City Commission honors former FAMU football coach Hubbard
Photo courtesy City of Tallahassee
By Chloe Dinard
Special to the Outlook
He recently released a new book and he will be inducted into the college football hall of fame later this year.
Now the Tallahassee City Commission has honored former Florida A&M University head football coach Rudy Hubbard with the key to the city last Wednesday.
Call it the second coming of Rudy Hubbard.
During a brief ceremony that opened the commission meeting, Commissioner Dianne Williams-Cox read the proclamation and lauded Hubbard for his impact and service to the community.
“One of the greatest, if not the greatest honor of being mayor of the great city of Tallahassee, is handing out this prestigious award,” Mayor John Dailey told the gathering as Hubbard stood with FAMU President Larry Robinson, current Head Coach Willie Simmons and others.
The honor comes about a month before Hubbard will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. Hubbard compiled a coaching record of 84-48-3 as the Rattlers’ head coach. He ran the FAMU program from 1974 to 1985.
During the stretch from 1977 to 1979, his teams compiled a 30-5 record and won back-to-back Black College National Championships. After retiring in 1985, Hubbard returned to the sidelines as a football coach at James S. Rickards High School in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2011.
“It’s an honor to get this presentation,” Hubbard said. “I didn’t know when I moved to Tallahassee that I would stay here. [It] is my home now.”
President Robinson congratulated Hubbard and expressed his appreciation for the retired coach’s impact on the university. He said he brags about Hubbard all the time.
“We will be the best at everything we do, and you led the way,” Robinson told Hubbard. “What you’ve done, no one else can really do.”
Simmons called Hubbard a close friend and mentor. He said he reached out to Hubbard as soon as he got the FAMU coaching job.
“I am honored to be in the presence of greatness,” said Simmons, who highlighted Hubbard’s distinction as the first and only HBCU coach to win a NCAA 1AA division (now FCS) national championship.
“I’ve always admired who he is as a person, what he stood for and his impact that he has had not only on the university but this community.”
