Nevertheless, he saved the ball and preserved its story — and that was just the start. There’s the ball Tommy Brown sent flying 84 yards with a monster kick in the last game of the Seminoles’ undefeated 1950 season. “He held the record at FSU for the longest punt in FSU history,” Callaway noted, and still does. Legend has it the ball bounced out of the end zone and into the cars parked outside the new Doak Campbell Stadium. True, Callaway verified. He should know. He ran out to the parking lot and scooped it up. Another case of right place, right time for Jimmie Callaway. Callaway also has a ball from the 1977 Tangerine Bowl. It’s not the most handsome piece in his collection — it is an odd orange color — but it comes from the first of many bowl appearances under Bowden, and it is signed by team leader Ron Simmons. It’s a keeper. Like any collection, this one has a few curiosities — the oddest piece being Frank Vohun’s helmet. Vohun (B.S. ’70), who played defensive tackle for FSU from 1965 to 1969, had one proud feature. Photo by Tony Archer
“Frank had a nose like no other human being,” Callaway said, and a regular facemask rubbed him. “We had to get a motorcycle helmet,” Callaway explained. “We heated the helmet and flattened it, and then got an old face mask and heated it and bent it to where it would come out longer than his nose, and that’s what Frank played football in.”
The ball may have been historic, but in the eyes and hands of a 12-year-old boy it was, well, just a pretty nice football. Above: Callaway got his hands on a plethora of Seminole relics, such as the ball from FSU’s first basketball game and Frank Vohun’s unusual helmet. Opposite: Deion Sanders insisted Callaway be part of his jersey retirement ceremony, during which he planted a kiss at midfield.
32 Vires
“I played with it around the house,” Callaway said, a bit sheepishly, and indeed he did. The ball bears the scars of youthful wear and tear. “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said, “but I didn’t realize then that one day it would be valuable.”
The motorcycle helmet and its metal-flake shine stood out, and the other lineman razzed Vohun mercilessly for it. It was supposed to be a temporary solution for a week or so until the arrival of a real helmet of adequate dimensions. In reality, Vohun said from his home in Villa Rica, Ga., he wore the helmet in “five or six games, half the season or more.” It was, he recalled, one hot piece of protection, and a second version was not much better, even after Callaway drilled some air holes. Nevertheless, Vohun survived the custom head guard, completed his degree in health and physical education and came back to the team as a graduate assistant. He retired this fall from a career of coaching college and high school teams.