The college football world has been saying goodbye to legends left and right.
But sometimes those legends get to stick around long enough to see themselves properly honored.
And Ron DeSantis just made sure Lee Corso received the recognition he deserved with Florida’s highest civilian award.
The "Sunshine Scooter" finally gets his due
Governor DeSantis awarded the 90-year-old broadcasting icon the Governor’s Medal of Freedom on Saturday, just hours before Florida State took on Miami in Tallahassee.
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
Corso was back where it all started – at his beloved Florida State University, surrounded by the Seminole faithful who’ve cheered him on for seven decades.
"For decades, Lee has been an essential part of the college football experience," DeSantis said during the ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion. "From his time as the ‘Sunshine Scooter’ at Florida State, to his coaching career, to his iconic headgear picks each Saturday morning, Lee has been a fixture of college football."
The Governor’s Medal of Freedom represents one of Florida’s highest civilian honors, established in 2020 to recognize individuals who make exceptional contributions to the state and its citizens.
Corso joins an exclusive club that includes legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden, who was the inaugural recipient in 2021.
From Miami kid to FSU legend
Corso’s Florida story began when his family moved from Illinois to Miami when he was just 10 years old.
By high school, he’d become one of the most highly recruited players in the state and chose to take his talents to Tallahassee in 1953.
What happened next was pure magic.
The kid they nicknamed the "Sunshine Scooter" played both offense and defense with a versatility that’s rarely seen in college sports.
In 1954, he led the Seminoles in interceptions.
In 1955, he led them in rushing.
In 1956, he led them in passing.
His 14 career interceptions stood as the FSU record for more than three decades until Deion Sanders tied the mark in the late 1980s.
That’s the kind of staying power that defines true greatness.
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1974504239792549950
Corso also played outfield for the FSU baseball team, because why limit yourself to just one sport when you’re that gifted?
From the sidelines to Saturday mornings
Corso could have walked away from football after his playing days ended.
Instead, he jumped right into coaching – first as an assistant back at Florida State, then Maryland and Navy, before getting his shot as a head coach at Louisville and Indiana.
But here’s where the story gets interesting.
ESPN came calling in the 1980s for this new show called College GameDay, and Corso said yes to what became the ride of a lifetime.
Thirty-eight years later, he’d turned those goofy headgear picks into appointment television for millions of fans.
He visited Florida State with the GameDay crew 11 times and made FSU headgear picks in 19 out of 28 games involving the Seminoles.
The man knew where his loyalties lay.
A celebration decades in the making
Standing at the podium Saturday, Corso was clearly moved by the honor.
"This is probably one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had in my life," he said. "I can’t tell you how much I love Florida State and Tallahassee."
Later that evening, during the FSU-Miami rivalry game, Corso was presented with a replica jersey bearing his old number 20.
ESPN’s Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, his longtime GameDay colleagues, were on the broadcast call and took time to pay their respects to the man who helped build college football into the cultural phenomenon it is today.
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What DeSantis got right
You know what this honor really represents?
It’s DeSantis recognizing someone who never forgot where he came from.
Corso spent seven decades making college football better – first as a player who could do everything, then as a coach, and finally as the guy who made Saturday mornings fun for families across America.
The man turned putting on mascot heads into high art, and somehow never lost that genuine love for the game that made him the "Sunshine Scooter" back in 1953.
He came from an era where you played for the love of it, stayed loyal to your school, and understood that sports were supposed to be fun.
The fact that he retired from ESPN earlier this year – and went out picking his beloved Seminoles to upset Alabama in Week 1, a prediction that came true – feels like the perfect ending to a storybook career.
DeSantis got this one exactly right.
Some honors are about politics or checking boxes, but this recognition feels genuine and well-deserved.
The "Sunshine Scooter" spent 70 years making Florida proud, and now Florida has finally made sure he knows it.
¹ A.G. Gancarski, "Gov. DeSantis awards Lee Corso Governor’s Medal of Freedom," Florida Politics, October 4, 2025.
² WCJB Staff, "DeSantis awards Lee Corso Governor’s Medal of Freedom," WCJB, October 4, 2025.
³ Jim Rosica, "Lee Corso receives Florida Governor’s Medal of Freedom," USA TODAY Network – Florida, October 4, 2025.
⁴ Luke Anderson, "’Sunshine Scooter’ Lee Corso receives Governor’s Medal of Freedom," WTXL, October 4, 2025.
