Tom Petty's Florida
UF Later Years: More Good Booty
Key to Gainesville, 1981
Key to Gainesville, 1981
Key to Gainesville, 1981
2900 SW 13th St., Gainesville, FL 32608
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jKiXFFbH46DQ8DSK8
Tom Petty received his first key to the city of Gainesville during a 1981 press conference at the Gainesville Hilton at 2900 SW 13th Street, which at the time was considered a luxury hotel, although after changing hands and brands over the decades, it fell into disrepair and today it has shuttered.
You can watch a video clip of Mayor Courtland A. Collier presenting the key to Tom Petty here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=501171171869113
And you can also watch an MTV News report that covered Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1981 homecoming, which included the key presentation as well as Petty answering questions from reporters. You will also see a short clip of the band performing a charity concert that night, where Stevie Nicks was one of the guests on stage. Watch here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=796275864763474
The Oct. 8, 1981, concert was held at the new Stephen C. O’Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida, which had been built the year before. Here is the set list to the concert that night:
Note that a key to the city was also awarded in 1991 and in 2006, the last, by Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan at a pre-concert press conference at the O’Connell Center, where the concert was held.
Photo from MTV News video footage
Key to Gainesville, 1991
Key to Gainesville, 1981
Key to Gainesville, 1981
1515 SW Archer Rd, Gainesville, FL 32608
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Mn3K3YWQDKJEf6yu9
On the afternoon of Oct. 26, 1991, in the conference room of what was then the University Centre Hotel at 1535 SW Archer Road in Gainesville, the County of Alachua and the City of Gainesville proclaimed it to be “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Day,” all the band members were presented keys to the city, and Tom’s hands were cast into a cement slab, into which all members of the band carved their signatures, for what was intended to be part of a Walk of Fame in the city. That night the band played to a hometown audience at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on the campus of the University of Florida.
Gainesville Sun reporter Bill DeYoung covered the 1991 homecoming. In a published article the next day, he made note of the proposed Walk of Fame. He reported that the effort was led by Petty’s cousin, Sadie Darnell, who then was the Gainesville Police Department spokesperson (she later became Alachua County sheriff), with the intention of putting the slab into the West University Avenue sidewalk in front of the building where the Florida Theatre and Great Southern Music Hall were once located (233 W. University Ave.) DeYoung’s 1991 article noted that this Walk of Fame “has no definite date for construction” and that “getting Petty's initial block was the first step.”
At the University Centre Hotel press conference, Petty was asked about others from Gainesville who should be included in its Walk of Fame. As DeYoung reported, Petty said: “I think if you’re going to put somebody in a Walk of Fame, they’ve got to be really famous. So I wouldn’t get in a hurry to fill it up, in my opinion. I’d just wait and let some of these kids that are playing now get really famous.”
To learn about this 1991 homecoming for Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch, read DeYoung’s article from The Gainesville Sun here:
https://www.thepettyarchives.com/archives/newspapers/1990s/1991-10-27-gainesvillesun
Gainesville’s Walk of Fame never came to fruition, though. Barry Sides, a blues musician from Gainesville, wrote a guest column in 2007 for The Gainesville Sun in which he explained that after he and Sadie Darnell hashed out the idea of honoring famous people who had lived in or near Gainesville. Perhaps concrete slabs then could have been cast for Bernie Leadon and Don Felder (both from the Eagles), Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills and Nash), Marty and Jeff Jourard (from the Motels), Bo Diddley or River Phoenix, and others. But after getting the concrete slab of the Heartbreakers, challenges ensued. Lawyers representing the Hollywood Walk of Fame threatened a lawsuit, claiming that using the phrase “Walk of Fame” was copyright infringement. And then acquiring funding and a location for a Gainesville Walk of Fame became problematic – and thus it never happened. Sides noted in the 2007 column that the 300-pound Heartbreakers slab then found a home in his garage.
To learn more about the effort to create a Gainesville Walk of Fame, read Sides’ article here:
https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2007/10/10/tom-pettys-hand-prints/31539109007/
In 2006, the University Centre Hotel, which had been constructed in 1986, was razed. To learn more about the hotel’s demolition, read this article from The Gainesville Sun:
https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/2006/05/23/landmark-demolition/31484664007/
In the footprint of where the University Centre Hotel was once located is the Shands Cancer Hospital at the University of Florida. To learn more about the hospital, go to their website here:
https://ufhealth.org/locations/uf-health-shands-cancer-hospital
Photo of hotel in 1992 by James Gaines, courtesy of Florida Memory, State Library and Archives of Florida
Key to Gainesville, 2006
Key to Gainesville, 1981
"I Won't Back Down" Singalong
250 Gale Lemerand Dr, Gainesville, FL 32611
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ToHQdurR959C1iwD9
The Stephen C. O'Connell Center was the site of six concerts by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -- in 1981, 1983, 1990, 1991, 1993, and the last one on Sept. 21, 2006, which was on the band's 30th anniversary tour. Stevie Nicks was a special guest on stage that night, as she was in 1981.
In this building during a pre-concert press conference for the 2006 show, the University of Florida presented Petty a Distinguished Achievement Award. Afterward, Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan proclaimed Sept. 21 to officially be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Day in the city, then presented a key to the city to Tom Petty, who was joined by his fellow Heartbreakers that all received keys as well (note that the first key to the city was given 25 years earlier, in 1981, to Petty by Mayor Courtland A. Collier at the Gainesville Hilton, once located at 2900 SW 13th St.).
