Monday, October 27, 2008

North Miami Beach Senior High School in the 1970's

I recently saw that someone went into Wikipedia and removed some of the more interesting facts and anecdotes I added in the summer of 2007 to give the existing webpage some needed history and heft, because it was previously embarrassingly shallow for a school that's produced so many proud graduates over the years, not least of all me, from the Class of 1979.


I've used my entry from last year as a foundation and added some things to give anyone ever wanting to understand what NMB Senior High was all about thirty years ago, some much needed perspective on things, since the area has undergone so many changes since then, many of which are for the good, I suppose, but many for the worse.


Frankly, I should've just posted my entry here in the first place, since the Wiki page was deadly dull, and I could've saved myself a lot of time conforming to their so-called "style."

__________________________

North Miami Beach High School
North Miami Beach Senior High School is located 1247 NE 167 Street, North Miami m in North Miami Beach, Florida; Its current principal is Raymond L. Fontana. North Miami Beach was built in 1971 as an overcrowding reliever school for North Miami High School to the south at 800 N.E. 137 Street, and Miami Norland High School to the northwest at 1050 N.W. 195 Street. North Miami Beach Senior High School was also a pioneer in school construction, being the first high school in Dade County ever to be built with no windows of any kind, and was, necessarily, completely air-conditioned.

NMBHS's creation and its initial non-traditional style of education, with no traditional letter grades, not only created new natural rivalries with existing high schools, but also created tension within many middle and upper-middle class North Dade families, whose older children had attended and graduated from traditional Dade County schools, and who weren't necessarily happy that their younger children would be placed in an experimental school that eschewed the traditions the parents knew, as the Miami Herald reported often at the time.


This proved inevitable when younger siblings went to a high school other than the one their older brothers and sisters -and in some cases, parents- had grown-up attending and supporting with their time, attention and money. Family traditions and habits are indeed hard to break.
This created a hard cleavage in school spirit, whose practical effects were often felt at NMB home games, since, early on, only a very small percentage of actual NMB residents had any tangible connection to the new high school with big hopes and even larger expectations.


By the time the school was four years old, the non-traditional approach had been abandoned.


There was a high percentage of NMB residents who were either recent Northeast transplants with roots elsewhere.


Many Seniors had no grandchildren attending NMBHS. The initial rush and enthusiasm of school spirit often proved fleeting, with no established Charger tradition or generations of devoted alumni of their own to fall back on.

For many observers close to the NMB scene, this apathy among NMB residents, who, in other locales would've been natural school supporters, was largely proven when a medium-sized winter carnival with rides and attractions was held in February of 1976, just as the 1976 Winter Olympics were being nationally televised each night to huge ratings, thanks to the natural appeal of American figure skater Dorothy Hamill.


It's important to remember that with very few families owning pricey Betamax VCRs back then, and with DVRs and TiVos to record their favorite TV programs a distant unimaginable dream, people in North Dade had to vote with their feet: stay home and watch the Olympics, or attend the NMB sports carnival and miss being able to watch the exciting live sports broadcasts?


In the end, it was no contest, as Gold Medal-winner Dorothy Hamill proved irresistible to American TV viewers, with her enormous talent and poise, beaming smile and unique bobbed hairdo style that immediately fueled an epidemic across the country.

Held on the NMB soccer/practice football field on the NW part of campus that Charger soccer players affectionately called "Poly-Rock Stadium" -a dig at the expense of the then-existing Poly-Turf football field at the Orange Bowl, where the University of Miami and the Miami Dolphins football teams played- the winter sports carnival was the sort of fundraiser that's held annually in large parts of the country, especially in the Midwest and South.

Planned for the sole purpose of raising much-needed funds for the beleaguered NMB athletic department's bottom line, to help offset the myriad costs associated with fielding the same number of competitive sports teams as other better-established Dade high schools, but with none of the built-in traditional fan and financial base.

