by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Don Gaffney’s life has been a roller coaster since taking his first snap as the University of Florida’s quarterback in 1973 against the Auburn Tigers.
He’s been to law school at UF. He’s been a member of the Jacksonville City Council and the State of Florida’s House of Representatives. He’s had legal and personal issues. Through it all, Gaffney has survived. Last month’s announcement that he will be inducted into the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame on Oct. 28 is a true highlight.
“I didn’t have the slightest idea this was coming. I did not envision this at all,” said Gaffney, who attend UF from 1972-76 and graduated from law school in 1980.
Today, Gaffney teaches several criminal justice courses at Edward Waters College, a school that has had its own share of legal woes lately. Like Gaffney, Edward Waters negotiated its legal issues and is now moving forward with a fully-accredited academic curriculum and a Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame inductee as a member of its faculty.
Gaffney, who graduated from Raines High, said he never went to law school with the intention of practicing law. He likes the classroom and the close interaction he gets with his students. The school’s enrollment of about 1,000 helps create a low student-to-teacher ratio.
“It’s what I like and it’s what I enjoy,” said Gaffney on why he teaches. “I probably should have gone into coaching. I like to work with youths and this a good way to combine the two.”
Gaffney said law school was not on his agenda when he enrolled at Florida in 1972, but one thing was certain: he was going to finish college.
“I didn’t know I was going law school, but after a while it was something I decided I had to do,” said Gaffney, who said he was one of two athletes in UF’s law school at the time (basketball player Gene Shy was the other). “I took law school as a challenge. I majored in political science and pre-law and was one of the first athletes at UF to go through law school.”
Despite having a law degree and several years of major college football experience, Gaffney didn’t participate in the school’s recent legal battle to stay accredited and he doesn’t help with the school’s football team. Gaffney says he’s just fine with being left to four or five criminal justice courses a semester.
“The accreditation issue fell just short of becoming a true legal trial,” explained Gaffney. “It went to court, but it was mediated and, in the end, cooler heads prevailed. And, our football coach does not need my help. He (Lamonte Massie) has a good staff and Johnny Rembert, our athletic director, is doing a great job.”
Gaffney said he will stick to teaching for the time being and doesn’t entertain any thoughts of ever entering into a private practice.
“That’s just not my thing,” he said. “I would have to go back and study for the Bar exam again. I’m doing what I want to do right now.”
Gaffney admits he’s had personal issues in the past, but chooses to use them as potential teaching tools rather than excuses.
“I have had my highs and my lows. I like to say that they are experiences that I can relate in the classroom that will help my kids,” said Gaffney. “They ask me about things that happened on and off the field and about my time in government.”