"Carlos Alvarez, Pt.1"

Legendary Gator Great, "The Cuban Comet" opens up about life in Cuba as a kid, coming to the US and finding American football, how his first catch as a Gator changed his life, the story behind his nickname, some outrageous college stories, as well as intimate details about his monstrous return to Miami in front of 70K strong from the Cuban community in South Florida going 15 for 237 in that magical 1969 season, and more -  all in just Part 1 of this special two part 50TH EPISODE of the All 4 The Gators Podcast!

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Transcript

And here it is. Andy, Sid's not here, but this is regardless our 50th episode of the All For the Gators podcast, Andy. Pretty cool, Very cool. It's also our first Sid less episode. Yeah.

And, unfortunately, on our 50th, we will not get to hear Sid mess up the name. That's right. Sid's becoming very infamous for his flubs. And we still gotta get a an all time like, a a best of show of just his fluff. But anyway, I digress.

Our 50th Speaking of best of speaking of best of, we do have to talk at some point about about baseball because, there was a best of today. Yes. Go ahead. So today, Jack Caglione set the all time home run record for the Gator baseball team. 75 home runs.

And and, you know, we usually keep it to football but, a home run record's pretty universal in the universe of sports. And, 75 in his career. He beat Matt Laporta, his 70 4. And I believe, he had 68 in 2 seasons. Is that true?

It might have been the last 2 years. He's the last 2 years, he's hit a gazillion home runs. It's probably pretty good. I'd I'd guess that's probably true. Yeah.

Including a what? 516 footer? Is that what it was? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

You hit a monster shot. He needs to play in Yankee Stadium. That's all I'm saying. But not to say we wouldn't take a baseball guess. I know we typically it's been football so far, but we would certainly take a baseball guess.

So anybody out there Sure. We're ready for you. Yeah. Okay. Well, before we get to our very special 50th episode guest who's a legendary Gator great, there's something I gotta talk about real quick.

It's our new collaboration. We're partnering with Gator's Chomping Cancer, and it's so cool. This is what we're gonna do. There's a Facebook group, that is linked to cancer research at the University of Florida, and it's a charity. And, we can't say the name because nothing's official, but, it's one of the largest cancer charities out there.

So we're gonna partner with them. We're gonna be the official podcast of Gator's Chomping Cancer. And what we're gonna do is we're gonna go we're gonna get some sponsors. Right? We have some expenses putting on the show.

We gotta pay for the domain name, the host site. There's a lot that's involved, and we're in the red every year. We do this out of the passion for the Gators. Right? Yep.

Well, we're gonna get sponsors that wanna be a part of this show, wanna be a partner with this show. And anything above our expenses, we're donating to Gator's Chomping Cancer. So I thought it was a pretty cool collaboration. I wanted to break the news right here that we are the official podcast of Gator's Chomping Cancer. Find them on Facebook, cancer.org backslashchomp.

You can go ahead and make a donation now if you're feeling froggy. Looking forward to, working with those guys. Yeah. It's gonna be awesome. Cancer sucks, so anything we can do, happy to help.

That's right. And, well, today's guest, for our 50th episode of the All For the Gators podcast is none other than legendary Gators wide receiver, Carlos Alvarez. We got him on. We talked to him. One of the best interviews we've had yet.

Right? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Another 2 parter. Had to make it 2 parts.

Yeah. It was so good. So many stories. Some are just gonna knock your socks off. Some are funny.

Some are poignant. But just great, great banter with, one of the greatest guys to to ever catch the football in the swamp. Yeah. Perfect guess for our 50th episode. No doubt.

He talked a little bit about his documentary on the ESPN plus, part of the SEC storage series, the all American Cuban comic. He talked about being a young kid in Cuba. What store I mean, there were some crazy stories he told us. A fight he had with an upperclassman, all American. When he was on the freshman team, he beat the guy on a on a stop and go route, and, some shenanigans ensued.

Yeah. What other what other stories do you remember? Oh, I remember there's definitely, for those of you out there like me that are Gators fans and Packer fans, there's a Packer link. So I I found that interesting. You'll definitely get to hear that.

There's a Packer link there, and it goes into his recruiting and how he ended up with the Gators and who his freshman coach was. So tune in for that part. Absolutely. Also, if you're an alumni of the University of Florida and you were there in your college years and did some crazy things, well, so did Carlos. And he told us some of them.

Yeah. You might wanna listen in. You might wanna see how your stuff compares to his. Yeah. I don't think it does.

He's got some outrageous stories of what they did as students, at the University of Florida. Good times. Yeah. He mentions he was happy that social media wasn't around when he was there Florida and we are also happy that social media wasn't around when we were at Florida. But I think his stories are a little different than ours.

Yeah. Yeah. And of course This might be a little worse. Yeah. Yeah.

And then, you know, he gives us a little, insight on his huge return to Miami when the Gators play the canes and the orange bowl, his homecoming 1969, and he catches 15 for 2 37 on him and ends up in an odd place that night. So go ahead and listen to it. It was Carlos Alvarez. It's our 50th episode of the All For the Gators podcast, and here it is. Enjoy.

You know, we often ask our guests on the show, you know, what's your proudest moment as a Gator? Right? Well, I'm gonna answer that for us as creators, hosts, producers of the show. This is by far our proudest moment right here because our guest today, you can say he's a founding father of the Gator greats brotherhood. He destroyed record books, and he held those records for decades.

