed the immediate past and was asked about the future. His mind didn't drift far from the present.

"What do you say? Everybody's eyes are wet,'' Thornqvist said of his message to the team. "I just feel bad. You just want to give them all a hug."

About 18 hours earlier on Saturday night, another Gators coach who knows the thrill of victory and agony of defeat stepped behind a microphone to discuss a disappointing outcome. Kevin O'Sullivan had the adrenaline of a big game pumping through his veins when the top of the sixth inning started with his team in front by a run and a packed house at Condron Ballpark. O'Sullivan, a baseball lifer, breathes for such moments.

He had ace Jac Caglianone on the mound and the Gators 12 outs from a series win that could boost his team's confidence as it battled for a postseason berth in the season's final two weeks. O'Sullivan probably felt like puking after the inning was over.

The Volunteers erupted for 11 runs and won the game 16-3 in a run-ruled seven innings.

"We just couldn't stop the bleeding," O'Sullivan said. "I've been doing this a long time, and I can't remember a game that had this type of importance to it and spiral out of control like this. This team has been a difficult one to figure out. We have the ability to play with anybody, and then we have the ability to play like this."

The UF baseball team's issues have been analyzed ad nauseam by now. The pitching has been inconsistent, and Caglianone, while having a historic season, can't do it alone. The Gators continue to make uncharacteristic mistakes and are fighting for their postseason lives after playing in the College World Series championship a season ago.

O'Sullivan, a fierce competitor who demands excellence from his players every day, did not like what he saw when the wheels started coming off Saturday night.

"We've tried to push every single button. It's just disappointing,'' he said. "It's not what Florida Baseball is about. It's not what this program is about."

The two scenes served as a reminder that while many might consider the games these Gators play nothing more than entertainment or a weekend trip to the ballpark, to those involved, they are much more.
They are not life or death or as important as a family needing more groceries in the refrigerator, but they matter.

"They came every morning, and they grinded and worked, came a long way to be honest,'' Thornqvist said of his team. "I'm really grateful for everything they've done and how they invested and were willing to sacrifice, coming every morning. There was no partying. They give up college life for their teammates, so when this happens, it's really tough."

Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing.

I probably bought into Sanders' famous quip more as a younger man when fandom ruled my sensibilities. That was then, and now the bigger picture is much clearer. Selfishly, talking to winners is a much more enjoyable experience than the opposite, but you learn the losers have equally as interesting stories and drive to win.

Still, our sports world is built around winners and coaches and athletes are reminded of it 24/7. Fans can watch nearly every event and share strong opinions on social media in real-time, which seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. They have that right since they are the ones who make all of it possible, but you question at times some of their sanity.

When you see it up close, when you observe tennis players and their families hanging around on a Sunday afternoon for the last time together as a team following a difficult loss, or when you watch a mother put her arm around a baseball player as he exits the stadium with a dejected look, it resonates in a different way.

For Thornqvist and O'Sullivan, two national championship coaches with greater pressure to win than ever before because of the money and attention at stake, there is only one option after such disappointments.

Somewhere, more than 65 years after he died of a heart attack at age 53, Sanders undoubtedly can relate.

"We'll keep coaching 'em up,'' O'Sullivan said.