Major Billy Smith retired from the Florida State Police in 1985, but there is one official duty he has not given up. Smith still puts on his uniform to stand at Florida State football games next to Bobby Bowden, the coach of the Seminoles, who play West Virginia in the Gator Bowl today.
Smith and his colleagues are among the distinctive-looking but usually anonymous people in uniform who are seen on the field at the end of college football games, frequently during bowl week, especially involving universities in the South.
These officers, who typically work in pairs and often wear broad-brimmed Smokey Bear hats, trot alongside opposing coaches as they shake hands after the game. The trooper tradition began more than 40 years ago, some veteran officers recall, although no one seems quite sure where or when.
The job has evolved into a status symbol, for the coaches and the troopers alike, another reminder of the vaunted standing of football coaches in many parts of the country. And at a time of increased concern about security and erratic behavior by some sports fans, the troopers' value to the coaches and the teams has seldom been more obvious.
Sideline officers' responsibilities involve more than witnessing handshakes. They coordinate team transportation and provide security before, during and after games, often in coordination with officers from other jurisdictions.
Grave matters
They also occasionally handle difficult or sensitive matters. Smith, who has guarded Florida State coaches for 41 years, once arranged increased protection for Bowden after a death threat and he has had to hustle the coach away from overly exuberant fans.
But nothing was as difficult as the night last September when an automobile accident on a Florida highway resulted in the deaths of Bowden's grandson and former son-in-law.
Smith was called in to identify the body of Bowden's grandson, 15-year-old Bowden Madden, and then was dispatched to tell Bowden. The boy's father, John Allen Madden, had played for Bowden and had once been married to Bowden's daughter.
Smith, who started working on the highway patrol in 1953, had often informed strangers of the deaths of loved ones. But Bowden is a close friend. "I've worked a lot of wrecks, but this wasn't easy," Smith said. "They felt like I was the logical choice. I owed that to Coach."
Urban myth
Smith said he thought the tradition of troopers accompanying football coaches began with Coach Bear Bryant at Alabama in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Captain Joe Pruitt, who retired from sideline duty with the Maryland team two years ago, said he thought Bryant had borrowed the idea from Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Dodd.
"Maybe it's a little bit of an urban myth," Pruitt said of the tradition's origin.
"Southern football is so big. It is a religion. Everyone is proud of their state. It's ceremonial, usually, but you do have to guard your coach from getting hurt."
On bowl trips, Pruitt said, troopers "act as the eyes and ears for the coach." Pruitt said Maryland began using troopers in 1992 after he volunteered to provide the service, on his comp time, if the university would pay for his meals, hotel and transportation.
His last game with Maryland came when the Terrapins went to the Orange Bowl in 2002 (they were defeated by Florida, 56-23).
"I went out on top," Pruitt said. "My wife got nine days vacation at the Fontainbleu hotel in Miami Beach."
Major Cary Sutton of the Alabama State Police, who has worked with the Crimson Tide for 14 years, said he had heard that Bryant had started the tradition in 1958 or 1959. He said the job has enabled him to make contacts in other states who have been helpful in his other police work, because "I know who to call."
Sutton is thinking about retiring. "A lot of people will be jockeying for my spot," he said. "I've been to Hawaii twice. This is a great gig."
Fanatical fans
But the work has its tense moments. Sargent Randy Schambach of the West Virginia State Police recalled when a fan tried too enthusiastically to congratulate Mountaineers Coach Rick Rodriguez.
"He comes on a full sprint run, more or less to jump on him because they won," said Schambach, who stepped in front of the fan and dropped him with a body block. "The assistant coach said, `Hey, good hit!'" Schambach said. "The guy looked up and said, `Hey, what are you doing?' He was intoxicated."
Schambach said he and his partner, Corporal Glen Doyle, wear hats with five-inch brims, "just like the drill instructors" in military boot camp. The fashion varies by region. Lance Coleman, a Texas Ranger who protects Mack Brown, the Longhorns' coach, said his attire includes cowboy boots, a gun belt and a cowboy hat. "A tan, buckskin cowboy hat," he said.
For games outside Texas, the troopers wear plain clothes, but their expressions do not change, home or away. "A poker face," Coleman said. "Our job is to be neutral."
On the outside, at least.
"I grew up in Austin," he said. "I love Texas football."
The Longhorns play Michigan in the Rose Bowl today.
There is some humor and friendly rivalry among the troopers. Sargent Steve Rushton of the Georgia State Police guards the Bulldogs.
"Tennessee always carries an entourage," he said. "We always joke that it takes six or seven of them to do what two of us do."
Sargent Tim Reuss of the Northwestern University police said that campus officers, not Illinois troopers, patrol the Wildcats' sidelines.
"We're not that aggressive," he said. "We don't overdo our job."
The Northwestern officers counsel players, take them on patrol and instruct them on how to act if stopped by the police, Reuss said.
"Be polite, be honest, be straight-forward," Reuss said he tells them. "You guys have a lot to lose. And don't use my name to get out of trouble. This is not a get-out-of-jail-free card."
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