| George Edmondson, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1922 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B.A., The Citadel |
| Occupation | Insurance Salesman |
George Edmondson, Jr. of Tampa, Florida, known to the University of Florida community as "Mr. Two Bits," is a football fan of—and cheerleader for—the Florida Gators football team.[1]
Before the beginning of University of Florida home football games (at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium), Mr. Two Bits comes to midfield wearing his signature yellow shirt with a blue and orange tie to lead the crowd in the "two bits" cheer. Mr. Two Bits silences the crowd by blowing a whistle and holding up a sign which reads "2 Bits." Once the crowd has drawn silent, Mr. Two Bits points to the crowd which signals the beginning of the cheer and the fans begin to cheer:
Two Bits!
Four Bits!
Six Bits!
A Dollar!
All for the Gators Stand up and holler!
The cheer began when Edmondson attended the season opener for Florida in 1949 against his alma mater, the Citadel. The Gators had lost five of their last six games the previous year and were not expected to do any better. When the fans booed the players and the coach even before the opening kickoff, Edmondson decided to boost their morale by leading them in a cheer about adding up bits (a "bit" is an eighth of a dollar, so eight of them would indeed total one dollar). The fans around him were so encouraged that he returned the next Saturday and repeated his direction. Soon he began the pattern he would use for almost all of the games he attended: moving around throughout the game to lead different sections of the stadium in his cheer.
Though Edmondson was never a University of Florida student, the university has named him an honorary alumnus of the school, and he has claimed it as his new alma mater.[2] He was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an "honorary letter winner" in 1992.[3][4]
He retired from his cheerleading at the end of the 2008 Florida football season. Florida held a special ceremony prior to the UF/Citadel game in 2008 to "officially" retire Mr. Two Bits. [5] Unlike his first "retirement" at the end of the 1998 season, Mr. Two Bits has not been seen on the field since the UF/Citadel game. Mr. Two Bits always wore the same clothes—a yellow shirt, orange and blue tie, and a pair of white and blue striped seersucker pants—to stand out in the crowd.
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