Burt Reynolds’ Roommate Tells All…
February 18, 1997

Lee Corso, college football studio analyst for ESPN’s College Game Day said he is famous for one thing "being Burt Reynolds roommate at Florida State." Lee and Burt were teammates on the Florida State football team and both played tailback for the Seminoles.

Lee told me that he used Burt as bait to meet girls. Lee would send Burt to the Student Union, and Burt would always bring back two girls for a date. Lee said Burt would usually have a good-looking one for himself and a not so good-looking girl for Lee, but Lee said even the not so good looking one is much better than he could ever get on his own.

"I told Burt he needed me because I had a sports car and I needed him because he had the looks to get us dates" said the lively broadcaster. "It didn’t hurt either that there were eight girls to every guy at Florida State when we were students because it had been an all-girls school until 1947 a few years before we were attending the school" said Lee.

Lee said that Burt was a good football player—very tough, mean and very physical. One time we were playing at the Sun Bowl in 1954—Burt had been partying very late the night before the game because he didn’t think he would have to play but the coach called him in and after the game his partying ways caught up with him, he collapsed from dehydration and had to be carried of the field said Lee.

"I was one year ahead of Burt in school and when I graduated I got a job as an assistant coach for Florida State University and had the opportunity to coach Burt for one year before he got hurt" said Lee.

During the summer Burt worked at the West Palm Beach Summer Theater and caught the acting bug. After Burt got hurt playing football, he told the guys on the team that he was going to Hollywood to be a star. We all laughed and thought he was crazy."

Burt is still a big fan of the Florida State Seminoles, he and Lee sat in FSU coach Bobby Bowden’s office and watched the Seminoles beat the Florida Gators this year during the regular season.

Lee said that Burt has a wonderful sense of humor and that he hasn’t changed one bit since his playing days at FSU. My bet is that he doesn’t have quite as much hair as he did back in college.

A Little of This and a Little of That…

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