04/22/2026
31 years ago Monday, Senator Bob Graham served as an assistant at the newly-opened Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Graham started the day at the wetlands exhibit, cleaning the floors and feeding the birds and fish before the aquarium opened for the day. Other assignments Graham acquired throughout the day included giving tours of the wetlands exhibit, collecting tickets, manning the Coral Reefs Gallery, and feeding the fish.
Having opened just a few weeks before Graham’s workday, the new facility hosted more than 4,300 native Floridian animals and plants over 152,000 square feet and more than a million gallons of water. The aquarium has remained a beacon of education and conservation in Tampa in the 30+ years since its launch.
This workday is also notable for another reason. At 1:30 p.m. that day, Senator Graham presented Arthur Agee (of “Hoop Dreams” fame) with his first Florida Sharks jersey after he signed with the Sarasota-based United States Basketball League (USBL) team. He was the team’s first overall draft pick that year. While the team won the league’s championship in both 1995 and 1996, the Sharks went defunct after the 1997 season.
This moment belonged to a far broader tradition. As a little-known state legislator in the 1970s, Graham launched his campaign for governor by regularly devoting an entire eight-hour workday to the jobs of ordinary Floridians—commercial fisherman, plumber, construction worker, bellhop, lumberjack, cook, truck driver, teacher, and many others. He finished his first 100 workdays before the 1978 gubernatorial election and continued the practice throughout his public career, all the way to the close of his service in the U.S. Senate in 2005.
Far more than a campaign device, the workdays gave Graham an unusually direct connection to the people he represented and a clearer view of their daily struggles. The lessons he gathered across more than 400 workdays went on to shape his approach to governing and influenced his legislative priorities as a state legislator, governor, and U.S. senator.
Throughout his time in office, Graham championed the environment. This emphasis on conserving the natural environment can be seen from his time as Florida governor, where he founded the Save the Manatees Club with Jimmy Buffett, championed the Save Our Rivers and Save Our Everglades programs, and signed the Wetlands Protection and Growth Management Acts. This commitment to the environment continued during his tenure in the U.S. Senate, where he co-sponsored the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
Days like this reflected Graham’s long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship. By spending a day inside one of Florida’s newest centers for marine education and conservation, he highlighted the close connection he saw between public service and protecting the nature that defines the state.
