The Orange Bowl game and festival is one of the nation's most colorful annual spectacles. It was the brainchild of men with great imagination and foresight - but with few resources -- who wanted to attract folks to Miami in the middle of the Great Depression.In 1932, George E. Hussey was athletic director for Florida Power & Light and Miami's official greeter. He, along with Earnie Seiler, Miami's recreation director, took notice of the media attention generated by California's Rose Bowl and parade. Miami could offer a similar climate at that time of the year.Hussey called Chick Meehan, a friend and coach of powerhouse Manhattan College. He asked Meehan if his team would play the University of Miami on New Year's Day. Meehan accepted. Although organizers were apprehensive about sending the 3-3-1 Hurricanes against such a formidable team, plans were set in motion for the first game in Miami. It would be called the Palm Festival.To save on expenses, Manhattan took a three-day boat trip to Miami, but financial problems almost prevented the game from taking place. The organizers came up $1,500 short of their $3,000 guarantee to Manhattan andMeehan would not take the field until his team was fully paid. "That's when we made the sheriff our finance director," said Seiler. "Three hours before kickoff, the sheriff brought one of the local bookies to us who peeled off 15 crisp $100 bills from his bankroll and saved the game."The organizers met with Coach Meehan and asked him to hold down the score. He agreed to ease up after his team scored three touchdowns. In the end, it was unnecessary. Miami beat the mighty Manhattan, 7-0, in the game played on a Moore Park field six inches deep in sand. The tradition that began that day has grown into the single largest tourist attraction in South Florida.The Palm Festival becomes the Orange Bowl.

In 1934, W. Keith Phillips, then president of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, called a group together to put on another post-season football game that could be identified with Florida and Miami. Among them were Palm Festival veterans who had worked behind the scenes with organizers for two years. The name Orange Bowl was put before the group and immediately embraced. On January 1, 1935, the game was played for the first time under the Orange Bowl banner. Bucknell was invited to oppose the Hurricanes and the Bison routed Miami, 26-0.By now, the organization referred to itself as the Orange Bowl Committee. It decided to arrange a game with two out-of-state teams, reasoning that two teams would double the nationwide interest. Thus, Catholic University was chosen to represent the North and Mississippi the South.The game was a squeaker. A missed extra point gave the win to Catholic, 20-19. CBS Radio's Bill Monday announced the game to a regional audience, costing the Orange Bowl $500 to cover the cost of lines.Committee hooks top CBS announcer

Following the '36 bowl, the Committee signed a contract with CBS to broadcast the 1937 game on national radio. The Committee had somewhat embellished the magnificence of the stadium press box facilities and convinced CBS to send top announcer Ted Husing. A week before Duquesne and Mississippi State were to play, ground was broken on a new stadium.Husing arrived several days ahead of the game to familiarize himself with the teams. He didn't get to see the "stadium" until game time; he was wheeled to night clubs, boat trips and members' homes to keep him occupied.Husing finally saw that his broadcast booth was nothing but a shed with a banner mounted over the wooden bleachers. After learning of the plans for the new stadium, he showed admiration for the ingenuity of the bowl's organizers and became one of the Orange Bowl's most vocal supporters.It may have helped Husing's enthusiasm that the '37 contest was won by Duquesne, 13-12, on an exciting 72-yard scoring pass from Boyd Brumbaugh to Earnie Hefferle in the final two minutes.Orange Bowl Stadium built; game hits big time in '39

The new Orange Bowl Stadium was dedicated on December 10, 1937, and was ready for the '38 Auburn-Michigan State game. For history buffs, the Orange Bowl Stadium underwent five expansions over the next 62 years.On March 3, 1939, Earnie Seiler, one of the organizers of the Palm Bowl, became the Orange Bowl's first full-time business manager. On May 15, the Committee incorporated as a non-profit organization and the Charter was signed by the first membership.Seiler's successful marketing approach and his subsequent delivery of undefeated Oklahoma catapulted the Orange Bowl into the "big time" in 1939. As the story goes, Seiler went to Norman to invite the Sooners to Miami, but he had competition from the Cotton, Sugar and Rose, who were offering twice as much guarantee money.Seiler chalked the Oklahoma campus sidewalks with slogans that read, "On to Miami" and "See You at the 1939 Orange Bowl." He showed Sooner players photos of Miami's beaches, water and pretty girls, and promised to set the team up with dates. The players overwhelmingly voted for Miami.Oklahoma coach Tom Stidham, a friend of Tennessee coach General Robert Neyland, asked Neyland to bring his second-ranked Vols to Miami. The match-up of undefeated teams led to such media and public interest that, for the first time, the demand for tickets was more than the bowl could accommodate. More than 10,000 requests were denied and 32,191 fans jammed into the stadium, despite a listed capacity of 22,050. Spectators got their money's worth in the game. Tennessee shut out Oklahoma, 17-0.In the years that followed, the Orange Bowl grew into one of college football's "Big Four" bowls, taking its place with the Cotton, Sugar and Rose in producing championship football year in and year out. In its 68 years, the Orange Bowl Committee has seen 15 national champions come out of Miami, including six since 1991 - more than any other Bowl game in the country.

