Sammie Smith remembers Billy Sexton frequently saying "dip and lift." Smith says Sexton's mantra relates to life and the longtime FSU assistant coach's daily battle after suffering a stroke in August.
"I just wanted to share something with you that stuck with me all my life," Smith said. "I think every running back in here will remember these words in practice or in games with coach Sexton. He would always say, ‘Dip and lift! Dip and lift!’ I can hear him today, ‘Dip and lift!’ What he was telling us to do was to dip our shoulder down when the defender would come and to lift him off his feet.
"When I think about that analogy in football and I think about some of the difficult times that I have gone through personally, and I’m sure all of us have had some difficult times. I had to learn how to dip and lift. He’s in a challenge right now where I’m going to tell him the same words.
"I love him. He was an amazing man to me. It had nothing to do with football. When I tell stories about him it was off the field. He was tremendous for me. And it’s time for us to be tremendous for him. So, coach, dip and lift. And I’m going to be there to help lift you as much as I can."
The FSU community -- including head coach Mike Norvell who attended and donated autographed items to the silent auction -- showed their embrace of Sexton. Each of the people who attended, which included 50 former players, coaches or staff, came to lift him up emotionally as well as financially with the dinner event on Sunday night at Glory Days as well as a Monday golf outing (with Sexton putting on the green) at the Seminole Legacy Course. Sexton is able to move with the help of a walker, and often reacted to stories from Smith, William Floyd and others during the dinner attended by more than 200 people,
"There’s a couple things when you talk about coach Sexton, you remember what he taught you that you take for life," Floyd said. "One of them was 'two hands in the thicket.' What that meant is you hold on to that ball with two hands. Don’t you go in there and fumble. It’s going to cost you reps.
"But the one that I really carry with me now is ‘Score! Score! Score! Score! I don’t care where he was at. For the rest of my life, every time I’m trying to get across the finish line or I want to do something, I heard that voice in San Francisco chasing me. I heard ‘Score!’ every time I ran the ball. And that’s what I was trying to do. I was trying to get across the finish line. And it’s the same thing with everything in my life, coach. I try to score."
Former Seminole Boosters president and CEO Andy Miller came up with the idea for the fundraising events for Sexton, who Miller called a "dynamic fundraiser and ambassador for Florida State University." Miller asked Jerry Kutz to organize the dinner, which The Osceola sponsored.
The Sexton dinner and golf tournament exceeded its goal to offset rehabilitation costs. The events also lifted the Sexton's spirits as the dinner and golf events gave former players and the FSU community an opportunity to show appreciation for Sexton, who was an FSU quarterback, graduate assistant in 1977 (early in the Bobby Bowden era), a quarterbacks coach until 1983 and a longtime running backs coach (1983-2006) before working as a fundraiser with Seminole Boosters, Inc. Fourteen of his running backs were named All-Americans.
Among the FSU running backs who returned Sunday were Smith, Floyd and Warrick Dunn — each of whom were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft — and a fourth, Greg Jones, participated in the golf tournament. Victor Floyd, James Coleman, Darrin and Tanner Holloman were other Sexton-coached running backs to attend. FSU players to attend included Barry Smith, Mike Shuman, Kurt Unglaub, Rick Oreir, Charlie Ward, Kez McCorvey, Jesse Solomon, Clint Parker, James Harris, Jared Hetzel, Ron Moore, Jimmy Jordan, Mark Orlando, Stanley Walker, Billy Rhodes and Eric Hayes.
Former coaches and athletic staff members included Mickey Andrews, Jim Gladden and Wally Burnham, Toni McDuffie, the wife of Wayne McDuffie, Coach Bowden's executive assistant Sue Hall, longtime trainer Randy Oravetz, assistant trainers Jim Watson and Kent Kniceley, team doctor Tom Haney, director of compliance and academics Bill Shults, former track coaches Dick Roberts and Terry Long and former basketball coaches Tom Carlson and Pat Kennedy.
The former executive staff of Seminole Boosters volunteered countless hours to manage the dinner, silent auction and tournament and longtime voice of FSU football Gene Deckerhoff was the event's emcee.
The sponsors of the dinner included the FSU Varsity Club, FSU Athletics, Seminole Boosters, Altrua, Ken Cashin, who sponsored the Sexton Family Table and The Osceola. The sponsors of the golf tournament included Max Alvarez, Dave Ellrich, Lake & Susan Lytal, Jim & Carole Smith, an anonymous former teammate at Tallahassee Leon High School and Altrua.
While Billy is not yet able to speak, daughter Leslie Sexton shared appreciation from Billy as well as his wife, Joy, who has been a constant companion (sleeping in a bed next to him while Billy was in the hospital) and caretaker during his recovery.
"I love my father," Leslie Sexton Carlson said. "He is my hero. He is my best friend. These last few months have been incredibly difficult. But this, you guys loving him and supporting him, it means the world, truly. Look at his face. He’s smiled more tonight than he has in six months. … It’s absolutely amazing. I’m blown away. Our family is humbled by the outpouring of love and support that you all have for my father. From the bottom of my family’s heart, thank you so very much."
The video below features interviews with James Coleman, Keith Jones, Andrews and Dunn as well as fellow Leon High graduate Kurt Unglaub.
Special thanks to photographer Charlie Jackson for the gallery above. Videography by Joel Silver. Video editing by Ariya Massoudi.
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