FRANZ BEARD: Remembering His Hughes Supply Right Tackle Teammate, Tommy Petty.

“By FRANZ BEARD

GatorBaitMedia.com Senior Columnist

In the fall of 1963, Hughes Supply won the county Gainesville midget league football championship. Our star players were John Dulaney, Todd, Rainsberger and Dale Davis.

I was the left tackle on that team. The right tackle was Tommy Petty. It was 100-pound weight limit.

People don’t know this, but Tommy played football up until the ninth grade at Howard Bishop. I think he got into music a little bit before then, but he chose music over football, a rather smart choice, wouldn't you say?

He became fairly famous. When we were still going to Gainesville High he had a band called the Epics. There was another band called Styrofoam Soul. It was a great time for music in Gainesville.

Tommy learned guitar from Don Felder, who later went on to play guitar with the Eagles. Don Felder and Bernie Leadon were in a band called the Monday Quintet. Bernie Leadon was in that band, and he went on to be the producer for Linda Ronstadt as well as playing in a number of bands himself, including the Eagles. He wrote a lot of the Eagles early songs.

Back in those days if you went down to Lipham music you might be able to get guitar lessons from Duane Allman, or organ lessons from his brother Gregg. It was a great time for music in Gainesville.

My sister went to high school at GHS with Stephen Stills. He also became fairly famous. Tommy’s first wife was Jane Benyo, who was one of my friends at GHS.

Those were good days for music in Gainesville. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers became one of the iconic rock bands in the country for 40 years. He was proud that when they went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it was the entire band. He was always all about the band. He was always that way. At his core he was always a Southern Boy from Gainesville. ===== From Scott Carter, FloridaGators.com: A tradition was born, proving again that legends never die. "He was very humble. He would be both embarrassed and delighted by this honor,'' Adria Petty, Tom Petty's oldest daughter, said this week. "He deserves it more than anybody I could think of." When the Gators first paid tribute to the local icon five years ago by playing "I Won't Back Down" at the end of the third quarter, the moment electrified the stadium as 90,000 fans sang along. Capping the last show of the 40th Anniversary Tour with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Petty performed his final song on stage the night of Sept. 25, 2017. Before blasting into the classic anthem "American Girl," Petty acknowledged the sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl in southern California. "We love you dearly,'' he said. "I want to thank you for 40 years of a really great time." Petty died a week later on Oct. 2 — less than three weeks shy of his 67th birthday — a loss that stunned fans across the globe and set in motion a plan by University of Florida officials to honor Petty, a Gainesville native, five days later at the Florida-LSU football game.