As a professor emeritus of , I announced the games for the first five years of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football starting in 1979.

Announcing over the Tangerine Bowl (now Camping World Stadium) public-address system at that time was rather challenging. I often enlisted my children to help as spotters to identify players, and it took getting used to hearing your voice on a five-second delay. It was so distracting you had to concentrate on what you were saying and not on what you were hearing. On one occasion, I announced that the football was “placed on the 51-yard line.� I got a few stares from fans wondering just where the 51-yard line might be.

Launching New Traditions, Mascots and Half-time Performances

I was also asked to arrange for the pregame and halftime shows for home games. The assignment was exciting, rewarding and very comical at times because we were taking baby steps.

That first year I pleaded with every high school band director in the area to participate. When options were sparse, I even enlisted a security-dog demonstration from Patrick Air Force Base.

When we staged our first home football game against Fort Benning, there was no marching band, no salary for our coach, and just a few brave cheerleaders.

That first year I pleaded with every high school band director in the area to participate. When options were sparse, I even enlisted a security-dog demonstration from Patrick Air Force Base.

My directions for this task came from the athletic director Jack O’Leary under the watchful eye of then President Trevor Colbourn, the driving force behind the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football program.

Of course, Colbourn had to take the cautious, administrative view that probably included avoiding risks of liability, which meant turning down the halftime plan for a Cypress Gardens ski-show performer to sail around the stadium.

Probably the most awkward situation occurred when we were playing Morehouse College, whose marching band was going to be at the game but not scheduled to perform at halftime. We planned for our own jam-packed halftime, which was to conclude with words by Colbourn. Before the halftime began, I was surprised to see the Morehouse band forming on the sidelines and then begin to move onto the field. Our staff was doing everything it could to stop them, to no avail.

It turned into a chaotic mess. After the band performed and left the field, we had little time left for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ to do much of anything. Our part of the halftime program was a disaster. There was just a little time for Colbourn’s remarks, and a delay of game penalty was imposed on Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ at the start of the second half.

The folks at Disney were more than willing to help with the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football program in a number of ways. They even offered to construct a new Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ mascot suit for our 1980 football season. Our ideas were very knightly, so I recommended “Sir-Wins-A-Lotâ€� for the mascot, and the name stuck — at least for a time. Colbourn even knighted our new mascot as Sir-Wins-A-Lot before a home game.

The title worked well for a few games, up until we ran into a few losses. Later on, having a mascot named Knightro served us better.

An FSU Connection

In 1982, former FSU Coach Bill Peterson arrived to be the new athletic director. Working with Peterson was quite a kick for me. As an FSU alumnus, I knew all about his igniting the Seminoles into a major football powerhouse and the part he played in nurturing FSU’s traditions.

There were a number of aspects of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s early football launch that included assistance from those Seminoles from Florida State. Despite the fact that they beat the Knights 46-14 in our one 1995 meeting on the gridiron, their influence on our football program was noteworthy. Two of our early athletic directors had been FSU coaches, with Gene McDowell being the first All-American player at FSU.

The late actor Burt Reynolds, a former running back for the Seminoles, also gave an assist to the rising Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Knights football program. I was honored to serve as master of ceremonies for one of the annual “Night of Knightsâ€� fund-raising auctions in downtown Orlando in 1989. It was a lavish, black-tie, televised affair attended by a host of community notables. It also became a key event in the history of the football program as we collected more than $300,000 for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ sports that evening.

Building a solid football program takes time, commitment and some very careful, right steps.

The program was all about convincing the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ community of the importance of football to the development of our school at large, a concept championed by Colbourn. In my opening remarks I played a portion of the Notre Dame fight song. The audience recognized it immediately — and that was my point. It was familiar to them because a school then of only 9,000 had achieved worldwide recognition through its extraordinary profile in the sport of football.

Adding glitter to that big night was an appearance by Reynolds and wife Loni Anderson (whose son-in-law was a Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ assistant football coach at the time). The couple added a donation: a black stallion to carry our Knight mascot.

Building a solid football program takes time, commitment and some very careful, right steps. Above all, it takes a lot of dedicated, unselfish, optimistic people who can give the fans something of value to watch. As a witness during those early formative years, I think we saw just that.

We owe so much to those many supporters who have encouraged the program with their ideas, their participation and their pocketbooks.

In addition to that high-profile name change, also established Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s honors program and a football program that has earned national rankings; nurtured a fledgling research park; and developed a partnership with Orange County that has created thousands of high tech jobs and helped transform the region’s economy.

Colbourn, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s second president, died Tuesday in Winter Park. He was 87.