The event proved not to be a roaring success, attendance-wise, and after nearby residents and homeowners who had previously signed needed petitions to gain the permit, suddenly expressed dismay at the event to local media, the event was never repeated.
NMBHS's particular geographical location in South Florida has played a large role in shaping its history, as well as the day-to-day mood of its very diverse student body.
The reason is that for the better part of its first fifteen years of existence, prior to the opening of the much-larger and upscale destination-style Aventura Mall on Biscayne Boulevard and N.E. 203 Street, the school was just across the street from the very popular regional shopping center, The Mall at 163rd Street, which featured dozens of retail stores. (For most of those first 15 years as neighbors, the shopping center was an outdoor shopping center, exposing shoppers to South Florida's sub-tropical heat or drenching thundrestorms.)
Among the more popular stores were a very successful Burdine's, a Jordan Marsh, a J.C. Penney's, a Rich's, an Oshman's Sporting Goods and lots of small-to-medium sized "Mom-and-Pop" stores, as well as chain clothing, bookstores and sundry stores.
It was also well-known for being the home of three WOMETCO movie theatres, which were the largest movie theatres in northern Dade County from roughly 1968-83, drawing large numbers of film fans from southern Broward County as well. (WOMETCO was the then-corporate owner of the popular Miami Seaquarium on Key Biscayne and WTVJ-Channel 4, the long-dominant news station in South Florida under legendary broadcaster and news anchor Ralph Renick.)
Because of this synergy, the theatres were a very popular date spot, since the only other movie alternatives consisted largely of the Miami Shores theatre in Miami Shores many miles to the south, or the two drive-in theatres off State Road 836, west of the Golden Glades Interchange, on N.W. 27th Avenue and N.W. 37 Avenue.
The mall's northern side, closest to the school itself, also served as a very busy Metro bus terminal, the largest in northern Dade County, and thus was an important lifeline for NMBHS students and employees heading to or from home, or to after-school jobs elsewhere in the area.
"163rd Street" was a very important employment center for NMB students in the summer and over Christmas and Hanukah holidays, and, to the consternation of assistant principals at both NMBHS and JFK Junior High, to the west of NMBHS, also proved a popular hang-out for students predisposed to skipping school entirely.
It was equally popular with NMB students looking for a break at lunch-time, and after myriad evening school sports, drama and music activities.
Unfortunately, the natural traffic associated with the financial success of the shopping mall had a down side as well, as it tended to reinforce in NMB resident's minds the longstanding parking problems with the area, which discouraged families from attending evening events at NMBHS.
Until a regional high school football stadium was built in the 1990s at the (northern) Biscayne Bay campus of Florida International University off Biscayne Boulevard and N.E. 151 Street, the NMB Chargers football team played both its home AND away games at the northern regional football stadium, Traz Powell Stadium. Located at the-then Miami-Dade North Community College campus, now called Miami Dade College, it was located more than 7 miles away from the NMB campus.
Once students, faculty and fans arrived in the immense parking lot, local police providing security for the event directed you to the side of the stadium NMB was assigned to: "Home or Visitors'.
This bad situation, on top of the already existing fan-base problem in NMB, only made school spirit at football games problematic for all but the most devout Charger fans, since, on average, at least 75% of the fans at the games couldn't legally drive, and were completely dependent on adults to drive them to the stadium.
This logistical nightmare made it all but impossible for residents of NMB and environs to actually see the high school's team in action, and had the practical effect of meaning that in a very real sense, none of the post-game activities that high school kids have been traditionally conditioned to expect for themselves through novels, television shows and films were open to them. That was for kids at other high schools.
North Miami Beach also has a Biomedical and Environmental Advancement Magnet program (BEAM) available to any students in the district. The program gives higher education credits to students wishing to pursue a career in medicine or environmental sciences.
In the summer on 2005, the school added a new two story building to its campus.
NMB's current athletic rivals are North Miami Senior High School and Dr. Michael M. Krop High School.
Prior to the opening of Krop, the following schools were the most intense rivalries in NMB's most consistently successful sports teams: Men's Soccer- North Miami Senior High School, especially games at the Pioneers' home field, the scene of a historic Ciro Martinez-led last-second Charger win in 1976 that helped fuel the Chargers' run to the Florida state championship.
The Vikings of Miami Norland Senior High School, who inflicted a bitter 1977 loss on the Chargers, knocking them out of the Florida state playoffs at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, and ending the Chargers' hope of winning back-to-back Florida state soccer championships. The Vikings eventually finished as the state runner-up that year.
Women's Gymnastics-
North Miami Senior High School always proved tough competition when talented twin sisters Debbie Reiser and Donna Reiser were top-flight All-Dade gymnasts there between 1975-79, but ultimately, NMB's greater depth and all-around ability always won the day by the last event led by Lisa Martin and Karen Ginsburg.
By far, the toughest competition for the NMB Charger gymnastics team during their undefeated glory days of the late 1970s under head coach Peter Saponaro -himself an All-American and co-captain of an NCAA Championship Men's team at Penn State in the 1960s- came against the orange and blue-clad Trojans of HML, Hialeah-Miami Lakes High School, when H-ML dominated the high school sports world of Miami in nearly every sport, as few schools have before or since.

