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HURRICANE SEASON

a picture by Billy CorbenSince 1983, the Hurricanes have won more national championships, produced more firstround NFL draft picks and have won more consecutive home games than any team incollege football. Not bad for a program that, in 1975, was nearly eliminated from theUniversity, hot on the heels of UM's basketball team, which was dropped in '71.In 1969, UM became the first college to recruit a black player and, ten years later, headcoach Howard Schnellenberger, a cantankerous southerner, was dispatching his recruitersto the toughest neighborhoods in South Florida: Overtown, Liberty City, Miami Gardens,etc. There they would discover some of the greatest football players the world had ever seen, home grown in "the State of Miami." This began a tradition carried on bysubsequent coaches, future Super Bowl-winner, Jimmy Johnson, Dennis Erikson, who ledUM to two National Championships, Butch Davis, Larry Coker and hometown legendRandy Shannon.The ‘Canes were not the refined, well-mannered, preppy boys of Notre Dame in their Sunday best and, to a nation whose only African American pop culture touchstones were“The Cosby Show” and sanitized rappers Run-D.M.C., the nationally televised Hurricanegames were a revelation.But they weren’t all swagger – they really were the best. And they quickly became averitable factory for the NFL, consistently producing some of the greatest players in professional football. For the last thirteen years, the University of Miami has had at leastone first round draft pick every year – and they hold the record for the most in a singleyear (6 in 2004). And for a remarkable stretch of 66 consecutive regular season weeks, aformer ‘Cane scored a touchdown in an NFL game.In 1980, South Florida suffered a series of devastating blows. The Cocaine Wars madeMiami the murder capital of the nation, the Mariel Boatlift brought an overwhelming glutof new immigrants to its shores and the acquittal of Miami police for the murder of a black motorist led to days of race riots during which 18 people were killed and hundredsof millions of dollars in damage done to inner city neighborhoods that have yet to fullyrecover – the very same neighborhoods that some of UM’s brightest stars grew up.The community needed hope and, with the Dolphins well past their prime, the city ralliedaround its team: The Miami Hurricanes. Quite a shift from 1972, when the undefeatedDolphins were drawing 70,000 to the Orange Bowl and UM could barely get 7,000.The ‘Canes came to embody the attitudes, hopes and dreams of their city. And the more