“Trevor blazed trails for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, from giving us our name to the leap of faith that led to a nationally prominent football program,” said Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ President John C. Hitt.  “He was an astute academic leader with a keen vision. As president, I greatly valued his advice and contributions to our university.”

“We hear of presidents building coalitions of support—people, countries and materials—all designed to come together to achieve some great purpose,â€� said Colbourn’s friend and former Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Alumni Association President Ron Page.  “Of the many accomplishments of Trevor Colbourn, I’m fond of focusing on the masterful way he marshaled support for the renaming and rebranding of the university.  He created a comprehensive plan, garnered support from all the appropriate constituencies and realized a victory.  All those who love this university are beneficiaries of his craftsmanship, in this instance and many others.â€�

Colbourn retired as president in 1989 and remained active as a history teacher, the university’s historian and a president emeritus who raised funds and goodwill for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½. In 2001, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Humanities and Fine Arts Building was renamed Colbourn Hall in his honor.

The Scholar President

Colbourn, who was born Feb. 24, 1927, in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia, became president of Florida Technological University in 1978, after founding president Charles Millican retired.

During Colbourn’s tenure, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ created an honors program that later would become the Burnett Honors College. The college’s enrollment has grown to more than 1,700, and its freshmen classes continue to post record SAT and GPA scores year after year.

During his presidency, Colbourn oversaw enrollment growth from 11,000 to 18,000 students and an increase in research funding from $3.8 million to $16.4 million annually. The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Foundation’s assets increased from almost $800,000 to more than $11 million.

“Change is what higher education is all about,� Colbourn once said. “This institution has a distinguished past and will have a much more distinguished future. It’s been a lot of fun, some anguish and certainly no regrets.�

Known as the “Scholar President,� Colbourn held degrees from the University of London, the College of William and Mary, and Johns Hopkins University, where he earned his doctorate in American History in 1953.

Prior to his Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ presidency, Colbourn taught history at Penn State University and Indiana University Bloomington before moving into adminstration.  He also served as the graduate dean at the University of New Hampshire and academic vice president and eventually acting president at San Diego State University.

An expert on the American Revolution and Thomas Jefferson, Colbourn penned a number of books and articles, including “The Lamp of Experience,� “Fame and the Founding Father� and “The Americans: A Brief History.�

‘Crazy to Start Football’

Colbourn established Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s football program in 1979. Led by a volunteer coach, the team won its inaugural game, defeating host St. Leo College 21-0 in a rain-soaked cow pasture.

“A lot of people thought I was crazy to start football,â€� Colbourn said in 1998, three years after Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s football program advanced to Division 1-A. “(But) it was the key to open the door for visibility.â€�  In 2008, he was inducted into the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Athletics Hall of Fame.

Twenty-eight years later in 2007, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Knights played their first game on campus in Bright House Networks Stadium. Since then, more than 1 million fans have watched the Knights play on campus since the stadium’s opening.

The 2010 season saw Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football reach new level of success, earning the team’s first bowl victory, winning its second Conference USA title and ending the season ranked in the top 20.  The program has continued to grow, joining the American Athletic Conference, winning the Fiesta Bowl and earning a Top 10 national ranking in 2013.

Leading Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Innovations

Colbourn’s tenure as president saw Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ introduce the state’s first stand-alone doctoral program in computer science, followed by Ph.D. offerings in civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, industrial and environmental engineering; business administration; and human factors psychology. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ also expanded master’s and bachelor’s programs, dedicated new buildings at the Daytona Beach and Cocoa campuses and established Greek Park on the main campus.

The Central Florida Research Park, adjacent to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s East Orlando campus, today employs about 10,000 in a variety of high-tech industries. The park is home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of federal defense technology agencies and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Institute for Simulation and Training, also founded during Colburn’s presidency.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ became one of the first schools in the nation to begin using a telephone system for course registrations. Colbourn’s efforts laid the groundwork for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ becoming one of America’s “most wiredâ€� universities with extensive Internet technology and services provided for faculty, students and staff.

Although known for the high-profile name change, football program and research park, Colbourn shouldered a long effort to establish equitable funding for the state’s newer universities to put them on the same financial footing as more established institutions.

“He championed that cause, often standing alone before legislative leaders and the Florida Board of Regents, predecessor to today’s University System Board of Governors,â€� said Alan Fickett, who served as associate vice president for University Relations and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s lobbyist in Tallahassee and Washington during Colbourn’s tenure.

