Barbara Brock honored as ‘Mr. Two Bits’ on Saturday

Barbara Brock spends her days asking her students to step outside their comfort zones.

On Saturday, the Alachua County Public Schools 2026 Teacher of the Year had to do the same.

Brock stood in front of 88,863 fans at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium before Florida’s game against Campbell and led one of the most recognizable traditions in Gators football: the “Two Bits” cheer.

“Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for the Gators, stand up and holler!” she yelled.

For Brock, the moment was a long way from her eighth-grade science classroom at High Springs Community School, a K-8 public school just north of Gainesville.

It was also a moment she never saw coming.

Brock was in her classroom when the surprise invitation arrived. Legendary Florida coach Steve Spurrier called her and extended the invitation to become the latest person to lead the pregame cheer.

“It took me a second to register what was happening because he said his name and then he started talking and then I was like, OK, this is really Spurrier talking,” Brock said. “There were a lot of people in the classroom, and my kids were staring at me, but it was such a surprise.”

Brock moved to Gainesville in 2009, and after years of teaching, she said becoming a Gators fan was almost inevitable.

“I’ve had so many students become Gators, and you can’t live here and not be a fan,” Brock said. “It’s just part of the culture.”

That culture was on full display Saturday as Brock took the field to continue a tradition that dates to 1949.

George Edmondson began the cheer at Florida Field during a game against The Citadel after becoming frustrated with the crowd booing. Edmondson stood up and rallied the fans, eventually becoming known as “Mr. Two Bits” and beginning a tradition that would last for decades.

Edmondson retired from leading the cheer in 2008. Florida mascots Albert and Alberta continued the tradition for five years before celebrities and other commemorative and community figures began taking turns leading the cheer.

On Saturday, it was Brock’s turn.

The Teacher of the Year honor that earned her the invitation also made the moment especially meaningful. For Brock, representing her school district and students was just as important as representing the Gators.

“Representing 13-year-olds really keeps a person humble,” Brock said. “As we’ve been practicing, I got a lot of real earnest feedback. But yes, they’re very proud, and I’m very proud of being part of that because the kids and all the teachers put so much into what they do every day, and this is just part of what we love to do. So I’m lucky. I’m very lucky.”

Then came the part she had been preparing for.

Brock said she tried to remember each step as she turned around and looked out at the stadium.

“When I saw the whole stadium, like, OK, because I told myself, like, remember the steps,” Brock said. “I was trying to do that, and then I was taking it in, looking at everybody.”

She admitted she was nervous.

The cheerleaders around her helped guide her through the routine, and Brock joked that she was moving a little slower as she tried to remember what came next.

“I have to get to the next step. I’m going a little slow,” she said with a laugh.

Then the stadium answered.

Brock said the noise was so overwhelming that she could barely hear anything — including herself.

“I can’t hear anything, and I totally forgot to use the whistle,” Brock said. “I would not have known. It was because it was so loud and it was intense.”

For Brock, who is used to encouraging students in the classroom, the experience offered a new kind of perspective.

“I feel like when I teach, you’re the hype guy for something nobody wants to be at, right?” Brock said. “You’re like the hype man all the time, but here it’s like, ‘OK, I got to be the hype man,’ but everybody wants to be here. So it was very uplifting.”

The experience also gave Brock an unexpected reunion.

After she finished the cheer, a Gators cheerleader ran up to her excitedly. The cheerleader had once been one of Brock’s eighth-grade students.

It was another reminder of why Brock was there in the first place.

“I actually tried to take a lot of pictures of everything along the way today because I’m going to make a slideshow to show my students the experience,” Brock said. “And it’s because of them that I’m here. I’m here because I’m a teacher.”

Brock knows her students will have plenty to say when they see her again.

“There are gonna be some that say, ‘Hey, Miss Brock, you ate!’” she said. “You’re gonna have that group. And then you’re gonna have the ones that say, ‘OK, this is what you should have done.’”

Regardless of the critiques, Brock expects her students to be excited.

And she hopes they take something more meaningful from watching their teacher stand in front of nearly 89,000 people.

“I really believe that every day we ask the kids to do something that makes them uncomfortable,” Brock said. “I can’t tell you, like, I’m excited, but I’m very nervous and I’m very uncomfortable. And I think it’s very important to put myself out there. I ask them to put themselves out there.”

Brock’s career has taken her far beyond the classroom. Before spending the last 20 years as a teacher, she used her science background with organizations including the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. She also opened her own business selling science-related toys while training teachers and museum staff to use them as educational tools.

But Saturday was unlike anything she had experienced before.

“There really isn’t a lot to compare,” Brock said. “There’s nothing like it.”

She compared the experience to other moments in front of crowds but said the scale and energy of the Two Bits cheer were different.

“The number of people alone, and then just afterwards, everyone’s like, ‘Oh my gawd, you did great!’ Or little kids saying, ‘Hey, Mr. Two Bits,’” Brock said. “It was just so much fun.”

Her phone filled with messages and videos from people who had watched the cheer.

For someone whose most meaningful moments usually happen one-on-one with students, in the classroom or before a much smaller graduating class, standing in front of a packed Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was an entirely different experience.

“It’s intense, but in a very positive way,” Brock said. “There’s just so much. We were talking about all the pieces that went into this. I get to see how all the pieces are starting to come together and how things happen here. It’s incredible.”