The Archie Manning broken arm 61-17 game was in BR. After the game we ran on the field. I patted Ronny Estay on the shoulder pads. I was ten years old.
Actually it was Florida State we beat in the Orange Bowl game. The 61-17 beatdown was in Archie’s Senior year 68 I think. BTW LSU respected what Archie had done previously and worked not to hurt him. In fact his mother committed on it and thanked the Tigers. The Bert Jones to Brad Davis was in ‘72 I think we’ll after Archie and in Tiger Stadium. I was in Tiger Stadium for all 3 games.
Archie's senior year was 1970. He is now 68 years old. I'm pretty sure that oranges were thrown at that game too. LSU was in the 1971 Orange Bowl game following the 1970 season and lost to Nebraska 17-12. World class sprinter Al Coffee dropped a pass in the end zone that would have won the game.
You got Al right. He was a sprinter not a football player. I think it was after his senior year in HS (1968) he ran in the Golden West track meet and beat Ivory Crockett in the 100 yard dash. Ivory set the world record later in 1974 at 9.0 seconds. Al was the fastest white man I ever saw.
In college he switched to the quarter mile or was it 400 meters by then. First time he ran it he broke the SEC record.
I remember when that game against Fla St was near ending the fans started throwing oranges on the field. When the press talked to Bobby Bowden at the end of the game they asked what he thought about how the oranges on the field might have affected the game, in true Bowden style he replied; "I am just glad LSU wasn't going to the gator bowl"
I was ushering for the Scouts at that game. We were collecting the oranges that did not make it over the wall and reselling them. My troop leader found out and collected all the money. It was not that much but it was enough to throw us a pizza party and a few other things. My dad was there that night and counted the money with another father and made sure that what was collected went into the general troop fund and not into someones personal bank account. I also remember the fog that rolled in that night.
