Florida State University Athletics
Looking Back At New College Football Hall of Fame Member Warrick Dunn
10/4/2024 1:42:00 PM | Football
One of Florida State's most beloved athletes will be honored tomorrow night when Warrick Dunn will be recognized at the 2:00 timeout in the second quarter of the Clemson football game for his upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Fellow College Football Hall of Fame members Charlie Ward, Terrell Buckley and Marvin Jones will be on hand to join all of us in Doak Campbell Stadium in celebration of this momentous occasion.
Back when game programs were a thing and lots of fans kept collections, each senior would be featured in a program story during his final year. I had the privilege of writing a number of those but never one quite like the one for Warrick Dunn.
I would be hard-pressed to name a student-athlete that our fans cheered harder for than Warrick Dunn and the fact that his story included such a tragedy certainly contributed to their affection.
For those who might not know, Warrick grew up in Baton Rouge, La. and while he was being recruited by Bobby Bowden, his mother, an off-duty police officer, was killed in a robbery attempt leaving Warrick and his five siblings without a parent.
Below is the story, written as a letter to his brothers and sisters, that ran in the game program before his last game. I hope it somehow captured what he meant to all of us then and now.
TRIBE MAGAZINE VS. FLORIDA
November 30, 1996
Dear Derrick, Summer, Bricson, Travis and Samantha:
Just thought I would drop you a line. I know I haven't written for the past four years, but it's just been unbelievably busy around here. After all, we've spent the better part of the last four years carving out our place as the most consistently successful college football program ever.
Back in 1993, we started the season number one and held onto it until we stumbled up at Notre Dame when the ghosts seemed to step in the way of our final drive. The funny thing though, Notre Dame lasted only one week at number one before Boston College beat them and put us right back in the driver's seat.
We had to down to Florida to play the Gators in what they call a swamp (nothing like you've got back in Louisiana, though). A national championship match-up with Nebraska was on the line that day and Florida had not lost a home game since Steve Spurrier took over as head coach.
Warrick had already done some remarkable things as a freshman. He contributed in every game, but it was Warrick and his roommate (Charlie Ward) who paired up to make the big play when FSU needed it. Warrick's catch and run for the fourth-quarter touchdown against Florida will be legendary around here for years to come.
Oh yeah, we went on to defeat Nebraska for our first National Championship.
Warrick ran awfully well as a sophomore and junior, gaining more than 1,000 yards in both seasons and becoming the first back in FSU history to do that. He was developing quite a fan base not only in Florida but around the nation. Heck, even a lot of Gators will admit they liked him.
Your brother was so good that agents started trying to convince him that he needed to enter the NFL draft after his junior year. Faced with taking the money and running, literally, Warrick did what he has done most of his life – he made a difficult decision.
Warrick came back to Florida State for his senior year and as you read this he is getting ready for the biggest game of his life. One of the biggest games in any college football player's life.
Think he's nervous?
Let me tell you some things about your brother that he probably has not told you.
Like most people, I had a soft spot for Warrick before he ever came to Florida State. I was there in the airport in Atlanta when former Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams told Charlie about your family's circumstances.
I'll never forget thinking how small and sad he looked when he arrived on campus in August of his freshman year. I'm accustomed to seeing homesick freshmen but not someone quite so heartsick and lonesome. When he stuck it out after those first few days away from home, I suspected he might be something special.
Your brother leaned on Charlie a lot as a freshman and when the Heisman Trophy winner left, I thought maybe Warrick would suffer without such a strong friend to help him. But Warrick is smarter and tougher than that. He had been preparing all along.
He prepared hard in school also, establishing himself as a good student and trying a major – information systems – that required more outside work than all but a few. But, just like when he didn't take the easy way and sign with your backyard neighbor LSU, Warrick was just doing what he felt was right.
Your brother has progressed from a timid freshman to a quiet leader, to the finest running back in Florida State history. And he's done it with an awful lot on his mind.
I know he has missed all of you.
