Former Gator football great to be honored at Alabama-Florida game

Posted Sep 27, 2011 by Aaron Oberlin

Updated Sep 27, 2011 at 06:49 PM

Former Gator standout Carlos Alvarez will be inducted into the 2011 College Football Hall of Fame Class in New York City on Dec. 6, but he’ll be recognized for it Oct. 1 during the Alabama-Florida football game.

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame and the University of Florida will honor the former wide receiver during the first timeout of the first quarter of the game, slated to air nationally at 8 p.m. on CBS.

“I’m hardly ever speechless, but I am,” Alvarez said. “When you look at college football and the number of people who have played, I feel honored just to be mentioned ... An honor like this to me is really a tribute to the many people who help you get there.”

Alvarez played three seasons (1969-1971) for Florida, setting several school records during that span. He caught 172 passes for 2,563 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns. All were records at the time. His receptions record stood for 36 years, and his yardage mark still leads all Gators.

In 1969, as a sophomore, Alvarez caught 15 balls in a game, which is still a school record. He caught 88 balls that season, second all time at UF, and tallied 1,329 yards for 12 touchdowns.

“Growing up a Gator fan,” said UF coach Will Muschamp, “I was very aware of what Carlos accomplished, setting most of the receiving records in an era when you could only play three years and the seasons were only 11 games long.”

“I certainly didn’t expect these records to last 40 years,” said Alvarez, a member of Florida’s All-Century Team, the Florida-Georgia Game Hall of Fame and the GTE Academic All-America Hall of Fame. “They are good records, but they are not Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. When the records get broken, I really am very supportive. I think they need to be passed on to a new generation.”

Alvarez will join former Gator greats Emmitt Smith, Wilber Marshal, Dale Van Sickel, Steve Spurrier and Jack Youngblood as players. He’ll also join former UF coaches Charles Bachman, Ray Graves and Doug Dickey.