For years the Trojan gymnasts were consistently the second-best team in the state of Florida under the tutelage of their veteran head coach Don Gutzler.

The Trojans were led by some enormously talented gymnasts, including my friend, the late Dee Leutner, who I ran into outside of NMB the day we were to take the SATs, and who sat at my table after we psyched each other up. What a sweetheart she was!


After leaving HML, Dee was a proud University of Georgia Gym Dog teammate of one of my great friends on the NMB team, Linda Zobler, the middle daughter of the amazing gymnastic Zobler sisters, Katie and Susan, whose proud and encouraging parents never missed a home meet and were a model for what gymnastic parents ought to be.

(Katie was the first of my NMB gymnastic friends to head up to Athens and join the University of Georgia GymDogs around 1977 or '78.

because of her fantastic personality and ever-present smile, Linda Zobler was an immensely popular person at NMBHS, especially with the Boys Soccer team back when the NMB Boys soccer team and Girls gymnastic teams were very interconnected because of their mutual support for each other at games and meets, but also because, quite frankly, they were by far the most consistently talented and successful teams in the school.

It was only natural that they gravitated towards each other.


The tall and graceful Deeanne Fernandez was another great HML gymnast, especially on balance beam and bars.


A red-haired ball of energy named Tracey Blake, also my friend, was yet another star HML gymnast, and later followed me up to Indiana University, where she became the captain of the Hoosier gymnastics team.

Dee, Linda, Deeanne and Tracey all consistently made the Miami Herald and Miami News All-Dade County gymnastics team year after year, without fail, just as prior friends and stars like Lisa Martin and Karen Ginsberg ui .

H-ML always provided the Chargers with the sort of tough but friendly competition that was usually never settled until the very last competitor had performed, as happened often in the GMAC (county) championship meet, and the 1979 state championship at NMB, the Chargers always emerging bloodied but victorious.

The NMB vs. H-ML gymnastics meets were always well-attended, regardless of the venue, but never more so when they were held at NMBHS, when appreciative evening crowds of 1,500-2,000 people were not at all uncommon, and only added to the spirit and tension of a meet between what were clearly the two best teams in the state of Florida, and among the best in the nation, year after year.

Though they were tough competitors during the course of the meet, the Chargers and Trojan gymnasts were kindred spirits and friends away from the gym, and the large number of fans who attended these intense meets were always very keen on showing their appreciation of the
H-ML gymnasts for their talent and style, since their ability only served to push the Chargers even harder.


Years later, South Florida sports fans who were fortunate enough to have attended those meets STILL remember the tension that greeted every performance and judge's score, as the Charger and Trojan gymnasts put on an impressive show of talent and style that were unique for the world of high school sports in general, and high school gymnastics in particular.


They were the best of competitors for two hours and the best of friends afterwards.