THE FABULOUS FORTIES

The '40s were a period of growth for the Orange Bowl game. Georgia's Wally Butts, Missouri's Don Farout, Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd and Neyland all brought teams to Miami. Missouri's 'Passin' Paul Christman (1940), Georgia's Frankie Sinkwich (1942), Boston College's Mike Holovak (1943), LSU's Steve Van Buren (1944), Georgia Tech's Frank Broyles (1945) and Texas' Tom Landry (1949) graced the game during the decade.Frankie Sinkwich and Steve Van Buren had two of the finest individual performances in Orange Bowl history. Sinkwich, the All-American quarterback played with a broken jaw, yet chalked up 365 yards of total offense, threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as Georgia beat TCU, 40-26. Van Buren led LSU to a 19-14 win over Texas A & M in a wartime game, running for 172 yards, kicking off, punting and kicking an extra point on a sprained ankle. Holovak's 141 rushing yards and three TDs, Landry's 119 yards and Broyles' 304-yard Orange Bowl-record passing performance added to fans' excitement.Arguably the best game of the era came in 1946 when Jack Harding's Miami team beat Holy Cross 13-6 on a touchdown after time had expired. With just 10 seconds left, Crusader quarterback Gene DeFilippo threw a bomb downfield. The intended receiver, Bob Conway, saw it deflected into the outstretched arms of Miami defensive back Al Hudson, who returned it 89 yards for the winning points. Hudson crossed the 35 after the final gun had sounded.

MARYLAND AND OKLAHOMA MATCHUPS DEFINE '50s

New teams and new faces marked the '50s as the Orange Bowl saw its first two top-ranked teams play in Miami. At the time, the Associated Press voted on the national champion prior to the bowl games. In 1954, they chose Jim Tatum's Maryland Terrapins. That year, a five-year tie-up of the ACC and Big Seven conferences was launched. The Orange Bowl matched Maryland and Bud Wilkinson's No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners.The Terps, minus All-American quarterback Bernie Faloney, were shut out, 7-0, for the first time in 51 games; their No. 1 ranking was tarnished. In a 1956 rematch, Wilkinson's team, riding a 30-game winning streak, had the top ranking and Maryland was No. 3. Wilkinson employed a surprise hurry-up offense after halftime and Oklahoma scored 14 third-quarter points en route to a 20-6 victory. Oklahoma teams played in the Orange Bowl Classic four times during the period.Clemson's close shave, a 15-14 win over Miami happened in 1951. In 1953, CBS televised the bowl - a first. A national audience tuned into the broadcast, which showed Alabama's 61-6 blowout over Syracuse behind an offense that piled up 586 yards.The legendary coach Bear Bryant, then at Kentucky, was introduced to the Orange Bowl in 1950. Georgia Tech kicker Pepper Rodgers, in his first OB appearance, beat Baylor with a game-winning three pointer in '52, and returned in '69 as a coach. Kentucky's Babe Parilli (1950), Oklahoma's Prentice Gautt (1959) and Clemson coach Frank Howard (1951 and 1957) were at the peak of college careers during the decade.

