1983 Hurricanes, the team that launched a dynasty, will be honored at halftime Saturday: “It’s The U, The U, The U – they believed’
It has been 40 years, yes, four decades since the 1983 Miami Hurricanes stunned the college football world by winning the national championship and launching a dynasty.
The team will be honored Saturday at halftime of the Texas A&M game at Hard Rock Stadium. Sixty-five players and eight coaches have indicated they will attend.
It’s unfortunate, though, that the man who took a rag-tag program that hadn’t been to a bowl game in 13 years – and in five years raised it to the pinnacle – won’t be there.
“He’ll be there, he’s everywhere,” his wife, Beverlee, said when I called her on Monday. “His spirit is there. He’s always with his teams, especially with the University of Miami. He loved those guys.”
Howard Schnellenberger died March 27, 2021, at age 87. Beverlee, who invariably was on the sideline when he was head coach, will attend the Friday night dinner honoring the team and the title game.
I asked her what comes to mind when she thinks about the 1983 Hurricanes. After several seconds of silence, she said, “It takes my breath away.
“Howard’s motto was to believe, to be strong. And they believed and they were strong. They are heroes. They took the University of Miami when it was called Sunshine U and they turned it into The U.
“And they were the cornerstone that started the dynasty of five national championships. They can be really, really proud of themselves. They stuck together, they loved their school, and they’re always there for the University of Miami. It’s The U, The U, The U. They believed.”
And they kept in touch with Schnellenberger throughout their adult life.
“They called him,” Beverlee said. “They called on his birthday, they called him on Father’s Day, they loved him.”
Schnellenberger, who had been the offensive coordinator on the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins, taught Bernie Kosar self-esteem and confidence when he was the fifth-string quarterback his freshman year in 1982.
“I was thinking of transferring and going back home because I had Jim Kelly, Mark Richt, Vinny Testaverde and Kyle Vanderwende in front of me and I didn’t want to be a career backup,” Kosar told me at the celebration of life for Schnellenberger two years ago this month. “He goes, `You’re right, it doesn’t look good for you. But you’re in the one position where mentally you can overcome your physical limitations… If you want something great, you’re going to have to earn it, work for it … If you take the easy route and go home to mommy, any time in life you’ll be a quitter, you’ll run from a challenge. It’s better to go and give it your all, stay focused and fail. Because you won’t have any regrets. You’ll at least know you couldn’t do it. Or you can know you did it.’ How was I going to leave after that? I locked in.”
Kelly and Richt graduated, and in 1983 Kosar earned the starting job over Testaverde and Vanderwende. After a rough start in the opening game loss at Florida 28-3, he led the Hurricanes to 11 consecutive victories, culminating with the 31-30 Orange Bowl Classic upset of a Nebraska team many experts believed was the best ever in college football.
I have thought for decades that through his commanding presence, hard work and unwavering confidence, Howard Schnellenberger willed the 1983 team to its championship.
“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it,” said Suzy Wilkoff, who in 1983 was in her third year as the recruiting director at UM. She also believes the coach will be at this weekend’s reunion in spirit.
“He’s looking down from heaven and he’s there with Earl Morrall, the quarterbacks coach, Joe Brodsky, who was the running backs coach, and Harold Allen, the defensive line coach,” she said.
I asked Wilkoff how Schnellenberger and his staff assembled the team.
“I remember from a recruiting standpoint the coaches worked really hard,” she said. “They didn’t just recruit Miami, they went to other places in the country to get the best talent.
“We had what we called the State of Miami. There was a line that drew from Tampa south and that was the prime recruiting area. So we were able to get the top local guys south of that line, and each coach had a territory outside of that. Gregg Rakoczy (offensive lineman) came from New Jersey. Bernie Kosar from Ohio, Vinny Testaverde from New York. We knew that they were great and that they were destined to do what they did.
“I think about coach Schnellenberger every single day. There will never be a coach as great as he was, I’m biased. I wish everybody could have gotten to know him as I did.”
Saturday at halftime the team which spearheaded the dynasty that won five national titles and contended for six others will run through the tunnel and smoke one more time.
Following is a list of the former Miami players and coaches expected to attend:
In this Jan. 3, 1984, file photo, Miami’s Tolbert Bain (18) and halfback Melvin Bratton (5) celebrate 31-30 win over Nebraska in the 50th Annual Orange Bowl Classic NCAA college football game in Miami. With three national titles in the 1980s _ all under different coaches, each of whom had a role in planting the seeds for what became five titles in a 19-season stretch _ the Hurricanes owned the decade. (AP Photo/File)
1983 MIAMI PLAYERS EXPECTED TO ATTEND:
David Alekna
Jimmy Austin
Tolbert Bain II
Rodney Bellinger
Albert Bentley
Paul Bertucelli
Brian Blades
Melvin Bratton
Jay Brophy
Danny Brown
Eddie Brown
Selwyn Brown
Kenny Calhoun
Dallas Cameron
Rick Cochran
Juan Comendeiro
Julio Cortes
Ed Davis
Fitzgerald Davis
*Jordan Delegal
Thomas Deming
Glenn Dennison
Jacinto Fernandez
Tony Fitzpatrick
Shon Flaharty
Fred Foster
Darrell Fullington
Keith Griffin
Anthony (Tony) Griffin
Ron Harris
David Heffernan
Chris Hembrough
Charles Henry
Alonzo Highsmith
David Kintigh
Bernie Kosar
Chris Ley
Doug McFadden
Darin McMurray
Michael Moore
Lenny Moore
Victor Morris
Stephen Moser
Kenny Oliver
Darryl Oliver
Gregg Rakoczy
Freddie Robinson
Bill Schaefer
Anthony Scheller
Stu Schnellenberger
Mark Seelig
*Marylin Shakespeare-Wester
Ian Sinclair
Kenneth Sisk
John Smatana
Willie Smith
*Tyler Stanish
Owen Stephens
Daniel Stubbs
Reginald Sutton
Kyle Vanderwende
Keith Walker
Alvin Ward
Billy atson
Warren Williams
Eddie Williams
*Representing deceased player
1983 MIAMI COACHES EXPECTED TO ATTEND:
Mike Archer
Ray Ganong
Carmen Grosso
Tom Olivadotti
*Beverlee Schnellenberger
Gary Stevens
Marc Trestman
Bill Trout
*Representing deceased coach
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