Notable alumni

Max Jean-Gilles - Philadelphia Eagles

Bobby Kemp - former NFL strong safety for Cincinnati Bengals from 1981-86, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1987. Started in Super Bowl as rookie.

Steve Nicosia -MLB Catcher, 8 seasons, 1978-1985 Pittsburgh,San Francisco,Montreal,Toronto.
First NMB alum to play in MLB World Series in 1979, catching Game 7 as rookie.

Men's Soccer: Florida State Champions in 1976 under head coach Victor Cappillo
Women's Gymnastics: Greater Miami Athletic Conference (County) Champions 1976-1979 and Florida State Champions in 1979 under head coach: Peter Saponaro

In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation

In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation
"In the Heart of a Great Country, Beats the Soul of Hoosier Nation." -South Beach Hoosier, 2007

#IUBB, #bannersix

#IUBB, #bannersix
Assembly Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Click photo to see video of Straight No Chaser's version of Back Home Again In Indiana, 2:37
The South Florida I Grew Up In

Excerpts from Joan Didion's Miami, 1987, Simon & Schuster:

In the continuing opera still called, even by Cubans who have now lived the largest part of their lives in this country, el exilo, the exile, meetings at private homes in Miami Beach are seen to have consequences. The actions of individuals are seen to affect events directly. Revolutions and counter-revolutions are framed in the private sector, and the state security apparatus exists exclusively to be enlisted by one or another private player. That this particular political style, indigenous to the Caribbean and to Central America, has now been naturalized in the United States is one reason why, on the flat coastal swamps of South Florida, where the palmettos once blew over the detritus of a dozen failed booms and the hotels were boarded up six months a year, there has evolved since the early New Year's morning in 1959 when Fulgencio Batista flew for the last time out of Havana a settlement of considerable interest, not exactly an American city as American cities have until recently been understood but a tropical capital: long on rumor, short on memory, overbuilt on the chimera of runaway money and referring not to New York or Boston or Los Angeles or Atlanta but to Caracas and Mexico, to Havana and to Bogota and to Paris and Madrid. Of American cities Miami has since 1959 connected only to Washington, which is the peculiarity of both places, and increasingly the warp...

"The general wildness, the eternal labyrinths of waters and marshes, interlocked and apparently neverending; the whole surrounded by interminable swamps... Here I am then in the Floridas, thought I," John James Audobon wrote to the editor of The Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science during the course of an 1831 foray in the territory then still called the Floridas. The place came first, and to touch down there is to begin to understand why at least six administations now have found South Florida so fecund a colony. I never passed through security for a flight to Miami without experiencing a certain weightlessness, the heightened wariness of having left the developed world for a more fluid atmosphere, one in which the native distrust of extreme possibilities that tended to ground the temperate United States in an obeisance to democratic institutions seemed rooted, if at all, only shallowly.

At the gate for such flights the preferred language was already Spanish. Delays were explained by weather in Panama. The very names of the scheduled destinations suggested a world in which many evangelical inclinations had historically been accomodated, many yearnings toward empire indulged...

In this mood Miami seemed not a city at all but a tale, a romance of the tropics, a kind of waking dream in which any possibility could and would be accomodated...
Hallandale Beach Blog
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach Blog is where I try to inject or otherwise superimpose a degree of accountability, transparency and much-needed insight onto local Broward County government and public policy issues, which I feel is sorely lacking in local media now, despite all the technological advances that have taken place since I grew-up in South Florida in the 1970's. On this blog, I concentrate my energy, enthusiasm, anger, disdain and laser-like attention primarily on the coastal cities of Aventura, Hollywood and Hallandale Beach.

IF you lived in this part of South Florida, you'd ALREADY be in stultifying traffic, be paying higher-than-necessary taxes, and be continually musing about the chronic lack of any real accountability or transparency among not only elected govt. officials, but also of City, County and State employees as well. Collectively, with a few rare exceptions, they couldn't be farther from the sort of strong results-oriented, work-ethic mentality that citizens here deserve and are paying for.

