By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter
The dad of current Florida A&M starting quarterback Albert Chester II left a legacy at the school, and Southern offensive coordinator Mark Orlando knows all about that, because he was there, back when he was just starting out, as an assistant at FAMU, and disco ruled the world.
Albert Chester is a Rattler Legend in the school’s sports Hall of Fame, three times the team’s MVP. He quarterbacked Florida A&M to the inaugural Division I-AA title in 1978 — beating Division I-A brethren Miami, Florida State and Florida to the claim of the state’s first national collegiate championship.
“For me, personally, Florida A&M is part of my heart,” said Orlando, who played quarterback at Florida State, not far from FAMU. “I got my master’s from there and my first college coaching job.
“(The series) means a lot to me, because it’s a great university. It’s like going back to my roots.”
Saturday’s season opener, with Southern playing Florida A&M at 2 p.m. in Legion Field, is about renewing friendships and rekindling one of black college football’s best rivalries. The schools, who first played each other in 1941, meet for the first time since 2001, which was the last game in a string that began in 1946. The game, the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, will be televised on ESPN Classic.
The schools then begin a four-year contract next year, playing at SU on Sept. 20, 2008.
“I think it’s the best thing for Southern and Florida A&M,” Orlando said. “Those were always big games with big attendance. Those games were always huge football games and meant a lot to both schools.”
Two of Southern’s players who hail from Tallahassee, Fla., get it.
“It’s an old rivalry,” junior defensive back Joe Manning said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a nationally televised game. It’s going to be good for the players, the coaches and the fans.”
Photo: SU offensive coordinator Mark Orlando says the Southern-Florida A&M series is like going back to his roots.
The dad of current Florida A&M starting quarterback Albert Chester II left a legacy at the school, and Southern offensive coordinator Mark Orlando knows all about that, because he was there, back when he was just starting out, as an assistant at FAMU, and disco ruled the world.
Albert Chester is a Rattler Legend in the school’s sports Hall of Fame, three times the team’s MVP. He quarterbacked Florida A&M to the inaugural Division I-AA title in 1978 — beating Division I-A brethren Miami, Florida State and Florida to the claim of the state’s first national collegiate championship.
“For me, personally, Florida A&M is part of my heart,” said Orlando, who played quarterback at Florida State, not far from FAMU. “I got my master’s from there and my first college coaching job.
“(The series) means a lot to me, because it’s a great university. It’s like going back to my roots.”
Saturday’s season opener, with Southern playing Florida A&M at 2 p.m. in Legion Field, is about renewing friendships and rekindling one of black college football’s best rivalries. The schools, who first played each other in 1941, meet for the first time since 2001, which was the last game in a string that began in 1946. The game, the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, will be televised on ESPN Classic.
The schools then begin a four-year contract next year, playing at SU on Sept. 20, 2008.
“I think it’s the best thing for Southern and Florida A&M,” Orlando said. “Those were always big games with big attendance. Those games were always huge football games and meant a lot to both schools.”
Two of Southern’s players who hail from Tallahassee, Fla., get it.
“It’s an old rivalry,” junior defensive back Joe Manning said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a nationally televised game. It’s going to be good for the players, the coaches and the fans.”
Photo: SU offensive coordinator Mark Orlando says the Southern-Florida A&M series is like going back to his roots.
Manning, who transferred to Southern from Florida State in the spring of 2006 but did not play with the Jaguars last season, said he lives about a 10-minute drive from Florida A&M’s campus. He went to Lincoln High.
SU junior wide receiver Del Roberts, who came to SU from North Carolina that same spring, is even closer, about three miles from campus. He was the Tallahassee Democrat’s Big Bend Offensive Player of the Year at Godby High.
“I used to drive there all the time. I’m right down the way from FAMU,” Roberts said.
Each has family who attended FAMU and each has friends who play for the Rattlers.
“I’m constantly getting phone calls every day from my family and from them, just talking a lot of noise,” Manning said of the back-and-forth exchanges.
When both decided to transfer, they considered FAMU but eventually came to Southern.