Someone once asked him what he thought about during a football game. I think they were trying to get at the specifics of whether he sets up blockers or debates in his mind how to make an oncoming tackler look silly. That's not the answer they got.
"The games are fun," he said. "A chance to get rid of all the problems and worries of the week. A time to clear your mind of everything and just enjoy yourself. It's an escape in a way. The fans don't even have to be there. It's just 60 minutes of fun."
I hope the officials think about that the next time they reach in their pocket while deciding whether to flag Warrick when he dives into the end zone after tearing over 60 yards of gridiron and 11 guys who tried to stop him.
His eyes tell a lot about this brother of yours. He carries a lot of sorrow in them. But when he smiles, it is like a spring day when the clouds part and shafts of sunlight knife through that are so distinct they look as though they could be climbed. When he smiles it is ear-to-ear and so joyous that I choose to believe they can see it in heaven.
He would trade it all for one thing though. He'd trade all the magnificent plays in his career. He'd trade the good friends he's made here and even the great education he's taken advantage of. He would trade the fame, the potential wealth that teases on the horizon, the records, everything.
But he can't bring her back. "Every day," sighed Warrick when asked how often he thinks of your mom.
Your brother has taught us a lot in his four years. He has taught us about courage and dedication. He has taught us about determination, desire and pride. He has taught us about taking the right way and not necessarily the easy way. He has given us examples of patience and contentment.
He is the finest running back in the storied history of FSU. There have been times when No. 28 was bounding through through a defense that I thought it was was the most remarkable thing I had ever seen.
Your brother has meant so much to this university and now we sit and wait for him to dazzle us for the last time in Doak Campbell Stadium. I swear he barely touches the ground when he runs.
A mountain of records is coming Warrick's way. Among them, a startling 49 career touchdowns most of which came at the end of runs so filled with highlights that you've got to watch the replay to appreciate them.
We will all miss your brother next year.
You know, he has always pointed to the sky after scoring a touchdown. At that moment of greatest joy, he points up as if to say "Did you see that Mom?" I choose to believe she does.
Maybe it would be most appropriate today that if he does get in the end zone, all the fans join him in pointing toward heaven.
Betty, your son done good!
Sincerely,
Rob Wilson
Sports Information Director
Fellow College Football Hall of Fame members Charlie Ward, Terrell Buckley and Marvin Jones will be on hand to join all of us in Doak Campbell Stadium in celebration of this momentous occasion.
Back when game programs were a thing and lots of fans kept collections, each senior would be featured in a program story during his final year. I had the privilege of writing a number of those but never one quite like the one for Warrick Dunn.
I would be hard-pressed to name a student-athlete that our fans cheered harder for than Warrick Dunn and the fact that his story included such a tragedy certainly contributed to their affection.
For those who might not know, Warrick grew up in Baton Rouge, La. and while he was being recruited by Bobby Bowden, his mother, an off-duty police officer, was killed in a robbery attempt leaving Warrick and his five siblings without a parent.
Below is the story, written as a letter to his brothers and sisters, that ran in the game program before his last game. I hope it somehow captured what he meant to all of us then and now.
TRIBE MAGAZINE VS. FLORIDA
November 30, 1996
Dear Derrick, Summer, Bricson, Travis and Samantha:
Just thought I would drop you a line. I know I haven't written for the past four years, but it's just been unbelievably busy around here. After all, we've spent the better part of the last four years carving out our place as the most consistently successful college football program ever.
Back in 1993, we started the season number one and held onto it until we stumbled up at Notre Dame when the ghosts seemed to step in the way of our final drive. The funny thing though, Notre Dame lasted only one week at number one before Boston College beat them and put us right back in the driver's seat.
We had to down to Florida to play the Gators in what they call a swamp (nothing like you've got back in Louisiana, though). A national championship match-up with Nebraska was on the line that day and Florida had not lost a home game since Steve Spurrier took over as head coach.
Warrick had already done some remarkable things as a freshman. He contributed in every game, but it was Warrick and his roommate (Charlie Ward) who paired up to make the big play when FSU needed it. Warrick's catch and run for the fourth-quarter touchdown against Florida will be legendary around here for years to come.
