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DEL.ICIO.USOrson Charles shatters Florida’s 2006 national championship
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Orson Charles, who is being recruited by the University of Georgia, has not played a down of college football, but he’s legendary in recruiting circles.
The tight end from Tampa accidentally knocked over and shattered Florida’s 2006 BCS National Championship trophy last April while touring the campus.
Charles said he still hears about the well-documented incident from Florida’s coaches, coaches from opposing teams, and random people —- six months after it happened.
“I guess we all kind of laugh and joke about it now, but it wasn’t funny when it happened,” Charles said this week.
“I was really, really scared. When that thing busted, I couldn’t believe it. Nobody in the room could believe it. And I thought I was going to have to pay for it.”
Fortunately for Charles, the hand-crafted Waterford crystal ball, shaped like a football with a price tag of around $35,000, was insured and eventually replaced.
But the infamous story has lived on and will follow Charles for the rest of his life. Here is how it all went down:
The bull in a china shop
Charles was interested in seeing Florida’s trophies because he recently had been offered a scholarship by the Gators.
Florida coach Urban Meyer had never seen film of Charles but made the offer after taking the advice of Plant High coach Robert Weiner. Charles had transferred to Plant earlier in the spring.
“Urban and I are good friends and he said he needed to know three things,” Weiner recalled this week.
Could Orson play football for Florida? “I told him, ‘Definitely yes.’”
Is he my kind of guy … you know, the type of personality, character and desire I like in my guys? “I told him yes, again.”
What is one phrase I can use to sum up what Orson is all about? “I thought about it for a second and said, ‘He’s a physical specimen and very agile … sort of like a bull in a china shop.’”
The two coaches didn’t see each other again until one of Florida’s spring practices, after the trophy had been shattered, and Weiner said the conversation went something like this.
“Urban said, ‘I’ll tell you one thing, I’ve never met a better evaluator of talent than you. You were dead-on about [Charles] being a bull in a china shop.’”
A shattering dilemma: Laugh, smile or cry
The legendary recruiting story happened when Charles was at Florida for a football camp. Charles and a few of his teammates and coaches were taken to a sectioned-off part of the stadium to see trophies for quarterback Tim Tebow’s Heisman and the national title.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Charles was taking snapshots of the Heisman and inadvertently bumped into the nearby table.
“The crystal ball looked like it was going to the ground in slow motion,” Weiner said. “It hit with a pretty good thud and exploded into a million pieces. It was a surreal scene.”
No one said a word for few minutes. Everybody just looked down, looked at each other, then looked down again.
“We didn’t know whether to laugh, smile or cry,” Weiner said.
One of Plant’s other coaches asked Florida assistant John Hevesy: “That’s a replica, right?” Hevesy shook his head, “No.”
Weiner said Charles was very upset, so Weiner tried to lighten up the mood in the room by joking, “Orson, Florida is either going to pull their scholarship today or make you commit. You going to have to make up that $35,000 somehow.”
A broken mess in the information age
Less than 30 minutes after mishap, word had spread around the state of Florida. Weiner said his cellphone was jammed with text messages.
“No one could believe it,” Weiner said. “They thought it was a joke, some big rumor.”
Charles relaxed once he was reassured about the trophy’s insurance policy. He then became an instant “cult hero” with fans of Florida State and Miami after the story was reported by local media outlets.
Even people who didn’t follow college football or recruiting knew about “the kid who single-handedly shattered Florida’s national championship trophy.”
Charles said Meyer joked the next day that Charles had to commit to Florida, but he never mentioned it again.
Charles hasn’t committed to Florida, but he has the Gators as one of his finalists with Miami, Georgia and Florida State.
“It’s not something I’m proud about —- it was an accident,” Charles said this week. “I don’t have any favorites, but let’s say I did go to Florida. I would do everything I could in my power there for them to remember me for something else, other than [breaking the trophy].”
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Permalink | Comments (12) | Post your comment | Categories: FSU, Florida, UGA
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By HAHA
October 30, 2008 1:45 AM | Link to this
finny stuff….. looks like it just wasnt ment to be for him to be a Gator.
By MP
October 30, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this
If they were smart they swept all the pieces up and put them in a jar for future use.
What does “he had recently been offered” mean?
By GeoffDawg
October 30, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
Charles, you can spend the next four years either being zinged about that at Florida or as a cult hero at Georgia. Take your time and think it over.
By Michael Cox
October 30, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this
Urban Meyer “type of guy”? Character? Huh….? Wow! Didn’t know O. Charles discharged weapons in crowds? LOL! Urban Meyer would recruit a mass murderer if he could play DT! And, by the way…..Tebow was ALWAYS a linebacker! Just ask Snead.
By KneeJerk
October 30, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this
UGA fans commenting on character of another team’s players…now that’s funny.
By Dawg Fud
October 30, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this
Poor kid…that’s an awful feeling. I hate to think of what my wife would do to me if I broke some of “her” crystal and china. It would be way worse than what Urban Meyer would do I am sure.
GO DAWGS! Beat the Gators and shatter their national championship aspirations!
By Dawg Fud
October 30, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this
Poor kid…that’s an awful feeling. I hate to think of what my wife would do to me if I broke some of “her” crystal and china. It would be way worse than what Urban Meyer would do I am sure.
GO DAWGS! Beat the Gators and shatter their national championship aspirations!
By GeoffDawg
October 30, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Kneejerk - our guys drink underage like 3/4 of every other college kid in America. Your guys break into impound lots and steal cars.
By GGJ
October 30, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this
Good story…very impressive kid.
By cj
October 31, 2008 11:45 PM | Link to this
LOL that’s to funny! After reading this and not knowing any of his college favorites I would have sworn he was going to OSU! hell, I wouldnt put anything past ole sweater vest to pay a recruit to do something like this..LOL
By doctrbob17
January 9, 2009 5:17 PM | Link to this
we can’t afford this guy. pull the offer and let fsu or georgia have him. they can afford him.
By mark M
March 6, 2009 6:44 PM | Link to this
From a Gator Alumni This guy sounds very intelligent and very polite. Any other athlete would have bragged or praised himself for destroying someone elses property but not this recruit. Georgia…I think you did well this time. Keep the trophy within the SEC is all I care.