This is particularly true in the town I live in, the City of Hallandale Beach, just north of Aventura and south of Hollywood. There, the Perfect Storm of years of apathy, incompetency and cronyism are all too readily apparent.
Sadly for its residents, Hallandale Beach is where even the easily-solved or entirely predictable quality-of-life problems are left to fester for YEARS on end, because of myopia, lack of common sense and the unsatisfactory management and coordination of resources and personnel.

It's a city with tremendous potential because of its terrific location and weather, yet its citizens have become numb to its outrages and screw-ups after years of the worst kind of chronic mismanagement and lack of foresight. On a daily basis, they wake up and see the same old problems again that have never being adequately resolved by the city in a logical and responsible fashion. Instead the city government either closes their eyes and hopes you'll forget the problem, or kicks them -once again- further down the road.

I used to ask myself, and not at all rhetorically, "Where are all the enterprising young reporters who want to show through their own hard work and enterprise, what REAL investigative reporting can produce?"

Hearing no response, I decided to start a blog that could do some of these things, taking the p.o.v. of a reasonable-but-skeptical person seeing the situation for the first time.
Someone who wanted questions answered in a honest and forthright fashion that citizens have the right to expect.

Hallandale Beach Blog intends to be a catalyst for positive change. http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/

Hallandale Beach's iconic beachball-colored Water Tower, between beach and A1A/South Ocean Drive

Hallandale Beach's iconic beachball-colored Water Tower, between beach and A1A/South Ocean Drive
Hallandale Beach, FL; February 16, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"Gentlemen, I am happy to announce that as of today we are closing down our Washington news bureau and moving the entire operation to L.A."

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker

Hollywood in Cartoons, The New Yorker
"O.K., so I dig a hole and put the bone in the hole. But what's my motivation for burying it?"

Hollywood in cartoons, 10-21-06 Non-Sequitur by Wiley, www-NON-SEQUITUR.COM

Hollywood in cartoons, 10-21-06 Non-Sequitur by Wiley, www-NON-SEQUITUR.COM
The Magic of Hollywood: A motion has been put forth that we should seek to create rather than imitate. All in favor of killing this silly notion, nod in mindless agreement...

Miami Dolphins

Miami Dolphins
South Beach Hoosier's first Dolphin game at the Orange Bowl came in Dec. 1970, aged 9, a 45-3 win over Buffalo that propelled them into their first ever playoff appearance.

Sebastian the Ibis, the Spirited Mascot of the University of Miami Hurricanes

Sebastian the Ibis, the Spirited Mascot of the University of Miami Hurricanes
Before going to my first U-M game at the Orange Bowl in 1972, a friend's father often would bring me home an extra 'Canes game program. That's how I came to have the Alabama at U-M game program from Nov. 16, 1968, which was the first nationally-televised college football night game in color. (A 14-6 loss to the Crimson Tide.) After that first ballgame against Tulane, as l often did for Dolphin games if my father wasn't going, I'd get dropped off at the Levitz parking lot near the 836 & I-95 Cloverleaf in NMB, and catch a Dade County Park & Ride bus, going straight to the Orange Bowl. Onboard, I'd get next to the window and listen to WIOD's pre-game show on my Radio Shack transistor radio. A few times, I was just about the only person onboard besides the bus driver, which was alright by me. Once at the Orange Bowl, if I didn't already have a ticket, I'd buy a game program for myself and one or two for friends or teachers before heading to the ticket window, since you usually couldn't find a program vendor once inside. I probaly had a friend or my father with me for just under 40% of the U-M games I ever went to, but you have to remember that the team, though blessed with several talented players, like Chuck Foreman and Burgess Owens, was just so-so to average at best, and the games were usually played on Friday nights, so it wasn't exactly high on everyone's list of things to do. Depending upon the opponent, if I was alone, I'd often have entire areas of the Orange Bowl to myself. (Wish I had photos of that now!) For instance, I had a good portion of the East (open) End Zone to myself against Oklahoma in the mid-70's, when the Boomer Schooner and the Schooner Crew went out on the field after an Oklahoma TD, and the Schooner received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the refs, as would happen years later in an Orangle Bowl Classic game. (Against FSU?) I was there for the wins and losses under Pete Elliott, Carl Selmer & Lou Saban, and the huge on-field fight in '73 when under eventual national champion Notre Dame (under Ara Parseghian), they called a time-out with less than a minute to go, and already up 37-0. Their rationale? To score another TD and impress the AP football writers; final score 44-0. Well, they got their wish and beat Alabama 24-23 for the title at the Sugar Bowl. A year later, thanks to my Mom's boss, she and I saw Ara's last game as head coach of the Irish in the Orange Bowl Game from the East End Zone -in front of the Alabama cheerleaders!!!- in an exciting 13-11 Notre Dame win over Alabama and Bear Bryant, a rematch of the '73 national title game. I was also present for the U-M's huge 20-15 win under Pete Elliott against Darrel Royal's Texas Longhorns, the week Sports Illustrated's College Football preview issue came out with Texas on the cover, below. I was also present for lots of wins against schools called College of the Pacific, UNLV and Cal-Poly San Luis Obsispo, which I'd then never heard of before.

