College football season is just around the corner, and I would like to give some background info and a challenge to two of the big fans of Alabama and Florida — but first some background.
I have run the SEC/ACC “Pick the Team to Win” competition each week, on and off, for over 50 years, with none during the Vietnam War, my time of 1965 to 1972.
We used to run it on the Army Post, with the prize of a dinner for four at a restaurant that got free PR from the flyer, “College Picks SEC/ACC.”
It would cost $1 for a sheet, and the money and sheet were sent in to benefit a nonprofit organization. You chose where the money goes; to Army Emergency Relief or the Red Cross.
The cut-off was 1700 hours Friday, and we would go around to the two offices and pick up the College Pick sheets, bring them back to headquarters, and wait until Sunday morning to grade them. Monday, we announced the winner to the post.
These events took place on Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, and Fort Knox, and the Army Emergency Relief and Red Cross loved it — they received up and over $5,000 per week.
After retiring from the Army, we moved to New Jersey for work in the casino business, but I still had time on my hands, and still loved college football, so I went to Ocean City’s local newspaper and they loved the idea. So we went with $1 donations to one of four charitable organizations within the area, with restaurant visits (dinner for four) and pizza-and-pub (dinner for four) for the winner.
I have been doing this again here in Florida, and my audience has been the Military Order of the Purple Heart, active duty military all over the world, and part of the East Coast civilian population who love SEC/ACC football — with no cost and no prize; just trying to be the only one to pick all the winners of that weekend’s games and the tie breakers. Seventy percent of winners were men; 30 percent were women.
Now for the challenge: With Florida and Alabama winning their SEC Division, and Alabama winning the National Championship, and both beating Tennessee, I’ve challenged two friends that Tennessee will beat both Alabama and Florida.
And the deal is, when and if they do, I’ll send them a Tennessee Orange Bush Hat with a white “T” on it, and they have to wear it in public with a picture of more than 10 people with them.
I’ll get it in the Crestview News Bulletin, too.
The same goes for me: I’ll wear an item of either Alabama or Florida in public, with more than 10 people in the picture.
William Everett is a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and lives in the Baker area.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: A Tennessee fan issues Florida, Alabama challenge