Ben Montgomery: In February 1961, Vic Prinzi pulled into the visitors’ lot at the Florida School for Boys in Marianna and sat in the car collecting his thoughts. He was apprehensive.
“Why am I here?” he wondered.
He could still turn around, head back to Tallahassee and send word that he had changed his mind. Prinzi was 25 and self-confident.
His years as Florida State’s quarterback would eventually land him in the school’s hall of fame.
He’d played with the New York Giants and Denver Broncos, but got cut, and so he came back to Florida.
A friend told him about the opening at the state’s oldest reform school. With more than 800 boys between 7 and 18, it had grown to one of the largest homes for troubled kids in the country.
The job seemed custom-made for Prinzi, who earned a degree in juvenile delinquency with a focus on criminal psychology. But his anxiety about working with young criminals, teaching them athletics no less, had sneaked up on him.
He introduced himself to the school’s superintendent, David Walters, who gave Prinzi a nickel tour. The 1,400-acre campus was stunning. Stately cottages sat upon rolling green hills covered in tall pines.
Walters introduced Prinzi to his assistant superintendent, a stout man with a sandy crew cut. The two administrators told Prinzi the school operated on a ranking system based on behavior: Grub, Explorer, Pioneer, Pilot and Ace. Aces got privileges, but Grubs faced strict discipline, including solitary confinement.
“We’re going to rehab these kids if it breaks every bone in their bodies,” the assistant superintendent told Prinzi.
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