Even after 17 more all Americans came through the swamp in his position. But before dawning the orange and blue, his amazing story started with his family fleeing Castro and the communist revolution in Cuba and coming to South Florida when he was only 10 years old. He found American football and at North Miami Senior High, he developed into a star half back with great hands and played both sides of the ball. By his senior year, he garnered all county accolades and was touted by the Miami Herald as the best football player in Dade County, period. UF, Georgia, LSU, they all came knocking.

But with his brothers already up in Gainesville and UF giving him the chance to play receiver, he decided to become a Gator. And that he did arguably better than anyone before or after him. When he graduated, he held pretty much every single UF receiving record and still reigns as the all time leader in receiving yards for a career. Gator Nation, it's my honor and pleasure to give you a man that redefined playing a position in college. A man whose athletic talent, voice, and fortitude cannot be denied, and a man that stood exemplary for an entire Cuban population in Florida hungry for the American dream.

An all time record setter, 2 time all SCC, a consensus first team all American, an academic all American, hall of famer, a UF Athletics Hall of Famer, and a college football hall of famer, the Cuban comic. Ladies and gentlemen, Carlos Alvarez Vasquez Rodriguez, Ubietta, Carlos Alvarez. John, that that may be the best intro I have ever gotten anywhere. He takes a lot of pride in that. So I do.

Oh my god. That was unbelievable. I gotta Did he miss anything? Something. Is there anything in there he missed?

That was pretty long. Much, John. Hey. I saved some for the interview, Mandy. I saved some for the interview.

Okay. Carlos, such a thrill to have you on with us today. You know, thank you for taking the time. Glad to do it. It's it's a pleasure to to to talk to the Gator Nation and to talk to you, John, and Andy.

The Gator Nation over time has done so many things for me and my family, that have been just wonderful, And I'm sure we'll talk about some of them today. So I'm always glad to talk to the to the Gator Nation. In case our listeners aware, you have a documentary on ESPN plus, part of the SCC storied series, the all American Cuban comic, that tells this truly compelling story of your journey. And I'm so glad I checked it out because as a Gator and an alum, I knew of you from the record books and from those pictures with the fingertip catches, but I didn't really know your whole story. So my question is, did you find, like, a whole new generation of Gator fans following you and celebrating you after that came out?

What was the reaction? Extremely positive. It's it's very interesting because, the the guy who produced it and directed it, which was, Gaspar Gonzalez, who is also a Gator, out of Miami, and he has a Cuban background. He wasn't born in Cuba, but his parents were. And he's done some really good documentaries, one of Muhammad Ali that I love.

And Muhammad Ali being one of my, really all time favorite athletes, I saw it, and he talked me into into doing a documentary. I wasn't really sure about that, how it would turn out because, you know, you're you're putting your your story on somebody in somebody's hand, and, you want it to be told correctly. Sure. And, Gaspar did a great job, really. Just a superb job.

He's a superb, documentary maker. And, I have gotten a lot of very favorable reactions from it. A lot of people have come up to me and basically said what you said. They didn't they didn't know the rest of the story. And so they do.

I mean, there there's all kinds of even storylines beyond that documentary. In fact, one of the things that I sent, Gasparra, was, was a draft, a very rough draft of a book that I had written about my first 22 years of my life, which is taking it through the Gator days. So he had a a pretty good outline of what he could pursue in that, and I think that helped him. But I think that that, hopefully, someday, I'll get that book out. I hope so.

I hope you do. As we learned in the doc, documentary, and John mentioned it a little bit, you came to South Florida after fleeing Castro's regime in Cuba. As someone who grew up in South Florida, still works and lives in South Florida, certainly your story resonates with a lot of lot of friends I have, a lot of lot of coworkers I have. My father-in-law is actually a Cuban, so he went through something very similar. So that certainly resonates with me.

Tell us a little bit maybe about that coming over. And then also, for those that don't know, how you got into American football? That's kind of an interesting story as well. So, my dad was a lawyer in Cuba, and he was very apolitical. He didn't wanna do any deal with politics at all.

And he had a a group of a small group of lawyers that were an import export business, and he he was a kind of the the lawyer part of that business. And, interestingly enough, he went to school with Fidel Castro. Castro went Wow. To, Castro's a lawyer. And so he was there.

And when Castro was up in the in the hills fighting Batista, the dictator, My mom, as was just about every other Cuban, was very pro Castro. They wanted this dictator, Batista, out. My dad didn't like Batista, but he did he he thought Castro would be a really problematic, not in terms of communism or anything else, but just that he would be problematic as a leader. And, when he came in, when when Castro came in, we were out celebrating just like every other Cuban was in, January 1, 1959. And I I still remember doing the, rebel flags on the car, riding around Havana, being happy that this, incredibly bad dictator was out.

You know? And the hope of everybody was in Fidel Castro. Of course, you're always thinking of the best, and it didn't turn out that way. So my dad started making plans to leave. And so after my school year, which was it was 4th grade.

I went to La Salle in in Cuba. After my 4th grade, that summer, we left the United States and, you know, left everything behind and just came to the United States. That was a year and a half after Castro came. Castro shut the doors about 6 months later. Wow.