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, April 28, 2007

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders, April 28, 2007
Photo by Mario J. Bermudez. April 28, 2007 at Dolphins NFL Draft Party at Dolphin HQ, Davie, FL

Of cheerleaders past and present

Given South Florida's unique version of the melting pot -con salsa- demographics and mindset, these women in the photo above are surely what most South Floridians would consider attractive women. But for this observer, who's spent hours & hours at IU cheerleader tryouts and who has known dozens of cheerleaders -and wannabes- in North Miami Beach, Bloomington, Evanston and Washington, D.C., the whole time I was watching these members of the Dolphins' squad perform, I couldn't help but compare them and their routines to those of some IU friends of mine who ALWAYS showed true Hoosier spirit & enthusiasm. Sitting at my table right near the stage and still later, while watching the long lines of Dolphin fans of all ages waiting to snap photos of themselves with the cheerleaders, I couldn't help but think about those friends who always left me and other Hoosier fans feeling positive & optimistic. Was there anyone I saw in Davie who possessed these valuable intangibles: the dancing precision of IU Red Stepper -and Captain- Gail Amster, my talented and spirited Phi Beta Kappa pal from Deerfield (IL), who always sat next to me in our Telecom. classes as we took turns entertaining the other; the ebullient spirit & energy of two Hoosier cheerleaders -and captains- from Bloomington, Wendy (Mulholland) Moyle & Sara Cox; the hypnotic, Midwestern, girl-next-door sexiness of Hoosier cheerleader Julie Bymaster, from Brownsburg; or, the adorable Southern girl-next-door appeal of former Hoosier Pom squader Jennifer Grimes, of Louisville, always such a clear distraction while sitting underneath the basket? Nope, not that I could see. But then they were VERY tough acts to follow!!! And that's not to mention my talented & spirited friends like Denise Andrews of Portage, Jody Kosanovich of Hammond & Linda Ahlbrand of Chesterton, all of whom were dynamic cheerleaders -and captains- at very large Hoosier high schools that were always in the championship mix, with Denise's team winning the Ind. football championship her senior year when she was captain -just like in a movie. That Denise, Jody & Linda all lived on the same dorm floor, just three stories above me at Briscoe Quad our freshman year, was one of the greatest coincidences -and strokes of luck for me!- that I could've ever hoped for. You could hardly ask for better ambassadors of IU than THESE very smart, sweet and talented women. In a future SBH post, I'll tell the story of one of the greatest Hoosiers I ever met, the aforementioned Wendy Mulholland, the Bloomington-born captain and emotional heart of the great early '80's IU cheerleading squads, and the daughter of Jack Mulholland, IU's former longtime Treasurer. The acorn doesn't fall far from a tree built on a foundation of integrity & community service! (After he retired, Mr. Mulholland was the first executive director of the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. I used to joke with Wendy that her dad's name was the one that was permanently affixed to the bottom of my work-study checks for years, while I worked at the Dept. of Political Science's Library, first, at the Student Building in the old part of campus, and then later, after it was refurbished, in magnificent Woodburn Hall, my favorite building on campus.) In that future post, I'll share some reflections on Wendy's great strength of character and personality; my intentions of returning to Bloomington a few weeks before Fall '82 classes started, so I could help Wendy train and work-out to rehab her knee, so she'd feel confident in trying-out for the squad again, following a bad knee injury that'd left her physically-unable to try-out for the squad the previous spring, a big disappointment to those of us who cared about both Wendy and the team; my incredulity at, quite literally, running into Wendy while walking down a sidewalk one afternoon a few years later in Evanston, IL, when we were astonished to discover we were both living there, with me trying to hook on with a Windy City advertising agency, and Wendy then-attending Kellogg (KGSM) at Northwestern, right when the WSJ had named Kellogg the #1 Business School in the country. I'll also share a story about Wendy performing a true act of kindness towards me in 1982, when I was having a real emergency, and she went above-and-beyond what I had any logical reason to expect. Yet, Wendy, along with her very helpful dad, Jack, came through for me when I was in a very bad time crunch. I've never forgotten Wendy's kindness towards me, and her true Hoosier spirit. There's NOTHING I wouldn't do for Wendy Mulholland.