Said James A. Donovan, executive director of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Foundation in the early 1980s: “Trevor Colbourn recognized the need to augment state funding with philanthropic support from the community. He was fond of saying, ‘We can have a good university with legislative funding, but we can have a great university with philanthropic support.’â€�

Reaching Out to the Community

Colbourn was active in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Industrial Development Commission of Mid-Florida (now known as the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission), the Orlando Crime Prevention Association, the Board of Visitors of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, the United Way, the Greater Orlando Sports Organizing Committee, the Kiwanis Club, the boards of the local opera company and public television station and the Organization of American Historians.

Philanthropic firsts under Colbourn’s leadership included Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s first endowed chair, the Della Phillips-Martha D. Schenck Chair in American Private Enterprise, and the first endowed chair in the southeastern U.S. in computer science.

His wife, Beryl, played a key role in reaching out to the community in her role as Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s first lady by creating the Town & Gown Council, a women’s organization of community and campus leaders dedicated to “friend raisingâ€� and sharing the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ story.

A lifelong Episcopalian, Colbourn is survived by Beryl, his wife of 66 years; and daughters, Katherine “Kit� Wrye, of Fishkill, N.Y., and Elinor Colbourn, of Takoma Park, Md. Colbourn also leaves four grandchildren.

Colbourn Hall is home to faculty and department offices, the Graduate Student Center and University Writing Center, and a few classrooms. The building, named after Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ President Emeritus Trevor Colbourn, has served as a focal point for academic life since the university’s early years.

The new building, which would be built adjacent to Colbourn Hall, received the support of the Board of Trustees Finance and Facilities Committee on Thursday. The full Board of Trustees would have to approve the project before it can move forward.

If approved, the new building would have a projected 75,000 square feet, which is slightly smaller than Colbourn Hall. It would be large enough to accommodate all of the occupants in the building, and, as a more modern facility, will better serve students’ and staff and faculty members’ needs. Staff and faculty members who work in Colbourn Hall would be part of the design meetings for the new building.

Once the new building is completed, departments and offices currently located in Colbourn Hall would be relocated.  Options for Colbourn Hall renovations would be considered further as the university is able to secure funding.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ had been considering renovations to Colbourn Hall that would include exterior brickwork; enclosing exterior walkways and staircases; waterproofing and insulation; mechanical, electrical, and plumbing system replacement; and interior finishes.

The idea of constructing a new building surfaced after it became clear that completing those renovations in phases would not be feasible, meaning that the university would need to find temporary offices for approximately 200 faculty members for the duration of the construction.

The cost of the new building is estimated at $21.3 million.

President Emeritus Trevor Colbourn served as Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s second president from 1978 until 1989.

Nearly 15 years later, his little bar had become something much bigger and in 1950, ABC Liquors was born. Known today as ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, it’s the nation’s largest privately-owned wine and spirits retailer.

In the early 1980s, Jack struck up a friendship with another of the community’s leaders–Dr. Trevor Colbourn, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s second president. Jack and Trevor shared a passion for education and helping young people.

In 1986, Jack established one of the first endowed scholarships in the university’s history. The donation was also one of the first in Florida to be eligible for a state match. Since then, the ABC Fine Wine & Spirits Endowed Scholarship has awarded nearly 100 scholarships. Mr. Holloway himself was one of the university’s first donors, making his initial contribution in 1972.

Anthony Thompson, ’81 recalls meeting Mr. Holloway at a scholarship event in 1983 while he was a graduate student. “What struck me the most about Mr. Holloway was his genuine interest in me and the other students. He took a real interest in what I was studying and what my experiences as a student were like. I hadn’t met him prior to that, but I certainly knew how successful his business was. It was very impressive that someone in his position would be so interested in students.�

In the fall of 1988, Jack and Trevor met onstage during a . Dr. Colbourn conferred upon Mr. Holloway the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service. The program that day read: “A business acumen accumulated over more than five decades in Orlando is evidenced by Jack Holloway’s success as president of ABC Liquors, Inc. His regard for the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ is evidenced by the generous support he has provided over the years. His volunteer service within the community covers a wide spectrum, from his church to cultural activities to health-related agencies.â€�

The Jack D. Holloway Endowed Scholarship was established in 1993 by his family and friends. The fund is a tribute to, and continuation of, the humanitarian and philanthropic values exemplified by Mr. Holloway’s life. Nearly 60 students have benefitted from the establishment of the fund.

Charles E. Bailes III, CEO of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, has continued the legacy his grandfather started. “My grandfather always encouraged us to make a difference in the lives of others,� said Charles. “We’re very fortunate to be in a position where we can give back and do just that. We encourage all of our employees to find something to get involved with and give back. It’s the right thing to do.