FLORENCE, Ala. (August 5, 2024) – The University of North Alabama Lions Athletic Club — the official booster club of UNA Athletics — will feature Steve Spurrier as its keynote speaker for the 2024 Lion Pride Dinner and Auction on Thursday, August 8, 2024.
 
The event will be held at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center beginning at 5 p.m. The event includes various speakers representing UNA, a press conference at 4:30 p.m., a silent auction and a keynote address from Spurrier followed by a Q&A session.
 
For a fourth straight year, the event is sold out. The event is sponsored by the UNA Foundation.
 
"The UNA Lions Athletic Club is absolutely delighted to add Coach Spurrier this year to our list of outstanding keynote speakers," said club vice president Dan Penny. "As he well knows and has practiced, any successful event requires teamwork. This sell-out effort is a terrific example of teamwork and planning by the LAC Committee, and we are proud to bring this year's event to the Shoals."
 
The last three Lion Pride Dinner and Auction keynote speakers include Pete Rose, Bill Walton and Archie Manning, the latter of which entertained a sold-out crowd in August of 2023.
 
ABOUT STEVE SPURRIER
Spurrier, who has coached over 400 games, a national championship team, won seven conference titles, garnered nine conference Coach of the Year awards and won over 72 percent of the college games he coached, spent 11 seasons as head coach at the University of South Carolina until 2015.
 
Coach Spurrier has compiled a 226-85-2 (.725) won-loss record in 25 seasons as a major college head coach, including an 84-45 mark (.651) at Carolina. He became the 71st collegiate coach (all divisions) and the 22nd in Division I to record 200 career victories when he defeated UAB on Sept. 15, 2012 and logged his 250th all-time coaching win (including his stints in the pros) against Georgia in 2012.
 
Spurrier surpassed Rex Enright's school record for wins when he logged number 65 at Clemson in the 2012 season finale. In doing so, he joined the great Bear Bryant as the only coaches to boast the most coaching victories at two different SEC schools.
 
The Johnson City, Tenn. native led Duke to the 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference championship before returning to his alma mater, the University of Florida, as head coach in 1990. During his 12 seasons with the Gators, Spurrier's teams won six Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships, one national title and finished ranked in the nation's top 10 nine times. Spurrier, who won the 1966 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback for the Gators, also had a stint in the NFL with  the now-Washington Commanders. He returned to the college ranks in 2005 after a one-year absence from the sidelines.
 
In his first season at South Carolina, Spurrier led the Gamecocks to a 7-5 record and a second-place finish in the SEC Eastern Division. In doing so, he posted a five-game winning streak, the 15th-consecutive year in which he has had a five-game winning streak, something no other coach in college history had accomplished. He was honored as the SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press after leading the Gamecocks to a school-record five straight SEC wins, their first-ever win at Tennessee and their first win over Florida since the 1930s.
 
Spurrier became the fourth coach to record 100 or more wins as an SEC coach against SEC competition — not including three wins against SEC teams while coaching at Duke. Only Paul "Bear" Bryant (159) has won more SEC conference games than Coach Spurrier's 131. Spurrier passed John Vaught (106) and Vince Dooley (105) during the 2010 campaign.
 
As a player, Spurrier established himself as one of the best passers in SEC history en route to the 1966 Heisman Trophy. Other Heisman contenders that season include Bob Griese of Purdue, Nick Eddy of Notre Dame, Gary Beban of UCLA and Floyd Little of Syracuse.
 
Born in Miami, Fla., Spurrier attended Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn. where he was a three-sport letterman in football, basketball and baseball. As a pitcher for the Hilltoppers, Spurrier never lost a game and led his team to two consecutive state championships. He was an all-state selection in all three sports and a high school All-American quarterback in 1962.
 
Spurrier was heavily recruited for his passing abilities, ultimately choosing an offer from Florida in 1963 because of 'the passing, the SEC, the weather and Coach Ray Graves.' He became the starter in 1964 and threw for 943 yards and six touchdowns en route to a 7-3 record in his debut season. In 1965 as a junior, Spurrier threw for 1,893 yards and 14 touchdowns to lead Florida to a 7-4 record and to finish ninth in the Heisman voting.
 
His senior year was the most special, as Spurrier threw for 2,012 yards and 16 touchdowns and led Florida to a No. 11 ranking and an 8-2 record. He won the Heisman, the Walter Camp Award and was a unanimous All-American.
 
Spurrier finished his college career with 4,848 passing yards and 37 touchdowns, breaking numerous Florida and SEC records along the way.
 
He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the third overall pick in the 1967 NFL Draft, where he played for nine years, spelling John Brodie as quarterback in 1972 and leading the 49ers to a third-consecutive NFC West Title.
 
"The Head Ball Coach" is a member of the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame, the National High School Hall of Dame, the Florida Football Ring of Honor (2006), the South Carolina Hall of Fame (2021) and the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player (1986) and a coach (2017) — becoming just the fourth person to be selected as both a player and a coach.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.