Bob Graham may have been the governor of Florida and a U.S. Senator, but he was a Florida Gator first.
"My first encounter with the Gators occurred exactly 46 days after I was born," he said Friday afternoon to a crowd of about 25 in Pugh Hall.
Graham said his older half-brother, Phil, who was attending UF, gave him a stuffed cloth alligator for Christmas.
Graham's talk was part of the Samuel Proctor Lecture Series, a program that brings speakers to UF to talk about the university and the state's history.
He spoke on UF's history from the 1930s to the 1950s, adding personal family anecdotes to entertain the crowd.
His brother Phil, who attended UF in 1932, pledged as a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity.
Graham said his father took a spontaneous trip to Gainesville and stopped by the SAE House to see his son. But upon arrival, he found his son Phil passed out drunk in the bushes.
"That started a nine-month sabbatical for my brother from the University of Florida," Graham said, adding Phil was put to work delivering milk at 3 a.m. every day during that time.
"He came back and was a serious student," he said. "He graduated on time with his class and went to Harvard law school."
By the late 1940s, Graham said, UF had enrolled 19,000 students and become a co-ed institution.
At this time, another older brother had returned from the Second World War with intentions to attend Michigan State University.
But his father decided his son should attend school in the state where he grew up.
Graham said he took the same advice and attributed his political career to the friendships and connections he made while at UF.
Graham said the 1950s was a wonderful time for the state of Florida as it transformed its traditional image as a poor, marginalized state.
He attributed the development of air conditioning, mosquito control, retirement pension and commercial jets as agents that fundamentally changed Florida.
During this time, Graham met his wife, Adele.
It was the fall of 1956, when Graham was a UF sophomore, and he was leaving a meeting in Tigert Hall.
"As I was leaving, I walked down the steps, and there was a stunningly beautiful brunette coming up the steps," he said, adding he found out she was looking for a tutor to help her with a class.
"As a southern gentleman, I wanted to alert her I had taken it the year before and would be willing to be her tutor," he said. "She took my offer and has now been tutoring me for 52 years."
Graham said the nation and state are in a period of economic crisis and should follow President Barack Obama's lead by doing what needs to be done to get through the crisis and to come out with a different economy.
He said Florida needs to offer more efficient, affordable health care, become less dependent on foreign oil and put more emphasis on education. He also said Florida needs to make a commitment to higher education so it can attain an intellectual economy.
At the end of his speech, Graham said he is concerned about UF's future.
"The Legislature is now debating if they are going to cut the budget $20 million or $70 million," he said. "President Machen announced yesterday what it would be if they cut it $70 million, and it is draconian."