It's All About "The U"

It's All About "The U"
South Beach Hoosier's first U-M football game at the Orange Bowl was in 1972, age 11, against Tulane in the infamous "Fifth Down" game. In order to drum up support and attendance for the U-M at the Orange Bowl, that game had a promotion whereby South Florida kids who were school safety patrols could get in for free IF they wore their sash. I did. Clearly they knew that it was better to let kids in for free, knowing their parents would give them money to buy food and souvenirs, perhaps become a fan and want to return for future games. The ballgame made an interesting impression on The New York Times, resulting in this gem from the "View of Sport" column of Oct, 14, 1990, labeled 'Fifth Down or Not, It's Over When It's Over.' -"In 1972, aided by a fifth-down officiating gift in the last moments of the game, Miami of Florida defeated Tulane, 24-21. The country and the world was a much different place that fall because The New York Times took time and space to editorialize on the subject. ''Is it right for sportsmen, particularly young athletes, to be penalized or deprived of the goals for which they earnestly competed because responsible officials make mistakes? The ideal of true sportsmanship would be better served if Miami forfeited last week's game.' South Beach Hoosier hardly needs to tell you that this was YET another New York Times editoral that was completely ignored!

The issue I took with me the night of U-M's 20-15 upset of #1 Texas at the Orange Bowl

The issue I took with me the night of U-M's 20-15 upset of #1 Texas at the Orange Bowl
College Football, Texas No. 1, Hook 'em Horns, Sept. 10, 1973. Living in North Miami Beach in the '70's, my Sports Illustrated usually showed up in my mailbox on the Thursday or Friday before the Monday cover date. And was read cover-to-cover by Sunday morning.

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm
U-M QB Ken Dorsey, Miami Hurricanes Undefeated National Champions 2001, Jan. 2002

Miami's Romp in the Rose

Miami's Romp in the Rose
Miami running back Clinton Portis, Jan. 7, 2002

Why the University of Miami should drop football

Why the University of Miami should drop football
June 12, 1995

REVENGE!

REVENGE!
Steve McGuire and Miami Overpower No.1 Notre Dame, Dec. 4, 1989

How Sweet It Is!

How Sweet It Is!
Miami Whips Oklahoma For The National Championship, Pictured: Dennis Kelleher, Jan. 11, 1988

My, Oh My, Miami!

My, Oh My, Miami!
Steve Walsh and the Canes Stun FSU, Oct. 12, 1987

Why Is Miami No. 1?

