Retired 'Voice of the Seminoles' Gene Deckerhoff still has a lot to say

Mixed between the stories he told at a luncheon inside the Tucker Civic Center, Gene Deckerhoff impersonated some of his favorite calls as the longtime voice of Florida State athletics.

Retiring from his FSU duties last month didn’t keep Deckerhoff — the guest speaker at the event held by the Tiger Bay Club last Thursday — from treating those calls as if they were live. He sounded as enthusiastic as ever.

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“It’s third down and 10 at the Seminole 21-yard line,” Deckerhoff said. “Florida State leading the Gators by just six. Charlie Ward in the shotgun takes the snap. He rolls to his right. He throws. It’s caught by Dunn. Down at the 30. Down to the 40. Down to the 50. Warrick Dunn down the sideline. To the 20. He separates. Ten. Three. Two. One. Touchdown Florida State. Touchdown Warrick Dunn.”

That 79-yard touchdown against Florida happened in 1993. Deckerhoff also recited his calls from LeRoy Butler’s “Puntrooskie” play in 1988, the 1993 National Championship Game and the “Choke at Doak” game in 1994.

All of them were unprompted.

“People ask me, ‘What are your favorite calls?’ I do have a top 10 list, and that is right up there at No. 3,” said Deckerhoff of the Dunn touchdown call. “Anything involving Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward and Warrick Dunn has to be in your top five. Top three. The ‘Puntrooskie’ is there at No. 2. And then the catch by Kelvin Benjamin to win the national championship in 2013, that’s No. 1 right now.”

Deckerhoff’s photographic memory with his calls also showed in how vividly he recounted several stories during the luncheon. The 77-year-old had quite a few entertaining anecdotes to share from his 43 years as FSU’s play-by-play radio announcer.

Below are some of the best ones.

Deckerhoff bought Bobby Bowden’s previous house

The majority of Deckerhoff’s stories involved Bobby Bowden, the legendary former FSU football coach with whom he grew close.

“How blessed were we to have spent 34 years with Bobby Bowden as our head coach at FSU? … Not only was he a great coach – in my opinion, the greatest to ever coach football, college football or pro – but he was a great human being,” Deckerhoff said.

The two forged a connection even before the Seminoles named Bowden their head coach in 1976. Deckerhoff said that in November of 1974, he unwittingly moved into the same house Bowden owned while previously serving as an assistant coach at FSU.

“Our next-door neighbor was a West Virginia graduate with a Ph.D. in music. A professor at Florida State,” Deckerhoff said. “We had met each other, and he said, ‘Gene, you know who used to own this house that you are living in right now?’ And I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘He was a football coach at Florida State. He’s up at West Virginia now.’

"Bobby Bowden was the original owner of that house. Now how about that? That was 14 months before Bobby Bowden was named the head coach at Florida State University.

“So there’s a connection there. There’s a connection there between Bobby Bowden and ole’ Gene. And (wife) Ann and (sons) Emerson, Dennis and Eric.”

Tampa Bay Buccaneers hiring Deckerhoff

Deckerhoff has a final wish before his announcing career ends.