And then people had to come out in all kinds of different ways, and everybody knows the history of that. We end up in Miami. We lose it. My dad loses everything. I have 2 brothers and a sister.

But, you know, I'm the luckiest guy in the world because I have 2 great parents. You know? I have parents that will do anything for you and will fight for you. And and, we started out small, and, you know, and luckily, again, you know, life gives you these little breaks, and it gives you it it breaks your heart at times, but then it gives you these breaks. We moved within 10 blocks of a boys club.

Okay. And now in my school in Cuba, all I did just about is play baseball. I loved baseball. Minnie Minoso was my idol who played here in the US, and the Cuban teams were always good. Mhmm.

And, but I started out with the boys' club. My brothers and I being the only people we moved to North Miami. Nobody spoke Spanish in North Miami. It was all every everybody who spoke Spanish moved to Southwest. But my parents felt that the day we stepped on outside, off the ferry boat in Key West, The day we stepped off that boat, they turned around and said, we're never going back.

We don't care if Castro falls tomorrow. So you need to become an American. And that's what we that's what we did. And so at this boys club that we found, even though we didn't, at the time, even know how to communicate with the other the other boys, we started playing the sports. And there were the 3 sports.

Right? Basketball, baseball, and football. And I played, baseball was my first sport, which was really good because I was very good at it, and then, basketball, which I wasn't as good at. And then football came, and I decided to sit out. But my friends kinda talked me into it.

Yeah. Said, you ought to play this sport, but I didn't understand it. You know, you had the pads and the helmet. Didn't understand it. And but they talked me to go going out there, and I did.

Ended up being the quarterback because that was 95 pound football, you know, £95 and under. And, I always had a little bit of speed. That's what that at £95 is all about speed. So it made me the quarterback. We had, like, 4 or 5 plays, and that's how it all started.

And, you know, from then on, it was just one step at a time. It's a it's it's a great story, but it's a story of a lot of Cubans. Sure. You know? I I I've got it in this field, but there's a story almost every Cuban has a really, really good story about it, and, we're all thankful of this great nation to, to to give us the opportunity to really succeed here.

So when your parents turn to you, a 10 year old boy, and they tell you we're never going back, you're becoming an American. How does a 10 year old boy process that? Were you excited? Were you scared? It went right over my head.

Yeah. It it was like somebody telling you that the universe is so it it it it's just has this much expands to it, which you can't comprehend it. And I know as a 10 year old sitting in the back seat of a I think it was a 1958 Oldsmobile. When he when he said that to me, I I I I simply couldn't believe it. I just thought it it's just not happening.

You know, we're we're spending maybe a month here, and then we're going back. Certainly, that's not happening. But it my dad was serious. In fact, you know, here's a funny story about my dad. My dad always told this story.

He had a solution to the Cuban problem because, you know, the Cuban problem is not Fidel Castro and his family and what has happened since. The Cuban problem has been that we have been hampered with dictators and dictators and then dictators over and over again. Castro just happens to be communist, but the other ones, you know, were you know, sided with the US, but they were still dictators. Batista was a horrible dictator. So my dad's solution to the whole problem was to make an announcement and to anybody who wanted to be president of the Cuban Republic to show up at the big baseball stadium in Cuba in Havana and then shoot them all.

Jesus. Wow. Wow. Okay. Everybody wants to be a dictator, everybody.

So that'll get rid of that dictator class. There's one way to do it. Let's keep going with the football there. Let's take it back to, North Miami senior high where you really break out into a dominant player. You play both sides of the ball.

You develop into a pretty great halfback with great hands, and you're recruited by all the colleges, UF, Georgia, I've said earlier. But you pick you have because your brothers are going there, and they're gonna give you a chance to play flanker or receiver. So my question is, why not which is right there in Miami? Why is everybody going north in the family? You know, I don't know why we were going north.

It it probably some of it has to do from an economic standpoint, right, financial standpoint. We're, you know, we're certainly not a rich family. Miami is gonna be much more expensive even if you live. And we lived in North Miami, which is the other, you know as you know, University of Miami is is on the south side. Mhmm.

We lived on the north side. But, you know, financially, I don't think it was possible for us to go there for my brothers to go there. They didn't have a scholarship. Even though the US, the federal government had a really good program of student loans for native born Cubans that my brothers, took advantage of, loans had very low loan interest low interest, but they decided to go to Florida, University of Florida. And, you know, that had an impact on me.

And and also, I wanted to get away from home. I I think that there was a part of me that wanted to get away from home, not because I didn't love my parents. I I absolutely adore them. But I do think as a kid, you need to move away from your parents. And even back then, I think my parents felt that way too even though they I my parents went to every game that I played no matter if it was in Mississippi or wherever.

But, and it was not easy for them either financially. But I think that they felt I needed to move away. And it comfort them that I moved away to a place where both of my brothers were. Because Sure. It's the one thing that they taught us that we needed to rely on ourselves, the the 3 the 3 brothers to really help each other.

And so they were kinda comforted that we were there. Also, a guy, I don't know if you remember him, Lindy and Fandy, who was, Oh, sure. Andy's a Packer fan from Wisconsin. Yep. Exactly.