JFK VISITS ORANGE BOWL; NIGHTTIME TELEVISION BEGINS

Individual greatness continued to be associated with the Orange Bowl in the '60s. Georgia's Fran Tarkenton (1960), Missouri's Dan Devine (1960, '61), Navy's Joe Bellino (1961), Alabama's Lee Roy Jordan (1963), Auburn's Shug Jordan (1964), Alabama's Lee Roy Jordan, Ray Perkins (1965 & 1966) and Steve Sloan (1965 & 1966), Florida's Larry Smith (1967) and Kansas' John Riggins (1969) all impacted the bowl. But it was an Alabama coach and his quarterback who were key to the Orange Bowl's giant leap to the top of the bowls.In 1963, President John F. Kennedy was one of 73,380 fans to witness Bear Bryant's powerhouse Alabama, led by young quarterback Joe Namath. With the sophomore completing nine of 17 passes for 86 yards and a TD and linebacker Shug Jordan recording 31 tackles, Alabama beat Oklahoma 17-0 in Bryant's first OB game with the Tide.Two years later, in 1965, the first night game in Orange Bowl history was telecast. This was also the first of 31 straight telecasts by NBC. That year, Bear Bryant and Namath's top-ranked Crimson Tide were upset by number five Texas, 21-17. Namath, who didn't start because of a knee injury, brought Alabama back from a 21-7 halftime deficit to close to within four points. In a game for the ages, Frank Bedrick and Tommy Nobis stopped Namath inches short of the goal line on a crucial fourth down play with six minutes left.Although the national championship year ended on a down note for Alabama, Namath did win the Orange Bowl's first MVP award for his 18-of-37, 255 yard, two-touchdown performance.In 1966 the AP voting took place after the bowl games, and Alabama won the national championship outright in the Orange with a 39-28 win over Big Eight champion Nebraska. In the most unusual of Orange Bowl finishes, the 1969 Kansas-Penn State battle was won by young Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions, 15-14, over a Pepper Rodgers-coached Kansas team that was flagged for a penalty on the game's most crucial play.After a Penn State score that made it 14-13 during the final minutes, Kansas broke up quarterback Chuck Burkhart's two-point conversion try. But referee Foster Grose noticed 12 men on the Kansas side of the ball and awarded the Nittany Lions a second try. Bob Campbell then ran it in for Penn State.

NEBRASKA WINS BACK-TO-BACK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

In the '70s, the Orange Bowl saw some of the game's greatest coaches on its sidelines: Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Dan Devine, Ara Parseghian, Charlie McClendon, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Lou Holtz and Barry Switzer. The decade, however, should be known as the Bob Devaney years at the Orange Bowl. The longtime Nebraska coach brought three teams to Miami in the early '70s and won two national championships.In 1971, playing in the OB for the first time in five seasons, Nebraska captured the national title with a 17-12 win over LSU. The key play was late in the fourth quarter when Jerry Tagge performed a quarterback sneak on a fourth-and-one play at the one-yard line. Tagge had initially been stopped, but he stretched the ball over the goal line for the national title.The Huskers won their second consecutive national championship, beating Bear Bryant and the Crimson Tide 28-6 in 1972. Wingback Johnny Rodgers broke the Tide's back on the final play of the first quarter. Apparently hemmed in after receiving an Alabama punt, he broke free and scampered 77 yards to a TD and a 14-0 Nebraska lead.Devaney's final game on the Nebraska sidelines ended in a third straight Orange Bowl victory, this time a 40-6 crushing of Notre Dame in 1973. The all-time winningest collegiate coach moved Johnny Rodgers to I-Back from his usual wingback position, and the Heisman Trophy winner closed out his collegiate career with arguably the greatest individual performance in Orange Bowl history, scoring four touchdowns and passing for another. The last of his record 50 Nebraska touchdowns came on a 50-yard pass reception in the third quarter, after which he sat out the rest of the game.The Orange Bowl was the site of another national championship game on New Year's Day 1976, when Oklahoma beat Big 10 runner-up Michigan, 14-6. Here, Barry Switzer coached the first of his nine Sooner Orange Bowl teams, led by a strong defensive effort anchored by Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon.Also memorable were Joe Paterno's 1970 and 1974 Penn State squads, both undefeated with a record of 12-0 and both Orange Bowl champions. Despite their performance, the teams both finished second in the AP polls.Parseghian retired from Notre Dame after his 13-11 win over Alabama in 1975. Arkansas' 31-6 upset of Oklahoma in 1978 after Lou Holtz suspended his top three scorers and the 1979 Big Eight rematch of Nebraska and Oklahoma. Penn State's Franco Harris (1970), Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti (1974) and Nebraska's Rich Glover (1971, 1972 & 1973) roamed the Orange Bowl turf during the decade.