Why Is Miami No. 1?
QB Vinny Testaverde, Nov. 24, 1986

Miracle In Miami

Miracle In Miami
The Hurricanes Storm Past Nebraska, Halfback Keith Griffin, Jan. 9, 1984

Special Issue: College Football

Special Issue: College Football
The Best Passer, George Mira of Miami, Sept. 23, 1963

1984 College & Pro Spectatcular

1984 College & Pro Spectatcular
A Pair Of Aces: U-M QB Bernie Kosar & Miami Dolphin QB Dan Marino, Sept. 5, 1984

Pro Football Hall of Fame Special Issue

Pro Football Hall of Fame Special Issue
Dan Marino, Class of 2005, Aug. 2005

FACES OF THE NFL

FACES OF THE NFL
A Portfolio by Walter Iooss Jr., Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins, Dec. 9, 2002

Coming Back

Coming Back
Jay Fiedler rallies Miami to a last-second win over Oakland, Oct. 1, 2001

Dan's Last Stand

Dan's Last Stand
At 38 and under siege, Dan Marino refuses to go down without a fight, Dec. 13, 1999

The War Zone

The War Zone
In the NFL's toughest division, the surprising Dolphins are on top, Lamar Smith, Dec. 11, 2000

Down and Dirty

Down and Dirty
Jimmy Johnson's Dolphins Bury The Patriots, Steve Emtman, Sept. 9, 1996

The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys
Now Playing in Miami: The Dan Marino and Jimmy Johnson Show, May 11, 1996

HOT & NOT

HOT & NOT
Miami loves Pat Riley but wants to give Don Shula the boot, Dec. 11, 1995

NFL PREVIEW 1995

NFL PREVIEW 1995
Which of today's stars are locks for the Hall of Fame? Dan Marino for sure. But who else? To find out, we polled the men who do the voting. Sept. 14, 1995

Sportsman Of The Year

Sportsman Of The Year
Don Shula, Dec. 20, 1993

Dan The Man

Dan The Man
Dan Marino Saves The Day For The Dolphins, Jan. 14, 1991

Dangerous Dan

Dangerous Dan
Dan Marino Passes Miami Into The Super Bowl, Jan. 14, 1985

Super Duper!

Super Duper!
Wide Receiver Mark Duper Of The Undefeated Dolphins, Nov. 19, 1984

Air Raid! Miami Bombs Washington

Air Raid! Miami Bombs Washington
Mark Clayton (burning Darryl Green) Sept. 10, 1984

Rookies On The Rise

Rookies On The Rise
Dan Marino: Miami's Hot Quarterback, Nov. 14, 1983

New Life In The WFL

New Life In The WFL
Warfield, Csonka and Kiick of Memphis, July 28, 1975

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota

Zonk! Miami Massacres Minnesota
Larry Csonka, Jan. 21, 1974

Pro Football, Miami Is Rough And Ready

Pro Football, Miami Is Rough And Ready
Larry Csonka & Bob Griese, Sept. 17, 1973

Miami All The Way

Miami All The Way
Bob Griese, Jan. 22, 1973

It's Miami and Washington

It's Miami and Washington
Mercury Morris Speeds Past The Steelers, Jan. 8, 1973

Kiick and Csonka, Miami's Dynamic Duo

Kiick and Csonka, Miami's Dynamic Duo
Larry Csonka & Jim Kiick, Aug. 7, 1972

Sudden Death at Kansas City

Sudden Death at Kansas City
Miami's Garo Yepremian Ends the Longest Game; (kneeling) placekick holder Karl Noonan, Jan. 3, 1972

New Pro in a New Town

New Pro in a New Town
Miami's Frank Emanuel, Aug. 8, 1966

Old-style "Obie" the Orange Bowl Committee mascot

Old-style "Obie" the Orange Bowl Committee mascot
The iconic image I grew-up with in Miami, before FedEx got into the picture