Pajcic: Just a prince of a man

Gary Pajcic, the man who completed the most famous pass in Florida State

football history, died on Wednesday afternoon.

Pajcic, 58, was pronounced dead just three days after being hospitalized

in his hometown of Jacksonville and then later falling into a coma. The

official cause of death has not yet been announced.

"As I told his five children this morning, we all lost a true champion, a

true friend and a wonderful person," former teammate and childhood friend

Ron Sellers said. "Anyone should be so lucky to be thought of as well as

Gary Pajcic is thought of throughout Jacksonville, by FSU alumni and, most

importantly, by his family."

FSU president T.K. Wetherell, a former teammate, said Pajcic's death is a

tremendous loss for Florida State University - and for everyone in the state

of Florida.

"We've lost an awfully good Floridian and a good friend of Florida State

University and a good friend to education," Wetherell said.

Wetherell helped remind Florida State football fans what they have known

for almost 40 full years now - that it was Pajcic who threw the last-second,

45-yard touchdown pass to Lane Fenner on Oct. 8, 1966.

The pass was ruled incomplete and allowed the University of Florida to

steal a 22-19 victory from the Seminoles.

"By God, it was in bounds," Wetherell said. "It was in bounds then and

it's in bounds now."

That play is just one memorable slice of Florida State history that

Pajcic's name is forever linked to, but it is hardly his only claim to fame.

Long before recruiting became a full-time obsession for college football

fans, Pajcic was considered perhaps the most heralded recruit in FSU's brief

history when he signed with the Seminoles in 1965.

A star football and basketball player at Jacksonville's Paxon High, Pajcic was believed to be the first athlete to ever win Player of the Year honors in both sports in Duval County.

He was named the state of Florida's Scholar-Athlete of the Year following

his senior year and was ranked the No. 1 player in the state by several

newspapers.

Among his numerous prep accomplishments in both sports, Pajcic hit the game-winning shot - from the top of the key - against Tampa-Hillsborough to clinch the 1965 state title in basketball for Paxon. That shot came one night after Sellers hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to beat

Orlando-Edgewater in the state semifinals.

"They called us the 'Buzzer Twins,'" Sellers said. "One of Gary's kids

told me this morning that Gary had so many stories about the two of us, but

the one thing he was most fond of is how I beat Edgewater on one night and

he beat Hillsborough the next night to win the state title."

Sellers said he first met Pajcic when the two were five years old. They

attended schools together from the time they reached first grade all the way

to Florida State. And while Pajcic was considered the recruit that every

college wanted, not everyone held Sellers in the same regard.

"Gary and I made a pact because we were a quarterback/receiver combination," Sellers said. "If one school offered both of us scholarships, we would both go to that school. Well, Florida wanted him but they told me I wasn't major college material. Florida State said, 'We want both of you.' And that's the end of that story.

"Gary and I both went to Florida State. Bob Harbison recruited us and we

both felt very fortunate. Gary and I both love Florida State very much, and

FSU lost a true champion today."

Pajcic starred for FSU's freshman team in the fall 1965 before taking

over as the starter on the varsity team in 1966. Sellers said his former

teammate had to prove himself almost daily as a freshman to fight his way up

the depth chart.

"We had 13 quarterbacks who signed with us out of high school that year,"

Sellers said. "We had 75 freshmen in our freshman class. And out of those 13

quarterbacks, Gary just rose up to the top. He was the cream of the crop.

Just a great leader - everybody loved Gary."

Pajcic earned honorable mention All-America honors as a sophomore in '66,

throwing for 1,590 yards and eight touchdowns. His success throwing the ball

that season helped establish FSU as one of the more innovative offenses of

the day.

In fact, it was Pajcic's success on the field that helped open the eyes

of future FSU Hall of Famer - and future NFL receiver -- Barry Smith.

"I grew up in Miami," Smith said. "And I remember being in junior high

and they used to show highlights on Monday nights at 11 o'clock on some

local PBS channel. And I remember watching Gary Pajcic in black and white do

his thing with the early Bill Peterson teams. When he and Ron Sellers hooked

up for all those big plays, I was in awe."

Smith said Pajcic should be remembered as one of the great quarterbacks

at Florida State.

"Gary Pajcic was the first quarterback that really put up big numbers in

FSU history," Smith said. "He was a great quarterback at Paxon High and he's

the guy who convinced Bill Peterson to sign Ron Sellers. And Gary started a

hell of a run of great quarterbacks at Florida State -- from him to Kim

Hammond to Bill Cappleman and later to Gary Huff and to what it is today."