Yeah. I'm a Packer fan from way back. I mean, I'm I'm a Vince Lombardi nut, but Lindy almost sounded Cuban. He looked Cuban Yeah. When he was recruiting me.

And I think that had an impact on my mom because my mom fell in love with them. And, so I think that that that had an impact. So my whole family was really happy when I chose Florida, you know, for all kinds of reasons. But one of them was Lindy and Fanny, and the fact that he he denies it. I mean, we we him and I always laughed about it, but he denied that he tried to be Cuban even though he did use a few, you know, work here and there.

But, you know, it was, and also, you know, Steve Spurrier had just come through Florida. And I thought Florida was really, I wanted to be a wide receiver. By the way, I caught, like, one pass in high school because Oh, really? We really, that that our our football coach didn't believe in the passing game. And so I was a halfback, you know, and I ran the ball all the time.

I caught one pass. I, in fact, intercepted more passes than I caught. So that's where the good hands came from. I understand. Defensive side of the ball.

Passes on the defensive side of the ball. Yeah. So so they didn't know. And all I asked them was all I asked of Lindy and Fanny and, coach Ray Graves is that they would give me a chance at wide receiver. And if I didn't work out at wide receiver, I would be a running back.

I would be a defensive back. But I wanted to be given a a try at wide receiver. And from the day I finished my senior season in high school, all I did was work out and, and, with my brother Arturo, who was even quicker than me, 1 on 1 and doing all kinds of things to get be a become a a great wide receiver. That was the one I read that could cover you. Right?

Yeah. He could cover me. We we we you know, our tour unfortunately passed away about 4 years ago. Oh, sorry. It's too bad.

He was just the best of the family. But my goodness was he quick. In fact, at University of Florida, him and my brother Cesar and their their team, their flag football team, were undefeated for, like, 3 or 4 years. And Arturo was written up in the alligator. They had a whole write up on him because he was unstoppable.

Wow. He he really had some of the quickest things ever. He was he was he was really something. He was smaller than me, but he was more tenacious than I am. He was tough.

You I mean It's hard to believe. I got into a couple of fights with you. He was 2 years older than me, And you you never wanna get into a fight with Arturo. It's just like, you'd have to kill him. So he but he was he was a great, just a superb athlete.

So after you graduate high school, as you mentioned, you go to to UF, you spend that 1st year though, scrimmaging the varsity. And for those that don't know, freshmen didn't play back then. But at what point during that freshman year did you realize you had a lot of talent in that freshman class that came in with you? Well, you know, it's one of the, again, wonderful things about some things that you think it's really a, a detriment. Right?

That, okay. You know, you don't I haven't been a wide receiver. I didn't know how good you had to be. So my mindset was always, if I fail, I wanna look back and say I did everything I could have in order to get this. And, really, I that was my mindset from the day I signed to University of Florida.

I may not make the team, but I will, at that point, have done everything possible. And what I realized when I when I, when I realized when I got to University of Florida is, yeah, I could play. I could I could compete with these guys. And probably the the first time that I thought, of course, then you're given a break by giving a great quarterback like John Reeves, who was like, I I still think was the best drop back pure drop back passer ever at University of Florida. I mean, there there have been lots of great quarterbacks, and I don't, you know, a you know, a lot of them have done, you know, from Spurrier on back.

I mean, unbelievable stuff. But as far as just dropping back and throwing the ball with speed and an a kind of a soft soft touch for a receiver, John Reeves, he's hard. I just can't think of anybody that was great. So as great as him so, the first day out, on the practice field, we go 1 on 1 against the varsity against a 1 on 1 drill against defensive backs. And I've told this story before.

Always gets me in trouble with Steve Tannen, who was the number one draft choice of the New York Jets Mhmm. And his outstanding defensive back. I mean, just outstanding. Because Steve was an early fast. And by the way, he was a he was like a champion hurdler in high school.

This is the kind of ability that Steve Tannen had. But he I mean, he had size, speed, and, a lot of respect. We went I I was going I went 1 on 1 with him in in one of the drills. It just happened to be that, okay. I'm the next guy, and he happened to be the next defensive back.

But we did a stop and go, and it was just him and I so that he had no help. And that's a that's a hell of a thing to ask for a defensive back to do. But we did a stop and go, and I beat him. In fact, so I I caught the ball, and I and when I caught it, I thought, wow. You know?

Did this on Steve Bannon. Well, he was right behind me because I had stopped, you know, sort of, and he just belted me. I mean, he just sprawled me to the ground, you know. And, of course, I'm a freshman, and he's a, he's a song he's a junior. And and I get up, and he's just walking back like nothing happened.

And I just ran to him, and I jumped at his back and started hitting him. And this is a freshman hitting a a varsity player. Oh my god. I didn't know that was a sin. I've got mortal sin.

And, and, they separated us. It's the only fight I've ever gotten into in the football field or in any sport is with Steve Tannen. And him and I are really close friends. We still laugh about it to this to this day. Oh, that's true.

And, in fact, Lindy and Fanny pulled me off. Pulled me off. He said, what the hell are you doing? You know? And yelled at me and stuff like that.

And then we I go back to the line because Lindy and Fanny at the time was the was the the the junior varsity coach. He he wasn't in in the varsity coach. He was our coach. He says, what the hell are you doing? You know?

