The Wild Fight That Forced FAMU To Forfeit A Game Against FSU After 18 Players Were Ejected

Florida State and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (better known as “FAMU”) haven’t faced off in a men’s basketball game since 1991, and it’s pretty easy to understand why when you take a look at what unfolded the last time the two teams played each other.

The Florida State Seminoles are obviously the most notable college basketball program that calls Tallahassee home, but they share that city with the FAMU Rattlers, the HBCU whose campus is located less than two miles away.

It’s only natural those teams would meet on the court every now and then, and prior to December 7, 1991, the men’s teams representing each school had played each other a grand total of four times in a series where FSU had walked away with the win every single time the two sides faced off on the hardwood.

The Seminoles improved that record to 5-0 by the time everything was said and done on that Saturday evening, but they got some serious help from FAMU, who were forced to forfeit the game thanks to a crazy melee that led to all but three of its players getting sent to the locker room after the dust settled.

The largely forgotten fight between Florida State and FAMU that led to 15 Rattlers getting ejected

FSU and FAMU weren’t originally supposed to play against each other when the inaugural Capital City Classic was organized in Tallahassee by State Representative Al Lawson in 1991, but after the schedule was reworked, the two teams agreed to meet at what was then known as the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.

There was already a bit of bad blood between the two schools that hadn’t gone head-to-head for close to a decade, but the folks who decided they should face off didn’t seem to think there would be any major issues. However, they quickly discovered they’d failed to read the room.

According to the account of the game that was published in The Orlando Sentinel, FSU had just pulled out to a 38-35 lead with 1:19 left to go in the first half when FAMU guard Reginald Finney and FSU forward Doug Edwards began to exchange words.

That verbal altercation turned into a physical one when the two players began to trade punches, and a chaotic scene quickly unfolded as guys from both teams quickly joined the fray.

An assistant coach for FSU was able to stop the players on the bench from spilling out onto the floor (another Seminoles player had to be restrained after grabbing a sharp pencil to use as a weapon), but FAMU was unable to stop almost all of its reserves from scrambling onto the court.

Unfortunately for the Rattlers, the rules state that anyone who leaves the bench to participate in a fight earns an automatic ejection, which meant 12 of their players—in addition to three who were already on the court at the time—were given the boot (three Florida State players were also sent to the showers).

After the referees handed out the punishments, FAMU had a grand total of three eligible players remaining on its roster, and while they could’ve theoretically continued the rest of the game down a couple of guys, head coach Willie Booke accepted defeat by forfeiting the contest that went into the record books as a 2-0 win for FSU.

While it’s safe to assume those tensions have died down a bit in the more than 30 years since the incident transpired, FSU and FAMU have continued to err on the side of caution by declining to revive the rivalry.