Oh yeah, we went on to defeat Nebraska for our first National Championship.
Warrick ran awfully well as a sophomore and junior, gaining more than 1,000 yards in both seasons and becoming the first back in FSU history to do that. He was developing quite a fan base not only in Florida but around the nation. Heck, even a lot of Gators will admit they liked him.
Your brother was so good that agents started trying to convince him that he needed to enter the NFL draft after his junior year. Faced with taking the money and running, literally, Warrick did what he has done most of his life – he made a difficult decision.
Warrick came back to Florida State for his senior year and as you read this he is getting ready for the biggest game of his life. One of the biggest games in any college football player's life.
Think he's nervous?
Let me tell you some things about your brother that he probably has not told you.
Like most people, I had a soft spot for Warrick before he ever came to Florida State. I was there in the airport in Atlanta when former Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams told Charlie about your family's circumstances.
I'll never forget thinking how small and sad he looked when he arrived on campus in August of his freshman year. I'm accustomed to seeing homesick freshmen but not someone quite so heartsick and lonesome. When he stuck it out after those first few days away from home, I suspected he might be something special.
Your brother leaned on Charlie a lot as a freshman and when the Heisman Trophy winner left, I thought maybe Warrick would suffer without such a strong friend to help him. But Warrick is smarter and tougher than that. He had been preparing all along.
He prepared hard in school also, establishing himself as a good student and trying a major – information systems – that required more outside work than all but a few. But, just like when he didn't take the easy way and sign with your backyard neighbor LSU, Warrick was just doing what he felt was right.
Your brother has progressed from a timid freshman to a quiet leader, to the finest running back in Florida State history. And he's done it with an awful lot on his mind.
I know he has missed all of you.
Someone once asked him what he thought about during a football game. I think they were trying to get at the specifics of whether he sets up blockers or debates in his mind how to make an oncoming tackler look silly. That's not the answer they got.
"The games are fun," he said. "A chance to get rid of all the problems and worries of the week. A time to clear your mind of everything and just enjoy yourself. It's an escape in a way. The fans don't even have to be there. It's just 60 minutes of fun."
I hope the officials think about that the next time they reach in their pocket while deciding whether to flag Warrick when he dives into the end zone after tearing over 60 yards of gridiron and 11 guys who tried to stop him.
His eyes tell a lot about this brother of yours. He carries a lot of sorrow in them. But when he smiles, it is like a spring day when the clouds part and shafts of sunlight knife through that are so distinct they look as though they could be climbed. When he smiles it is ear-to-ear and so joyous that I choose to believe they can see it in heaven.
He would trade it all for one thing though. He'd trade all the magnificent plays in his career. He'd trade the good friends he's made here and even the great education he's taken advantage of. He would trade the fame, the potential wealth that teases on the horizon, the records, everything.
But he can't bring her back. "Every day," sighed Warrick when asked how often he thinks of your mom.
Your brother has taught us a lot in his four years. He has taught us about courage and dedication. He has taught us about determination, desire and pride. He has taught us about taking the right way and not necessarily the easy way. He has given us examples of patience and contentment.
He is the finest running back in the storied history of FSU. There have been times when No. 28 was bounding through through a defense that I thought it was was the most remarkable thing I had ever seen.
Your brother has meant so much to this university and now we sit and wait for him to dazzle us for the last time in Doak Campbell Stadium. I swear he barely touches the ground when he runs.
A mountain of records is coming Warrick's way. Among them, a startling 49 career touchdowns most of which came at the end of runs so filled with highlights that you've got to watch the replay to appreciate them.
We will all miss your brother next year.
You know, he has always pointed to the sky after scoring a touchdown. At that moment of greatest joy, he points up as if to say "Did you see that Mom?" I choose to believe she does.
Maybe it would be most appropriate today that if he does get in the end zone, all the fans join him in pointing toward heaven.
Betty, your son done good!
Sincerely,
Rob Wilson
Sports Information Director
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