 After arriving late for the fall term, Florida football coach Raymond Wolf decided to redshirt Tanzler, and recommended that he play basketball to stay in shape.Tanzler was a walk-on for the 1946-47 Florida Gators men's basketball team, and averaged nearly 11 points per game.He became a stand-out player, scoring in double figures all four years, and was named third-team All-SEC in his senior year, when he became the first Florida basketball player to pass 1,000 points in his college career.