Honoring a Love of Sports & History

By Barbara Drake (MFA ’04)

Renowned for his compassion, good humor and storytelling, the late insurance agent Fred Diamond (BSBA ’52) played quarterback for the Florida Gators during the pivotal “Golden Era” after World War II. Now a legacy gift in his name to UF Athletics ensures his love of football and sports history lives on after him.

“Dad made lifelong friendships at UF, on the football team and in his fraternity,” said daughter Karin Jawitz (BSBA’82) in a recent interview. “Giving back to the university just made sense.”

“He was a walking Florida sports historian who could share the best stories from the past,” added daughter Lisa Faris. “He seemed to know everyone wherever he went.”

“He really loved his alma mater and felt it very important to be a part of it, in any way he could,” said Dr. Andrea Diamond, his eldest child.

Fred Diamond passed away in May 2021 at the age of 90.

The Diamond family: Bottom row, Sue and Fred Diamond; top row, left to right: daughters Andrea Diamond, Karin Jawitz and Lisa Faris. The photo was taken in May 2017 at the birthday of Fred’s son-in-law, Lane Jawitz, a ’79 Gator alum. Photo courtesy the Diamond family.

Born in Miami Beach in 1930, Diamond witnessed the seaside town’s transformation during the Second World War.

“I went to Miami Beach elementary and junior high schools,” he wrote for HistoryMiami Museum, “and watched the soldiers marching down the streets when the entire island … became a military base.”

Diamond was a star athlete at Miami Beach Senior High, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track, graduating in 1948. At UF, he majored in business administration and played football from 1948 to 1950, proudly becoming known as the only left-handed Jewish quarterback in Gator history. He also lettered in track and was a member of Zeta Beta Tau and Delta Sigma Pi fraternities, but it was his ties to his gridiron teammates, the “Golden Era Gang,” that proved a lifelong calling.

Funds raised by the Golden Era Gang supported scholarships and building repairs at UF. This photograph, likely taken on campus in the 1980s, shows UF President Marshall Criser Jr., center, flanked by NFL lineman Frank Dempsey, on the left, and Golden Era Czar Fred Diamond, on the right. Next to Diamond is attorney and UF alum Danny Ponce. The man on the left is unknown. Photo courtesy Sue Diamond.

The group’s name came from the Gators’ record 0-13 losing streak in 1945-46, which inspired players from 1945 to 1952 to ironically dub their time at UF the Golden Era. These close-knit Gators, who included Florida attorney general Jimmy Kynes (BSBA ’50, JD ’55) and NFL linebacker Frank Dempsey (BSPE ’50), held reunions for decades, raising money for scholarships and facilities repairs at UF. Among the group’s most involved members was Diamond, who served his whole life as its “Czar,” or leader.

Sue Diamond, Fred’s high school sweetheart and his wife of 67 years, recalls decades of traveling from Miami to Central Florida for Golden Era Gang get-togethers.

“For years, they held their reunions in Homosassa, and then we moved up to Crystal River,” she said. “That group did so much good for UF.”

The late Fred Diamond (1930-2021) played quarterback for the Florida Gators from 1948 to 1950. Photo courtesy the Diamond family.

Forged after the war effort, which had thinned the ranks of UF athletes, the Golden Era Gators united men of disparate backgrounds. In Diamond’s case, his being Jewish was a rarity among Gator football players in 1948, and Frank Dempsey, who attended Miami Senior High, made it his personal business to see that no one harassed the Miami Beach newcomer.

“Frank told Fred, ‘You put your locker next to me, and I’ll look out for you,’” remembered Sue.

His strategy worked: No one dared pick a fight with No. 79, the new quarterback, and Diamond became an integral member of the team, led then by Coach Ray “Bear” Wolf. That solidarity was echoed on Florida Field the next year when another newcomer, super-fan George Edmondson Jr., aka Mr. Two Bits, began rallying the crowd with his iconic cheer, “All for the Gators, stand up and holler!”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in 1952, Diamond returned to Miami where he opened Diamond Insurance and became owner of Trophy World.

“Miamians are carrying the ball for the Gators,” reads a 1949 newspaper caption, highlighting players on the 1949-50 team. Left to right, standing: Don Brown, Fred Diamond and Hanford Knowles. Kneeling: Frank Dempsey, left, and Dan Hunter, right.

An avid sports fan, he never missed a University of Miami football game, but his loyalties were put to the test whenever Florida played Miami. On those occasions, Sue had the last word on Fred’s Game Day attire.

“I told him, ‘The only color you can wear is orange,’” she joked.

As he planned his legacy, Fred knew he wanted to leave his estate to his family and sought another way to remember his alma mater. He found life insurance an easy way to make a bequest.

Now the spirit of fellowship and generosity that defined the Golden Era Gang will live on at UF Athletics—proving that, in Fred’s case, a Diamond is forever.