Florida basketball coach Todd Golden’s championship portrait unveiled
Florida basketball coach Todd Golden reacts to a national championship portrait painted by artist and former Florida football standout James Bates that will hang at Spurrier Gridiron Grill’s Championship Room.
After 37 years, the University of Florida has restored the final two seasons of Vernon Maxwell’s college career to its record books.Maxwell’s records were previously stripped due to an NCAA investigation that found he used illicit substances and had an agent while in college.In recent years, Maxwell has become a mental health advocate, openly discussing his lifelong struggles with anxiety.
Before Walton Clayton Jr., before Scottie Wilbekin and Chandler Parsons and Al Horford and Joakim Noah and Mike Miller and Jason Williams, an argument could be made for Vernon Maxwell as the greatest player in Florida basketball history.
A fierce competitor who grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Gainesville, Maxwell stayed close to home to play for the Florida Gators after starring at Buchholz High School. As the centerpiece of the Norm Sloan-coached UF teams, Maxwell helped lead the Gators to their first two NCAA Tournament trips in school history (1987, 88).
That run ended in scandal, both for Sloan and Maxwell, which was why the final two seasons of Maxwell’s four-year career UF were stripped from the record books at UF for 37 years.
Until now.
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin restored the final two seasons in the Florida record books, turning the 60-year-old Maxwell from the unrecognized to recognized all-time scoring leader in UF basketball history at 2,450 points. Maxwell was accused of using illicit substances before games and having an agent while in college following an NCAA Investigation that resulted in UF’s basketball program incurring sanctions.
Enough time has passed to separate the art from the artist. Maxwell was a baller before the term existed, a wiry, 6-foot-4 combo guard who wasn’t afraid to take the big shot or guard the opposing team’s best player. Maxwell helped lead UF to a Sweet 16 run in 1987 and sank the game-winning shot in Florida’s 1988 NCAA Tournament-opening game against St. John’s. He then went on to a 13-year NBA career, where he became one of the league’s most respected and feared competitors, winning NBA titles in 1994 and 1995 with the Houston Rockets.
“He’s more than deserving,” said former Florida basketball player and program historian Bill Koss, who called Maxwell’s games on TV and radio in the 1980s. “He’s the deal. Obviously that was a very good team that beat North Carolina State, beat Purdue to get to the Sweet 16, but they don’t go there without Vernon. And then the next year they don’t win (St. John’s). With Vernon, with all the ups and downs and everything, he really was a tremendous competitor.”
How Vernon Maxwell reacted to having his Florida basketball records restored
In an interview with Steve Russell on WRUF (AM 850), Maxwell said he fell to the floor when he found out his records were reinstated.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Maxwell told Russell. “It just means a lot to the Maxwell family. Just for my mom, she’s 82 years old now. Just to have her be able to see what I’ve done at the University of Florida get reinstated, that means a lot to me. I’m so blessed for that.”
Maxwell also expressed gratitude for his teammates, who he will see this weekend at a UF basketball reunion event. During his time at UF, Maxwell and high-scoring backcourt teammate Andrew Moten were known as the “M-and-M” boys. By restoring Maxwell’s records, Maxwell and Moten (1,930 points) have now surpassed Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld as the greatest scoring tandem in SEC history.
“When I played basketball, I thought I was the best thing since sliced bread,” Maxwell told Russell. “Ain’t nobody could stop me. And my teammates. My teammates shared a good part in everything.
“All these points and these steals and all the other stuff that I did, my teammates were so instrumental to everything that I did over at the University of Florida. It means so much to me, so I gotta show them homage because if it wasn’t for them, it’s no Vernon.”
How will Vernon Maxwell write the final chapter of his life?
I wrote at length about Maxwell’s legal issues more than 20 years ago, which ranged from domestic battery to failure to pay child support. The post-basketball odyssey for Maxwell was filled with bad choices and bad financial decisions. In court, Maxwell claimed he had squandered away most of the $14 million he earned througout his NBA career.
In recent years, Maxwell has become a mental health advocate, openly sharing his anger issues were the result of a crippling anxiety that he’s dealt with throughout his entire life.
“In the Black community, it’s swept up under the rug,” Maxwell told the Houston Chronicle two years ago. “I know I’m a mental health case … but I was glad I had somebody come to me and they thought I would be a good advocate for it. If I have a platform to talk about it, and I feel like I can save one, two lives, that’s what matters to me.”
Maxwell has also developed a following on X, where he enjoys trolling Utah Jazz fans.
There is time for Maxwell to channel his self-awarness into becoming a better role model. Here’s hoping he can stay on that path, which would serve as an achievement as notable as all the points he scored througout his UF career.
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com