Samuel Ray Graves (December 31, 1918 – April 10, 2015) was an American college and professional football player and college football coach. He was a native of Tennessee and a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was the starting center and team captain for the Volunteers under head coach Robert Neyland. After playing in the National Football League for three seasons, he returned to Tennessee to serve as an assistant football coach, then left for a longer stint as an assistant at Georgia Tech under head coach Bobby Dodd. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 1960 until 1969, where he led the Gators to their most successful decade in program history up to that point. While at Florida, he recruited and coached Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier, who often praised Graves as a role model and mentor during his own successful coaching career. Graves also served as Florida's athletic director from 1960 until his retirement in 1979. Early life and education Graves was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 31, 1918. He was the son of a Methodist minister, and the Graves family often moved as his father took various pastorships in eastern Tennessee. In high school, he realized that his best (and perhaps only) opportunity to attend college would be to earn an athletic scholarship, so he worked hard at both football and academics while attending Central High School in Dayton, Tennessee. Graves married Opal Richardson on November 3, 1942, and they had three daughters. Playing career College Upon graduation from high school, Graves earned a scholarship at from Tennessee Wesleyan Junior College, a small Methodist-affiliated institution in Athens, Tennessee. Graves attended Wesleyan for a year, then received a scholarship offer from Duke University coach Wallace Wade, which he accepted. Before enrolling at Duke, however, Graves received a scholarship offer from Tennessee coach Robert Neyland and choose to stay in state to play for the well-regarded Volunteers. Graves was a starter on the offensive line and at linebacker for the 1939 Tennessee team which was undefeated and unscored upon during the regular season and was invited to the Rose Bowl. The Vols played in the Sugar Bowl following his junior season, and Graves was the starting center and team captain during his senior year of 1941, earning third-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors. Graves would later credit Neyland's insistence that all players