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Anybody who has met Frank Beamer knows he is the consummate southern gentleman: understated, gracious, quick with a smile, compassionate toward others. Those qualities contributed to his success as a football coach, inspiring fierce loyalty in his assistant coaches and players. His great strength was the ability to stoke a burning desire to not disappoint him.

But in the venues of athletic battle, he was a fierce competitor. He did not want to lose in anything—not football, not golf, not racquetball, not even blackjack. And in the heat of the game he was not averse to using colorful language counter to his day-to-day persona.

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