And then when when, he gets me back in the line where he can't be heard by the other coaches, he says, oh, I'm so glad you did that. And, it was really it was the beginning that beginning day when I realized I can do this. I mean, I didn't know it was gonna end up this way. But I said, I can compete. It just depends how much.

And our that that, we played 4 games that, as a freshman, and, we only lost 1. And, unfortunately, that was to Miami down in the Orange Bowl on a game that I think I had, like, 13 catches. But I ended up at Jackson Memorial because in one of my last catches, I got flipped Oh. And landed on my back. Oof.

But we barely lost that game, but we won. We beat Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley at Florida Field. We beat Georgia in a in a snowstorm up in Athens. So we had a really good freshman team, but I felt at that point that I could play. Well, you sure could because that next season in 69, you guys become known as the super softs.

And, you yourself have pretty much the greatest season by a wide receiver the SCC had ever seen. And it all started with the play in that first game, preseason number 1 Houston Cougars come to town in the swamp, the Gators big time underdogs. I think it was the 3rd play of the game. You grab a 70 yarder touchdown, and you've been quoted as saying that that changed your life. How so?

Because nobody's ever forgotten it. That is true. Good point. Good point. I have been in litigation.

I have been in judge's chamber where a judge says, can you tell me something about that play, how that developed and all of that? I mean, it has been constant to my life. And not that I mind. I'm not I don't mind at all. It's been a a wonderful experience.

I don't mind retelling it, but it just changed my life. But what what else and you you kinda think of your own lives. I'm talking to you, John and Andy. I mean, your own lives. When is there a moment where something happens that you were not expecting it, but it changes the rest of your life?

And we all have these kinds of moments, and that just happened to be an incredible moment. You know? I was told, you know, after we warmed up that day against Houston, I was told, we're we're back we're we're back in the locker room. Coach Pankos, the the offensive coordinator comes, gets John and I together and says, the 3rd play of the game, we're going deep. And we'll set up or we'll set it up by 2 running plays.

That's if we if we win the toss. And so we did win the toss. And, you know, I wasn't nervous. Even I knew the play already. Alright?

Because I'm we're doing the 2 running plays. And, of course, I'm setting it up by lining they they had this 2 deep coverage, but it was a zone coverage. And that's what made that play work is that they didn't know my speed. And so coach Bancos felt that I could run right by the cornerback. And before that safety could come over to cover, it'd be too late.

I mean, it worked exactly exactly that way. Sure did. And and John threw a perfect pass. And, you know, what I've been asked over and over again, did you ever get nervous, like, catching while I drop it? Not in the that wasn't a thought of my mind at all.

I mean, in all the passes that I caught at Florida, I never thought of dropping anything. It was always like, yeah, I'm catching it. I mean, I I don't think if you're a receiver, you ever think, in in a way, you're overconfident. Anything that's come comes near me, I'm gonna catch. Mhmm.

And that's and that's a mindset you gotta have. And you gotta have a tunnel vision because sometimes you have these guys that are really kinda mean. They're called linebackers and and strong safety that wanna take your head off, especially in the days that they allowed helmet to helmet contact. So they just wanna just destroy you. And you just can't think of anything else, but you have to have total focus on the ball.

And so that's the way I always felt. And in that bomb that, on that Houston game but, really, how could I ever drop that ball? John dropped it right in my hands. Oh, yeah. I mean, and he had the softest touches on a on a on a pass.

And by the way, John and I, as well as a lot of this the other super softs and and, super juniors and super seniors. And by the way, super softs is nice, but that 69 team had the most incredible senior class ever. Yeah. It did. I mean, they were super, super I I you know, we can talk about that over and over again.

But, I mean, it's just an amazing an amazing group of guys. But we had, John and I had stayed there for summer school, and we had practiced that play every day that summer. We had gone through the through the passing at the what's called the the tree routes. You know, you do the the the, when you do all the passing routes in a tree, like, you do the post and the slants and the all of that, we did it over and over. I would say we we practiced it 5 or 6 days out of every 7 days that summer.

So we had a real good connection as well as some of the other wide receivers. Well, after the big catch, you go on and pile on another 112 yards in that game, finish up with a 182 total, and you guys beat Houston 5934, in that home opener. You guys go on a 6:0 run to start the season, and that that you mentioned John Reeves, that Reeves to Alvarez connection becomes, you know, famous, quite frankly famous and feared at the time. And of course, your tab, the Cuban comet. Obviously, your speed, I'm sure played a part in that.

And and I know how you got the name, but can you tell John and and the rest of our listeners where the nickname came from? Yes. Apparently, and and there's a a newspaper's clipping that I have, regarding this. Norm Carlson, who I think all Gator fans know, he was, the guy that made me an all American and Steve Spurrier, Heisman Trophy winner, because he was such a good publicity director at the university. And, he he really he was he was outstanding.

And he was being asked by somebody, from the press and, you know, maybe about I would probably say, maybe, after the 1st or second game of that of that sophomore year about me and, did I why didn't I have a nickname? And he says, well, well, he doesn't have a nickname. Although, coach Graves, did give me a nickname because some some of my teammates had called me, which means the cat, in Spanish because of quickness. And coach Graves thought Elgato main meant Gator in Spanish. And so that became a little bit of a joke, but the but that's the only nickname I had before that.

