By Buddy Martin
SouthernPigskin.com

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Steve Spurrier’s autobiography, “Head Ball Coach: My Life in Football, Doing It Differently 3 and Winning”, will hit shelves on Tuesday.

When he sets foot Saturday on the grass where he starred as the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner, hell be stepping on Steve Spurrier-Florida Field.

A long way from Kiwanis Park in Johnson City, Tenn., where his remarkable athletic career began.

When it comes to describing the fate of Steve Spurrier, invoking the title of boxer Rocky Grazianos movie would apply: cSomebody Up There Likes Me.d

His whole exit from coaching, resignation from South Carolina and safe landing back in Gainesville has been orchestrated by a higher power.

Maybe thats why in his forthcoming autobiography Head Ball Coach: My Life in Football, his most- used phrase is cThank you Lord!d

Spurrier’s book hits shelves on Tuesday.

It didnt always appear to be smooth sailing, however.

When Spurrier abruptly quit, it stunned all of us. Especially the guy in the middle of writing his autobiography.

cDid you hear anything about Steve Spurrier resigning at South Carolina?dmy editor Mike asked last Oct. 13.

cNo,d I said. I told Mike I had talked to the South Carolina coach just a couple days before and I was pretty sure that wasnt accurate. cAnd he sounded like a man who was bent on turning the season around,d I said.

I was pretty confident that I was up to date on Spurriers situation since I had known him for a half-century and was in the process of sorting out about 10 in-depth interviews we had done over the past year for the forthcoming book.

Talk about egg on my face! Spurrier called a press conference and 3 poof! 3 He was gone, just like that.

Proving, once again, that nobody knows Steve Spurriers mind, ever.

The next day, after watching his press conference on TV, I called my agent and my editor. Would this mean the Spurrier autobiography was on hold/kill?

cNope,d said Byrd Leavell of the Waxman Leavell Agency in New York. cPenguin remains committed to publishing Coach Spurriers memoir.d

First bullet dodged.

Check out this Q&A with Spurrier from The New York Times and these excerpts posted by ESPN.com.

An interesting sidebar unfolded in the next year. And how it all unpacked was remarkable: From that early crisis to this almost magical week for Steve Spurrier, his book and his life story.

cDid you plan it all this way?d I have often been asked.

cSuureeee!d I reply, my nose stretching like Pinocchios.

* * *

This book, cHead Ball Coach: My Life in Football. Doing It Differently. And Winningd was 23 years in the making, even if we did manufacture the pages in two years.

Id been intrigued by Spurrier since I first saw him play at Florida 3 he was the best player ever to wear a Gator uniform then — and began to know him personally in the mid-sixties.

When he became the No. 1 pick of the 49ers, we kept in touch and I ghosted a weekly column called cPassing Thoughtsd for seven Florida newspapers over several seasons.

Then we sort of drifted apart until he moved back to Florida to play for the Tampa Bay Bucs in 1976 and we reconnected until he was cut the next year. He was off to discover himself in coaching and I was off to New York City to pursue a life as a big-city sports editor.

The years passed. He rolled in and out of Tampa again as coach of the entertaining Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL and then went to work as Dukes Head Ball Coach. I headed to the Rocky Mountains.

Seven years later I was working in Jacksonville where I campaigned vigorously in my column for Florida AD Bill Arnsparger to hire Spurrier from Duke (I still say Arnsparger became more of a detriment and Steve was hired despite him). After Spurriers arrival in Gainesville as coach in 1990, I moved back to Colorado and, until 1993, Id not seen much of him.

One night in the spring of 893 over a beer following a talk I had made in Gainesville, I suggested that we do a book together. Florida football was on the rise. At the time he thought it was a good idea and we semi-handshook on it.

A few months later, perhaps swayed by the high pre-season poll rankings of his 1993 team, Spurrier wrote me a letter saying he didnt feel he had time to devote to the project. After all, his Florida team was about to launch into a four-year romp through the SEC. So I moved on and wrote several books about the Gators on my own.

In the back of my mind, Id always hoped for a chance to do that book, but it didnt appear to be in the cards. Meanwhile, he teamed up with Associate AD Norm Carlson to write a book about Floridas first SEC championship in 1991.

Moving forward, I wrote three other Florida football books 3 including an anthology, cThe Boys From Old Floridad — before I was asked to write the official biography of Urban Meyer, cUrbans Way.d

It didnt appear the stars were aligned properly for us to team up on Spurriers book. And after he moved to South Carolina, raising up the lowly Gamecocks program, he decided to begin a writing project with a local author.

One weekend when I was attending a house-warming party in Palm Bay, one of the Spurrier siblings asked me why I wasnt writing their dads book.

cI dont know,d I said, cbut I think he has somebody already picked out.d

Steve confirmed that he had. But eventually the result fell short of his expectations and he distanced himself from it.

On a hot afternoon in August, 2014, as I was broadcasting my talk show, I saw Spurriers name pop up on my phone as a message. During the commercial break, I called him back.

cRemember that book we talked about doing a long time ago?d he asked. cDo you want to do it?d

Of course I said yes, and the two-year journey was underway.

We settled on a top four publisher, Penguin/Random House/Blue Rider Press, signed a contract and said hello to editor Brant Rumble, who would work closely with us the rest of the way.

A few surprises, several speed bumps and 291 pages later, cHead Ball Coach: My Life in Football. Steve Spurrierd was born.

My job was to help him find his own words and put them into his voice. We had our challenges. Being the perfectionist that he is, Steve wanted everything spot-on correct and sometimes wrestled with the concept of evolving rough drafts. But the good news was that he was passionate about his words and very hands-on. He read every word, made numerous changes and actually wrote portions of the book himself (hes a pretty good writer).

In the final version, hopefully, we achieved most of our goals, except for a minnow hiccup here or there. cThere are always going to be mistakes in first editions,d said Rumble. cBut thats how collectors items are identified.d

My scariest moment had nothing to do with words, but pictures.

Over the years Steve has collected thousands of photos and maintained files that go back to his childhood. We had scheduled a day to sort through them and after five hours, agreed on 81 choices. At his house in Crescent Beach, we stuck them in a manila folder on his desk while I excused myself to the rest room.

Upon returning, I gathered several folders and put them in my computer bag, said goodbye and drove to Ocala. The next morning I called Rumble and explained that I was worried about having responsibility for Steves photos, so we decided we would have them scanned and transmitted electronically.

Later I went to my bag, pulled out a folder, opened it and found nothing. For two days we searched frantically for the photos. I called and asked Steve to look on his desk. He called back and said he saw no folders with photos. For three more days I was terrified and had a pit in my stomach.

cId rather lose his Heisman Trophy than his photos,d I told my wife.

On the fifth day Steve called.

cYou find the pictures?d he asked.

No, I said, and I have no idea where they went.

cDid the folder have writing on it?d he asked.

Yes, I said.

Pause.

cLemme see 3 yeah, here they are,d he said.

I was relieved, and piqued, but also thrilled they turned up.

And now I feel honored to have been a part of something so special. Even if it did take 23 years to complete.