The untold story of Florida State's 'gator head celebrations

Within seconds after Florida State’s thrilling, 45-38 victory over the Florida Gators less than two weeks ago, FSU’s players paraded around Doak Campbell Stadium with the ‘gator head that has been part of many similar celebrations over the last three decades.

Players and coaches took photos with it. Support staff members were posing with it on the field until after 1 in the morning. Fans, who had made their way down to the field, cheered it. But very few people are aware of how the ‘gator head tradition got its start, and how it has been protected and preserved through all these years.

Until now!

Warchant sat down recently with former Florida State head football athletic trainer Jake Pfeil, who owns the current ‘gator head and has been the caretaker of the tradition for the past 25 years. And he takes us behind the curtain of one of the most unique celebrations in college football.

How did the tradition get started?

It’s not clear who brought the very first ‘gator head to a postgame celebration, but the one that has been appearing after Florida State victories against UF since the late 1990s is the one owned by Pfeil.

He was inspired by seeing former Florida State safety Bill Ragans carry one onto the field after the 1990 Seminoles beat the Gators, 45-30, in Doak Campbell Stadium. Ragans later told Pfeil that former Seminole lineman Tony Yeomans broke out a ‘gator head the year before when Florida State recorded a 24-17 victory in Gainesville.

So when Pfeil became a student athletic trainer at Florida State in 1997, he asked if he could bring his family’s ‘gator head to the ’98 game just in case the Seminoles won. They did, 23-12, in a showdown of top-five teams. And a tradition was born.

Since that day, Pfeil’s ‘gator head has been part of postgame celebrations following a dozen football victories against the University of Florida. It missed only one, in 2002, when Pfeil was in Atlanta interning with the Falcons.

He still regrets it.

“I felt awful,” Pfeil said, recalling that Florida State’s players were disappointed when they found out it wasn’t there following a 31-14 win. “It will never not be there again. I’ll always have it there, no matter what.”

Does it have a name?

Sadly, no, it does not. At least not yet.

During the 1990s, Pfeil said, he contemplated naming it “Steve” in honor (or dishonor) of former Florida Gators head coach Steve Spurrier. But he never made it official.

That naming would have been appropriate considering Spurrier’s record against Florida State was 5-8-1 overall and he never won a single game inside Doak Campbell Stadium.

How does it get to the field?

For most of these years, Pfeil was on the Florida State staff, and he was the caretaker of the ‘gator head. Since leaving FSU to become director of sports medicine with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in 2021, Pfeil has had to make arrangements to get the trophy to the games. (That was trickier this year than most. See below.)

On game days, Pfeil or his designate will position the ‘gator head somewhere along the Seminoles’ sideline in a nondescript box, so as not to draw attention. (This is top secret, folks. Pfeil didn’t exactly tell us that he’d have to kill us if he shared the location, but he didn’t rule it out either.)

Who gets to carry it?

That can be a fluid situation. In some years, it’s a senior leader. In some years, it’s a player who has fought through major adversity, such as injuries, and has become an inspiration to his teammates.

It’s tricky to plan this part of the operation because if it’s a close game, the player designated to initially carry the ‘gator head could be on the field competing when the game ends.

Complicating matters is the fact that Pfeil isn’t a fan of talking about celebrations before a game even happens. So when players like former defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker would ask if they could be designated for the honor, Pfeil would shoo them away.

“DeMarcus Walker was on me all week (in 2016). ‘I’m getting that thing first. I want that ‘gator head first,” Pfeil said. “I’m like, ‘Look man. Just don’t even talk about it. We don’t talk about it. It doesn’t come out. It’s not discussed ’til the clock’s on zero.’ But every day, he’d come by the office to talk about it.”

Sure enough, Walker did get it first after the 31-13 rout in Doak.

Why so much secrecy?

There has been talk through the years about putting the ‘gator head in a special case, and that might happen at some point. But for now, Pfeil prefers keeping it as low-key as possible until it’s time to celebrate a win over the Gators.

Why?

Well, Pfeil is convinced some UF fans would love to snatch it out of the Seminoles’ possession. He even jokes that there has been a “bounty” on it at times through the years. (We think he was joking, anyway.)

A trip to the diamond

While the ‘gator head is used primarily for postgame football celebrations, Pfeil has allowed it to be displayed on a couple of other rare occasions.

In 2012, former FSU baseball player James Ramsey asked if the ‘gator head could make an appearance at a midweek home game against Florida after the Gators had won the first two games in Gainesville and Jacksonville. Pfeil, who previously served as the athletic trainer for baseball, made an exception.

And sure enough, the Seminoles pulled off the 6-5 victory. And out came the ‘gator head.

An appearance in the SEC

In 2000, when Pfeil was in graduate school at Mississippi State, he kept the ‘gator head with him in his Starkville apartment. And with the Gators coming to town for a rare matchup — it was the first time they had played there in nearly a decade — he brought it to the game.

When Mississippi State pulled off the 47-35 upset against Spurrier and the No. 2-ranked Gators, out came the ‘gator head. And with Florida State set to host UF about six weeks later, Pfeil sent it back to Tallahassee with friends Jason Baisden (now FSU’s head equipment manager) and Andy Orsillo. And they made sure the tradition continued when the Seminoles thrashed a top-five Gators team, 30-7, in Spurrier’s final game at Doak.

“So it came out twice that year, which is cool,” Pfeil said.

A wild 2022 journey

How important is the ‘gator head celebration? It arrived in Tallahassee for this year’s game by private plane!

It’s a funny story, and you can watch the video above for all the details. But with Friday being a lighter day for the Falcons, Pfeil was able to fly down with family members on the day of the game and personally carry the ‘gator head to Doak.

And when we say “carry,” we mean carry. Pfeil didn’t think to get a parking pass from the FSU staff, so he ended up toting the ‘gator head — in its nondescript box — across campus to the game.

A few hours later, for the first time since 2017, it was being thrust into the air after a 45-38 victory over the Gators.

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.