And then somebody in the press pool suggested, what about the Cuban comet? And Norm said, that sounds great. He'll be the Cuban comet from now on. And so the Cuban comet name was born, which I find interesting. And I I don't know if this is in a documentary because, really, my whole football experience, part of it was to become American and to be seen as American.

And now I'm known as a Cuban comet once I entered football. But, of course, you know, that's all about the identification that you have. You know, as a kid, you wanna fit in. Right? So as a kid, I wanted to fit in.

I wanted to be an American. I didn't wanna be I don't wanna be Cuban. But by the time I got to University of Florida, no. I wanna be Cuban. I wanna be American too, but I wanna be Cuban too.

So and it it was fine. So the Cuban comment was born. And I I don't this is maybe part of the story, but what's interesting is there is another Cuban comet. Mhmm. I'm not the only Cuban comet.

Yep. And the Cuban comet is, the great, he's a hall of famer, baseball hall of famer, and my idol as a kid. We're exactly the same physically, £180, 511. We're exactly the same. He's, black.

I'm white, but we have the same body type. We have the same height. I just love that that's the case, that I share the name with my idol. There's another part of that, Minnie Munoz story that, and you may not take full credit, but I think you had part of the credit for maybe getting him into the hall of fame. Well, I when I got into the College Football Hall of Fame, I made sure that I mentioned that.

Mhmm. That it was really it it it was a total it was an injustice to leave Minnie Minoso out of the baseball hall of fame because a large part of his career was taken from him because he couldn't play because he was f I mean, he was, he was black. I mean, how bad is that? Mhmm. So when you add some of those numbers in the black leagues and also in the Mexican league, and then you add the numbers the the incredible numbers that he had as a White Sox and so on, it's clear this guy belonged.

So I'm glad that injustice was was corrected, but he, he is a wonderful story. What a what a what a great athlete. You know, Willie Mays just, as you know, just passed away. Mhmm. And, it reminded me because, when I think of Willie Mays, I think a lot of Minnie Minoso.

Obviously, different players, but pretty much the same style. They'll do any anything to, I mean, great athletes. So it's funny that we're talking about it now because, be because of that connection. Mhmm. You had mentioned Steve Tannen on defense.

He also had another guy on defense, Jack Youngblood. You know, were you able to tell back then how special of a player he was gonna become? You know, Jack was, Jack was a work in progress. I'll tell you why. A lot of people don't know, when Jack got recruited from Monticello up here near Tallahassee where I live now.

He was a skinny guy. He was, the skinny, long guy. And by the time he left Florida, I don't know, he looked like he came out of some muscle magazine. He was, like, built up incredibly. He had he had, really, he had done all the right things at Florida, because, you know, and at the time, it wasn't like you had the strength coach that would guide you through it and all of that.

We had, in fact, I I found the sheet the other day, a sheet they would send you before the season started and saying, you know, try to do these things before practice starts. You know, you had to do so many jumping jacks or something like that. None of which I followed because I thought this this doesn't get you there. And I think Jack was probably the same in his area, you know, that no. He did something else.

And you could see his progression, really, at Florida, how he got better as he went on. And, really, by the time he graduated of Florida, he had not come to his you know, anywhere to to where he was going to be. So but he was getting there. He was getting there because he had a, I think, he had a the Pro Bowl game or something like that. He had a really, really good game.

It wasn't a Pro Bowl. It's a it's a game where the college players used to play the the winning pro football team the previous year, and he had a pretty good game. But then that 1st year in the pros, he just burnt it. I mean, he was great. So he really is a guy who you could see just going the progression going up from so so at Florida, you could see this, but I didn't expect him to do as well as he did in the pros.

I mean, he was absolutely terrific in the pros. So he's a guy who really never never stopped at any one point thinking that his potential had been met. He always thought his potential was ahead of him, and it served him well. I heard you on, Sean Kelly's Gator Tales podcast, talking with him. And one thing that I laughed at, you mentioned you were glad there wasn't social media back then so you guys could get away with some of the the things you did back then.

The statute of limitations has certainly run out. You got any good stories for us that you're glad weren't captured on an iPhone? Oh, my god. Social media wasn't back then. I mean, really, there's so many things.

You know? I I I you know? For one thing is, you know, the university police, they were damn lenient with football players. We did some things that sometimes they get caught, and they would not pursue anything which was really nice. But they were just things that we that we did that were, see, I'm getting a little uncomfortable.

I got not the name. But, it's just that, you know, anybody who is between 18 and 22, they're gonna do some stupid things. Oh, yeah. Really? Oh, yeah.

We did. It's just gonna We sure did. It's just gonna happen. And so I'm glad there was no social media. You know?

It's like one time you know, the the Twin Towers were their dorms at University of Florida? We used to call them the Twin Towers. Yeah. Well, we were the we we were part of the Yan Hall crowd. Right?

Yan Hall was the, the jock dorm, for football players and and and other, Gator athletes. But during the summer, they would put us in the, Twin Towers because only a a number a limited number of us would stay there, and so we would mix in with other students at the Twin Towers. Well, we would get bored during the summer. And one time, we were fishing on in, what's the lake at University of Florida? Lake Alice?

Lake Alice. Lake Alice. Yeah. You're not supposed to fish there. But I I was rooming I was rooming with I was rooming.