“I thought about it,” Roberts said. “I know a lot of people at FAMU. I know a lot of the coaches, but I wanted to see something new, get away from home. Nothing at all against FAMU. It’s a great school. I wanted to be by myself and mold myself in my own surroundings.”
“I grew up on FAMU, grew up on the tradition. They have a lot of tradition,” said Manning, who figured he knows 10 to 15 Rattlers. “My whole family wanted me to go (to Florida A&M), to stay in town, but it was best for me to leave, to see another atmosphere. That’s why I came out here to Southern. I love the fans. I love how they treat all the football players.”
For Orlando, the FAMU-Southern connection runs deep.
In what Orlando called a key game of the ’78 national title season, FAMU beat Southern 16-12 in LSU’s Tiger Stadium on ABC regional television. The Rattlers went 12-1 that season.
“Totally different offense. We ran the dive, the T, the dive option,” said Orlando who was the FAMU offensive backfield coach before becoming the offensive coordinator. “(Albert Chester) had a strong arm, though. He always wanted to throw the ball, but playing for (head coach) Rudy Hubbard (who played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State), throwing the football was a second thought. It was 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but we were good at it.
“The dad was a great leader and field general and led that team to the national championship.”
The Rattlers ran for more than 400 yards in beating UMass 35-28 in the 1978 title game.
FAMU offensive coordinator and line coach Allen Bogan, a mainstay in various capacities at the school for three decades until resigning in February 2005, helped Orlando get the job as offensive coordinator at Winston-Salem State by calling WSSU head coach Pete Richardson in 1991. When Richardson came to Southern in 1993, Orlando came along, leaving for Texas Southern after the 2001 season but returning as an assistant coach in 2004.
Bogan, Richardson and Hubbard all have Ohio ties.
“Yeah, that was a good phone call,” said Orlando, who was looking for work at the time.
SU junior wide receiver Del Roberts, who came to SU from North Carolina that same spring, is even closer, about three miles from campus. He was the Tallahassee Democrat’s Big Bend Offensive Player of the Year at Godby High.
“I used to drive there all the time. I’m right down the way from FAMU,” Roberts said.
Each has family who attended FAMU and each has friends who play for the Rattlers.
“I’m constantly getting phone calls every day from my family and from them, just talking a lot of noise,” Manning said of the back-and-forth exchanges.
When both decided to transfer, they considered FAMU but eventually came to Southern.
“I thought about it,” Roberts said. “I know a lot of people at FAMU. I know a lot of the coaches, but I wanted to see something new, get away from home. Nothing at all against FAMU. It’s a great school. I wanted to be by myself and mold myself in my own surroundings.”
“I grew up on FAMU, grew up on the tradition. They have a lot of tradition,” said Manning, who figured he knows 10 to 15 Rattlers. “My whole family wanted me to go (to Florida A&M), to stay in town, but it was best for me to leave, to see another atmosphere. That’s why I came out here to Southern. I love the fans. I love how they treat all the football players.”
For Orlando, the FAMU-Southern connection runs deep.
In what Orlando called a key game of the ’78 national title season, FAMU beat Southern 16-12 in LSU’s Tiger Stadium on ABC regional television. The Rattlers went 12-1 that season.
“Totally different offense. We ran the dive, the T, the dive option,” said Orlando who was the FAMU offensive backfield coach before becoming the offensive coordinator. “(Albert Chester) had a strong arm, though. He always wanted to throw the ball, but playing for (head coach) Rudy Hubbard (who played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State), throwing the football was a second thought. It was 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but we were good at it.
“The dad was a great leader and field general and led that team to the national championship.”
The Rattlers ran for more than 400 yards in beating UMass 35-28 in the 1978 title game.
FAMU offensive coordinator and line coach Allen Bogan, a mainstay in various capacities at the school for three decades until resigning in February 2005, helped Orlando get the job as offensive coordinator at Winston-Salem State by calling WSSU head coach Pete Richardson in 1991. When Richardson came to Southern in 1993, Orlando came along, leaving for Texas Southern after the 2001 season but returning as an assistant coach in 2004.
Bogan, Richardson and Hubbard all have Ohio ties.
“Yeah, that was a good phone call,” said Orlando, who was looking for work at the time.
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