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At Age 85, Mr. Two-Bits Still Fires Up Gator Faithful

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 23, 2007

TAMPA - George Edmondson really did intend to retire from his second job in 1999. The Tampa resident, who made his primary living in the insurance game, spent 50 years worth of fall Saturdays clad in a yellow shirt and orange-and-blue tie leading thousands of fans in a cheer that hadn't grown old in five decades.

"I couldn't stay away," the man better known as Mr. Two Bits said this week.

Eight years later, Edmondson, 85, still comes to Florida Field in that yellow shirt and orange-and-blue tie. And before each game, he runs to midfield, turns his palms to the ground and quiets more than 90,000 fans. Then, with each pump of his fist, they scream.

Two bits!

Four bits!

Six bits!

A dollar!

All for the Gators, stand up and holler!

Edmondson first visited Florida Field in 1949. The Gators were losing to The Citadel, the school Edmondson had attended before joining the Navy. Edmondson couldn't stand to hear Florida fans booing their own team, so he got them cheering with a chant about adding up 25-cent pieces.

Saturday, Florida will honor Edmondson between the first and second quarters of the Florida State game. The golf tournament held this past weekend in Edmondson's name raised $19,000 to fund scholarships for Florida's cheerleaders.

That's the only kind of money Edmondson wants for his cheers. When Hugh Culverhouse bought the Buccaneers, he offered to pay Edmondson to cheer at Tampa Stadium.

"If I would've done that for the Bucs, I would've been doing it for the pocketbook," Edmondson said in 1999. "That's not right. You do this for the love of the game, the love of your school. It's from the heart."

Words to stand up and holler for indeed.

Andy Staples

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