I love the North Florida guys because, you know, they were like the fishing, hunting. You know, we had a gun in Yes, sir. We had a gun in our in our room, which one time got fired into a book. Because somebody was drunk. You know?

I mean, that kind of dangerous stuff. You know? Jeez. Those guys would really the guys would scare the daylights out of me. So he he loved to fish in in in Lake Alice because coach Graves had would love to fish, and he had these gigantic largemouth bass hanging in his office.

And, I won't name the name of the player, but he wanted to beat those bass those large mouth bass. And so we would go at midnight at midnight, to Lake Alice. There's a little dock out there or there was a little dock, and we would fish from there. But you would see the gators. Mhmm.

You know, the eyes. Oh, yeah. See the gators just swimming by. One day, he decided again, these are North Florida guys. Decided, who gonna catch us a gator?

I said, you gotta be BS ing. Sure enough. He throws a plug about this guy could I mean, if he said, you know, throw it and land it within 6 inches of this, he could do it. He was just amazing. He did it.

So he lands his plug just on the other side of the gator, pulls it real quick, and sure enough, catches the gator. Now it's not a it's not like gigantic gator, but it's a pretty damn big gator. He reels it in. He reels it in and captures it, and we put it on the elevator. Okay.

That you know, I mean, we had the mouth shut, you know, but At least you did that. Yeah. I mean, we were not only I mean, it was just incredible. You know? Oh, gosh.

It was so so funny. One time, we were at a again, during that summer, we were at a dance. And this is before my sophomore year. We were at a dance at, the Ritz, Rights Union. Mhmm.

I've been told this is called the Ritz Union. Right? Yep. And, there's a motorcycle gang there. I mean, a real motorcycle gang.

And so this he was fearless. And and I'll I'll say his name. I mean, I I don't think John would mind. His name was John Willie. And, he never played at Florida because he hurt his back, but he kept his scholarship.

And John decided that, oh, these guys are badass, but I'm gonna show them how badass we are. So Oh, boy. He goes and he dresses a little bit rougher. And now John's not a really big guy. And then he goes to the guys and starts telling them how he's part of another motorcycle gang.

I mean, all of a sudden, out of the blue, just dancing the guys, telling them the motorcycle gang. And the the guy say the person one of the questions was, I still remember the guy said, and where are your motorcycles? And he said, oh gosh. We never ride them into Gainesville. The cops would take it away from us.

They know us here too well. So, I mean, he had all the answers. And he's saying all the bad things that they did, and he's telling them all the bad things that we did. And these guys believed him. I mean, they believed that he was one of the badasses guys in Florida with this motorcycle gang.

I forgot what he called it. But, anyway, it's those kinds of activities. That's great. We thought we did crazy stuff, Andy. Yeah.

Right? I know. No. No alligators and elevators for us, for sure. We're starting without Yeah.

Bike gangs. Now and, you know, we we had, and we also had this thing called talent night. I may have talked about this. I probably didn't in the in the documentary. But talent night was at Yan Hall.

All the athletes would go down to the basement. And there were some rooms in there that were not being used, big rooms. And you'd have to pay to get in. And they would have and it would be, like, a Friday night event. And only only, athletes were allowed.

You couldn't have dates. You couldn't have friends. Only athletes. And then on talent night, there would be these contests. And if the whoever won the contest could win prizes because there was a a fee to get in among the players.

Among them were, Cool Hand Luke contest of eating 50 eggs. Oh, cool. And, that was never achieved, but somebody ate about 36 or 37. They came out soon thereafter, but, but he did get to about 36 or 37. There was one guy who drank a 5th of bourbon, and, that was dangerous because he passed out.

And, you know, I don't think we realized that that that could have been the end of him. But, there was sumo wrestling where the sumo wrestling this will be this will grow some people out. But in sumo wrestling, where you get, like, the 2 biggest, hairiest guys, and you would they would put, like, Vaseline or some oil all over them, and they would sumo wrestle. And, you know, you would have to match it. They they would sumo wrestle.

And and but the the funniest thing is they would take a jockstrap and somehow pull it so that it would come the the the thing you put around your waist would come all the way, around your neck. Oh. It was absolutely gross. But I mean, that was fun. Talent night.

You can imagine that on social media. No. Definitely not. I I mean, here we are. We wanna talk to you about the Miami game, 15 catches for 237.

We wanna talk about the Tennessee game, the winning touchdown, and we're getting sumo wrestling. Getting the real stuff. We're getting the real story. I love it. Real deal.

Oh, man. It's all good. It is all good. I do wanna ask you and what I am go ahead. You know what I was gonna say is in all of this really the intent was never to hurt anyone.

I mean, you know, we we never like went out, got a non athlete or something like that. And there were a lot of great moments. You know, it's like I got to see Janis Joplin, you know, one of the best concerts ever at, at the basketball stadium at the time. It was right next to to the, to Yan Hall. I got to see, you know, Jane Fonda.

I got to see Muhammad Ali, really some great great great events at University of Florida. What was she doing? Jazzercise? Jane Fonda Jane Fonda was an anti war. Oh, okay.

Okay. Anti war. She came and and gave a speech. And that was really something because, you know, the usual, there was a the pro crowd and the anti crowd, and she was because she become a, an anti Vietnam, spokesperson. And she had just done Barbarella, and this is before you guys.