Following that '66 season that saw him emerge as a collegiate star,

Pajcic's career took a hit when an arm injury slowed him down in his junior

year. That opened the door for Kim Hammond (in 1967) and Bill Cappleman (in

1968) to serve as FSU's starting quarterbacks. Sellers caught passes from

all three.

"Gary was probably one of the greatest high school athletes I had seen

then and that I have seen since," Sellers said. "He was All-State in

basketball, All-State in football and he played on a baseball team that lost

in the semifinals of the state tournament. If he didn't have that bad arm

after his sophomore year .

"I was very lucky to have Gary, Kim and Bill as my quarterbacks at

Florida State, but Gary was my personal soul mate because we'd gone back

with each other since the first grade."

Though he ended his college football career as a backup to Cappleman,

Pajcic made the most of his opportunities on campus. He graduated from FSU's

law school and then began a professional career that saw him become one of

Florida State University's most beloved benefactors.

Together with his brother, Steve, Pajcic started a law firm in

Jacksonville in the 1970's (Pajcic and Pajcic) that has grown into one of

Duval County's most successful practices.

But, his friends and former teammates say, Gary Pajcic never forgot the

value of giving back to the community - and to lending a helping hand to

those in need.

Andy Miller, president of Seminole Boosters, called Pajcic one of the

"finest human beings you would ever want to meet."

"He was a great humanitarian who was extraordinarly involved with his

community," Miller said. "Gary was a tremendous family man and he was a

great friend to Florida State University. This is a tremendous shock and a

loss that you can't imagine.

"I think everybody that met him came away feeling what a special guy he

was to Florida State. I could not say enough good things about Gary Pajcic.

He served on our board of directors and he was just the best guy you could

possibly be around. He always answered the call."

Wetherell said it was common knowledge that any FSU students who lived in

Jacksonville could always count on Gary Pajcic for help.

"Everyone knew that if a Florida State student ran into trouble in

Jacksonville, they could call Gary Pajcic," Wetherell said. "If they needed

gas money to get back to school or a meal or anything else, Gary and his

brother provided an open door. He helped Florida State, but almost any kid

could go in there and he would help them."

Pajcic's generosity is almost hard to fully comprehend.

The Pajcic brothers donated $1 million to Paxon High, and the football

field at their alma mater now carries their name. Gary Pajcic donated $1

million to Seminole Boosters as part of the Dynasty Campaign in 2002. The

football program's recruiting room is now called the Gary Pajcic Recruiting

Room.

The Pajcics donated $1 million to establish a scholarship program for

Duval County students attending the University of North Florida, and then

another $1 million to a Jacksonville elementary school to help attract

quality teachers.

Just this past spring, Gary Pajcic was honored at halftime of the Garnet

and Gold spring game for donating $100,000 to Warrick Dunn's charitable

foundation.

Tom Carlson, a senior vice-president with Seminole Boosters, said Pajcic

would donate money to help almost any cause.

"I've never met anyone more giving and more caring and more friendly to

everybody -- to everyone from all walks of life -- than Gary Pajcic,"

Carlson said. "He's one of the most thoughtful people I've ever come across.

He was willing to help anybody, to help every soul."

Wetherell said Pajcic's philanthropy went even deeper than most people

realize.

"Gary did a lot of stuff for the underserved population in Jacksonville

that was under-reported or had no publicity at all," Wetherell said. "He did

some things for abused women in a clinic in Jacksonville that no one knows

about. He was a good community partner. It wasn't that he just gave to

Florida State; he gave to everybody."

Wetherell said Pajcic left a path that every Florida State

student-athlete should follow.

"If you talk about what you want from an athlete and a student from

Florida State, you want them to come here and learn and grow and mature and

then go on to do great things," Wetherell said. "Right there is your classic

study in that -- the Pajcics. If you look at it in the whole sense, it makes

you proud of what Florida State University did for an 18-year-old kid and

even prouder of what that 18-year-old kid did for 30 years after he left

Florida State University."

An emotional Sellers fought back tears when he said he could not believe

that his childhood friend was no longer with him. The two had recently begun

the process of planning which football games they would attend this fall,

and how they would organize the tailgating activities.

"We've had the same tailgate party together for the last 15 or 16 years,"

Sellers said. "We both played football with Kim Hammond and Johnny Crowe and

they are part of that group. And Gary and I were already talking about our

first football game this year. I was supposed to play golf with Gary and his

sons ... Gary was my very best friend.

"I can't believe he's gone. I just can't believe he's not here."