I have previously mentioned how I gave up a fairly safe seat in the Florida House of Representatives to run for a seat in the Florida Senate in 1978. At first I only had a head to head race against the incumbent, but subsequently a second former Republican Senator joined the race, and finally a long shot with a popular name got in the race to make it interesting. I have not disclosed who almost ran against me as well– the legendary former Coral Gables High School football coach Nick Kotys and an even bigger former legendary footballer Nick–former All-Pro Miami Dolphin linebacker Nick Buoniconti. For varying reasons, neither of the Nicks decided to make the race, so I only had to knock off two state senators and a famous name to win the seat. Sure glad the other two had other ideas.