But Barbarella was kind of a racy I know I know that movie. And so they had a lot of Barbarella posters, the guys who didn't, you know, didn't want her to speak there and Sure. But, anyway, if I tell you, it's one of the really, the bottom line is the 4 years I was at University of Florida, what great years to be there. You know, there were so many things happening on a on a weekly basis. There would be something just outstanding.

And, so I'm I'm very fortunate. Yeah. We were we say the same thing for our years, but it was for different reasons. We were there during Spur years, heyday, so. Uh-huh.

Hey, that's not, that's, I wouldn't have mind being there for, for, for those days. Yeah. We got to see the fun and gun. It was, that was a lot of fun. So, anyway, back to the By the way, that is the one that that's the one era that I that I wish I would have played in.

Mhmm. I would have thought to have played on your 3rd. Oh, I can imagine. Oh my god. The stats you would have put up?

Yeah. Well, you know, if they had not been as good and and, you know, my my, you know, I have I have I have good stats. I have great stats, but you gotta remember there's a lot of things that go into that, right, Like, if I'm in the Spurrier era, there are other wide receivers. Right. That's true.

You know? And we had other wide receivers, but they weren't quite at the level. But now you're having a lot of wide receivers. You have you can't really focus on one person because now you have much better defensive backs, better secondaries. But so there's a lot of mix mix into that.

Sure. So back to your big year in 69, you guys, you know, you lose 1 in Taiwan, finish the regular season against the hurricanes, down in Miami. This game was different though. The Orange Bowl is packed 70,000 strong, many of which are, you know, from the big Cuban community down there. They came out to see you and support you, And you don't disappoint.

15 catches, 237 yards, both are UF records for a single game at the time. How surreal was that game for you? It was surreal. It was you really, there's no word to describe it but being surreal. And I could tell, as we're warming up before the game that I was so I I was so jacked up for that game, that before the game, I could feel and the practice throws and everything, I wasn't gonna drop anything that night.

I mean, it was I I was gonna be there. I I felt quicker. I felt, you know, there was a lot of things happening, for me in that in that game. And we had had a, I I believe this is right. We had had, an off week the week before, which meant a lot to me because the season had been kinda tiring.

All of this attention, all of these games, remember, you're not used to playing at that level, at that intensity, having to be, you know, steady at that intensity too. And so the week before having it off was really very helpful to me. But then, really, something that doesn't get advertised very much is that the coaches wanted me to do well, and they didn't wanted me to do well for anybody but me. I mean, they they did it for me because they knew I was going back. They knew how much it would mean to the Cuban community.

And it wasn't gonna be about, okay. We're gonna use Carlos, and and, if we lose the game, it's fine. It wasn't that. But they they felt that if they had a chance, if if the game presented itself a certain way, that, the game plan had me, involved in a in a lot of those passes. So and that's the way it turned out.

So I owe the coaches a lot. Of course, John Reeves and the offensive line, were just tremendous that night. And it just happened to be that Miami kept it competitive, almost through the game, but certainly into the beginning of Q4. And that helps getting, getting records. Right?

Because you're keeping the first team in. Sure. You're still trying to score. All of that is involved. So that's why you gotta have a little bit of luck, and then you gotta have coaches that want you want wanna make you look good.

So the last pass in that game was a touchdown pass to me, 30, 40 yards. I forget what it was. But that's coach Pankos. He knew we're in the 4th quarter. We didn't necessarily need that touchdown, but he wanted me to take one last bow before the Cuban community.

That's awesome. So he lined me up in the slot. You know, he lined me up in the slot, and and he knew that when he lined me up in the slot in where we were in the field, it was quite likely that a safety would be over me, and there would be no help in the back for the safety. And sure enough, that's the way it turned out. I went right by the safety.

They the safety didn't expect it at all either, and John just floated that ball in there. Right? I mean, I caught it in the end zone. But that's John I mean, Fred Pankos and, scored that touchdown, if you know what I mean. Mhmm.

And, was a wonderful moment. And then and and and and I I was totally appreciative at the time and always have been. I mean, that that was a it was a wonderful moment for my family and me. You know, what's funny about that is I well, there's a lot of funny things. So so right after that, I have to go I can't celebrate with my team.

I have to I have to go to New York because New York is doing the Kodak all American, which is a coaches all American team. Mhmm. And because we're playing on a Friday night, and and the season was over for most colleges and universities. So that all the other members of the team are in New York and are doing the photography the next day on Saturday. We're playing on Friday night.

So I'm I have to go to the airport. And that night, after that game, that incredible feeling, I end up in New York in a cold, cold New York night. And I'm so jacked up from you know, one of the things that happens after you play is you you have a hard time going to sleep because you're playing the game over and over again. I end up walking in the middle of New York City by myself, like, 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning that night, after that game. Wow.

It's just just thinking about the game of what had just happened. Yeah. Alright. That was part 1 of Carlos Alvarez. That was awesome.

The 50th episode of the All For the Gators podcast. That was awesome. Stay tuned next week for part 2. And remember, we're partnering with Gators Chomping Cancer. You can find them on Facebook, cancer.org backslashchomp.

Alright. We gotta give a go gators for our 50th episode. I like it. I like it. Go gators.

Go gators.