Gene Ellenson Eugene Ellenson ( March 24 , 1921 – March 17 , 1995 ) was an American college and professional football player who became a college football coach . Ellenson played college football for the University of Georgia , and later was an assistant football coach for the University of Miami , and a defensive coordinator and athletic administrator for the University of Florida . Early years . Ellenson was born in Chippewa Falls , Wisconsin in 1921 . He attended Miami Senior High School in Miami , Florida , where he was standout high school football player for the Miami Stingarees . College career . Ellenson received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Georgia in Athens , Georgia , where he played for coach Wally Butts ' Georgia Bulldogs football team from 1940 to 1942 . He was a starting senior lineman on the 1942 Bulldogs team that finished 11 – 1 and defeated the UCLA Bruins in the Rose Bowl , thus claiming a share of the 1942 national championship . He graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor ' s degree in journalism in 1943 . Military service . After graduation , Ellenson was inducted into the U . S . Army and served in the European Theater during World War II . During the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 , he was an infantry lieutenant who commanded the defense of a hill against repeated assaults by elements of the German army . Having taken and held the hill until relieved , he was one of only four survivors of his command . Ellenson was awarded the Bronze Star and Silver Star for his actions under fire , and the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat . Professional career . Following his discharge from the U . S . Army , Ellenson played professionally for the Miami Seahawks of the All - America Football Conference for a single season in 1946 . He played thirteen games for the Seahawks at right tackle , starting eleven of them . Coaching career . Ellenson was the line coach for the Miami Senior High School Stingarees football team from 1947 to 1949 . He then became an assistant for the Miami Hurricanes football team at the University of Miami , serving under head coach Andy Gustafson from 1950 to 1958 . As a member of the Hurricanes coaching staff , he was principally responsible for coaching the defensive line . After the 1958 season , he decided to quit coaching and sought a new career in real estate . When Ray Graves was hired to be the new head coach of the Florida Gators football team at the University of Florida in January 1960 , Ellenson was the first assistant that Graves hired . He and Graves maintained a close working relationship during Graves ' ten - year stint as the Gators ' head coach , and following his third year on the Florida coaching staff , Graves promoted him to defensive coordinator and assistant head coach . Ellenson was a key contributor to the Gators ' first three nine - win seasons in 1960 , 1966 and 1969 . Graves privately contemplated his retirement from coaching before and during the 1969 season , and that he would continue to serve as the University of Florida ' s athletic director while Ellenson would be promoted to head coach . Graves did indeed resign as coach after the season ended in a Gator Bowl win over Tennessee , but university president Stephen C . O ' Connell passed over Ellenson and chose Tennessee coach and Florida alumnus Doug Dickey to become the Gators ' new football coach , much to the chagrin of the Florida football team . Afterward , Ellenson left coaching altogether and became an associate athletic director under Graves and the executive director of Gators Boosters , Inc . , the fund - raising arm of the University Athletic Association . Pep talks . Ellenson was hugely popular among the Gators players , and served as the team ' s chief motivational speaker during the 1960s and beyond . After the Gators struggled to a 1 – 2 record to begin the 1962 season , Ellenson wrote a letter to each member of the team detailing his War World II experiences and encouraging them to play harder : " You ' ll be a better man for it , and the next adversity won ' t be so tough . " Players and coaches credit the letter for inspiring the team to beat several tough opponents and end the season with a bowl victory . Ellenson ' s pep talk before the Gators ' 1963 game against Alabama inspired Gators lineman Jack Katz to smash his helmet through a locker room blackboard , and inspired the team to upset the Crimson Tide 10 – 6 , handing Alabama coach Bear Bryant his first of only two career losses in Tuscaloosa . When Buster Bishop , the coach of the Florida Gators men ' s golf team , fell ill immediately before the 1968 NCAA national tournament , Ellenson accompanied the golfers to the tournament in Las Cruces , New Mexico . He delivered a memorable pep talk to the golfers using his favorite " positive molecules " metaphor , and the Gators upset the top - ranked Houston Cougars to win the NCAA tournament — the first national championship , in any sport , won by University of Florida athletes . Even after he left the coaching profession in 1970 , Ellenson was still called upon to deliver motivational pregame speeches . In 1986 , then - Gators coach Galen Hall invited Ellenson to give a pregame talk before the 3 – 4 Gators faced the 7 – 0 and 5th - ranked Auburn Tigers . Florida won 18 – 17 in what is still considered one of the greatest games in Florida Field history . Steve Spurrier had been the Gators ' award - winning quarterback while Ellenson was an assistant coach in the 1960s . When Spurrier was the head coach at Duke in the late 1980s , he twice had Ellenson give pep talks to his team before traditional rivalry games . Duke won on both occasions When Spurrier returned to his alma mater in 1990 to become the Gators ' head coach , he again invited Ellenson to deliver inspirational talks before big games . The Gators went 4 – 0 in those contests . In 1991 , Spurrier established the Gene Ellenson Award , which is given annually to the most inspirational player on Florida ' s football team . Death and legacy . Ellenson was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an " Honorary Letterwinner " in 1989 . Ellenson died of renal and respiratory failure at North Florida Regional Hospital in Gainesville on March 17 , 1995 , after a long illness . He was survived by his wife Jeanne , and their son and daughter . Florida alumnus and benefactor Alfred McKethan endowed a scholarship in Ellenson ' s name following his death .