In response to a reporter's question about what returning to Gainesville is like for bandmembers who grew up here, Petty said, "Really, every corner you turn, there's some kind of memory." Keyboardist Benmont Tench said: "I really, really love this town. You all need to realize what you got."
To learn more about this 2006 event, read this article from The Gainesville Sun:
The 2006 concert, which turned out to be the last by the Heartbreakers in Gainesville, can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlIegN1unss&list=PLfGibfZATlGrOmN-PCyK5L9WiREPElzH-
In a 2014 interview with The Gainesville Sun, Petty said: "I love playing in Gainesville. I love it. I think we'll get back before all is said and done."
Photo courtesy of The Gainesville Sun
"I Won't Back Down" Singalong
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
"I Won't Back Down" Singalong
157 Gale Lemerand Dr, Gainesville, FL 32611
https://maps.app.goo.gl/idBiQRM9ZbJeYWcR6
Tom Petty and neighborhood friend Keith Harben, while both were 13, sold Cokes in the stands of Florida Field.
But today, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, popularly known at The Swamp, is where you can participate in a crowd singalong of Tom Petty's anthem, "I Won’t Back Down," at all Gator football home games -- a tradition that began after his 2017 death. To read about the singalong tradition and Tom Petty Day, which begin in 2022 when he was posthumously awarded an honorary Doctor of Music, here's an article from The Gainesville Sun: https://www.gainesville.com/story/sports/college/football/2023/09/23/florida-tom-petty-day-explained-gators-honor-rock-legend-college-football/70935003007/
To watch a YouTube video of a singalong, go here:
Better yet, experience it yourself, in person! But if you can't make it to the stadium and you'd like a souvenir, check out the Tom Petty Day Florida Gator attire for sale by the official Tom Petty Estate store:
https://store.tompetty.com/collections/tom-petty-day-x-florida-collection
Photo by Shawn Murphy
A Course in Tom Petty
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
1885 Stadium Rd, Gainesville, FL 32611
https://maps.app.goo.gl/bXY6DJhnrR8EHYss5
In 2018, the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications, based in Weimer Hall, offered a course taught by Professor Clay Calvert titled Petty: The Biography about the life of Gainesville native Tom Petty, as noted in this Gainesville Sun article: https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2018/02/01/petty-101-1-credit-uf-course-to-focus-on-rockers-biography/15352405007/
To read more about Tom Petty's connection to the University of Florida and the Gainesville community, read this article by university public relations: https://floridagators.com/news/2022/10/13/football-tom-petty-lives-on-strong-at-uf-and-his-hometown-of-gainesville-101422.aspx
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation
101, Fine Arts Building A, Gainesville, FL 32611
https://maps.app.goo.gl/dzj6XaaeVJEcgHF37
The University of Florida College of the Arts was a recipient of a $100,000 donation by the Tom Petty Estate in May 2023. This donation served as seed money for the College of the Arts' Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation. The Petty family’s investment also helped to expand the School of Music’s guitar program, in addition to the Music Business & Entrepreneurship program.
To learn more about this endowment, read this University of Florida press release:
https://www.uff.ufl.edu/your-impact/honoring-an-american-music-legend/
To donate to this endowment, go here: https://www.uff.ufl.edu/giving-opportunities/027839-tom-petty-endowment-for-guitars-and-innovation/
Image courtesy of the University of Florida
Dr. Tom Petty
Tom Petty Special Collection
Tom Petty Special Collection
Newell Drive, University of Florida campus
https://maps.app.goo.gl/hWRYWveiLqGxFbXN6
The University of Florida School of Music posthumously awarded Tom Petty an honorary Doctor of Music at the spring 2023 Doctoral Ceremony on May 4, 2023.
Kevin Orr, director of the School of Music, said the following in his presentation speech: “We in the UF School of Music and College of the Arts are privileged to honor Tom Petty with an honorary doctorate degree in music, celebrating not only his extraordinary achievements as an artist but the ways in which his music has and continues to unite us as a community. Tom Petty’s tireless defense of the rights of performing artists, and his compassionate advocacy for the wellbeing of his neighbors in every community where he lived, are embodied by the students and faculty of the UF School of Music: commitment to one’s artistic passions, even in the face of challenges; the safeguarding of creative work to ensure unique and lasting impact; and indeed, the power of music to advance causes for the greater good in society.”
Here is a university press release about, and a video recording of, this event: https://news.ufl.edu/2023/05/tom-petty/
And here is the short bio video about Tom Petty that was shown to that audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muSPgmRXKKU
Photo courtesy of The Gainesville Sun
Tom Petty Special Collection
Tom Petty Special Collection
Tom Petty Special Collection
1545 W University Ave, Gainesville, FL 32603
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4FjfjM8mP83R9tnN7
The academic repository for a special digital collection dedicated to Tom Petty is housed by the George A. Smathers Libraries on the campus of the University of Florida. Much of it is digitized and available online here: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/results?q=%22tom+petty%22
This also happens to be where you will find a comprehensive collection for Bo Diddley, one of Tom Petty's musical inspirations -- and with whom he became friends and performed together on stage. Much of this collection is available to researchers with an advance reservation. Here is where you can learn more about this collection: https://news.ufl.edu/2019/03/bo-diddley-collection-at-uf-honors-the-originator/
Photo by Shawn Murphy