THE '80s: HOME OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP

Four national championship games were put together by the Orange Bowl Committee in the 1980s, largely due to the strength of the Big Eight Conference and the arrival of the University of Miami on the national scene. Oklahoma made six Orange Bowl appearances and Nebraska four, with each school playing in two title games. The Orange Bowl game added corporate sponsor Federal Express to its title for the '90 game, pushing its payout to $4 million per team.A 12-0 Clemson team won the 1982 Orange Bowl and the nation's top honor behind quarterback Homer Jordan and defensemen Terry Kinard and William Perry (later given the moniker "The Refrigerator"). It beat a formidable Tom Osborne-coached Nebraska team, 22-15.The 50th anniversary Orange Bowl gave the bowl one of the finest and most exciting games in college football post-season history. Miami won its first national title, 31-30, in a high-scoring affair that ended with strong safety Ken Calhoun batting down the would-be winning two point conversion pass thrown by Nebraska's Turner Gill.The Howard Schnellenberger-coached 'Canes had pulled out to a 17-0 lead but Nebraska came back in the second period to post 14 points of its own, including six on a controversial 19-yard "fumblerooskie" play by Nebraska lineman Dean Steinkuhler. Miami owned the third quarter by scoring 14 points to the Cornhuskers' three, but Nebraska put together a fourth-quarter comeback that fell short.The 'Canes, led by freshman quarterback Bernie Kosar's 300 passing yards, had beaten an 11-0, No. 1-ranked Nebraska team. In 1986, Oklahoma was back at the top of the Big Eight picture and No. 3 nationally. The Sooners were pitted against top-ranked independent Penn State. A 25-10 Sooner victory and national championship finish was sparked by 16 second-quarter points that included a 71-yard TD from quarterback Jamelle Holieway to tight end Keith Jackson.In 1988, Oklahoma was back for its fourth straight Orange Bowl appearance but it was Miami that captured its second national championship. The Hurricanes, under Jimmy Johnson, capped a perfect 11-0 regular season with a 20-14 victory.The '80s showcased Big Eight rushing champions. Oklahoma's Billy Sims, who rushed for 305 yards and three TDs in three OB appearances, was instrumental in Sooner victories in 1980 and 1981 over Florida State. Fellow Sooner Lydell Carr played in three games from 1985-1987, rushing for 288 yards and a TD in two OU wins. The great Mike Rozier played three games in a Nebraska uniform (1982- 1984), rushing for 340 yards.The University of Miami, which became a pipeline for the NFL, saw quarterback Steve Walsh pass for 486 yards and four TDs in the 1987 and 1988 Orange Bowl games. Wide receivers Eddie Brown (1984) and Michael Irvin (1988) both played key roles for the 'Canes during the decade.

MORE NATIONAL TITLES IN THE NINETIES

The Orange Bowl had continued to host top-ranked teams as the '90s opened because of the continued strength of the Big Eight and one of its emerging teams. The Colorado Buffaloes came into the 1990 and 1991 FedEx Orange Bowl Games ranked No. 1 and played Notre Dame on both occasions. In '90, the Fighting Irish knocked Colorado from the top position, 21-6, but in '91, an exciting 10-9 victory by Colorado put the Orange Bowl right back in the national championship picture.The '91 finish is one that folks are still talking about. Trailing 10-9 with 43 seconds remaining, Notre Dame's Raghib "Rocket" Ismail fielded a punt and returned it 91 yards for a wining score, but a late clipping penalty nullified the play and 11-1-1 Colorado had its first national title.In 1992, a Miami-Nebraska match-up gave the OB a second straight national championship when the 'Canes, this time under Dennis Erickson, shut out the Big Red Machine, 22-0.The changing waters of college football brought on the need for changes in the bowl system as the '90s began, and the Orange Bowl Committee led the way in the formation of the Bowl Coalition. The three-year period under the Coalition introduced order to the bowl selection process, and the Orange Bowl was included in a four-bowl "Tier I" pecking order. The Coalition years yielded two more national titles for the Orange Bowl, both times with Big Eight champion Nebraska holding the nation's top ranking.In 1994, the number two-ranked Florida State Seminoles, coached by Bobby Bowden, hung on for an exciting, down-to-the-wire 18-16 win over the Cornhuskers for its first national championship. It was only the eleventh time in college football history that the #1 and #2 teams were matched and the third such match-up in the OB.Behind by a point with under a minute to go, Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward and his "Fast Break Offense" raced down the field and watched Scott Bentley nail the go-ahead points on a 22-yard field goal at the 0:21 mark. Nebraska wasn't finished. In the next 20 seconds, quarterback Tommie Frazier took his team to the FSU 38-yard line. Byron Bennett, who hit a 27-yard field goal at the 1:16 mark to move into the lead, missed the game winner from 45 yards.The fourth national championship in five years came in the 1995 FedEx Orange Bowl when the top-ranked Huskers returned for their fourth straight appearance. After a 24-17 win against Miami, Tom Osborne, who had coached under Devaney, had his first national title.In the fall of 1994, the Orange Bowl Committee voted to move its game to Joe Robbie Stadium (now Pro Player Stadium) as a condition of being included in a new three-bowl alliance. The Alliance awarded the Fiesta Bowl the national championship in 1996, the Sugar Bowl in 1997 and the Orange in 1998. With the first Bowl Alliance game in 1996 came the end of the longtime contractual relationship between the Big Eight and the Orange Bowl. All told, the conference had a team in the bowl for 36 of the previous 40 years. Also ended was a 31-year relationship with NBC.The Jan. 1, 1996 FedEx Orange Bowl, a four-point Florida State victory (31-26) over Notre Dame, was the first of two Orange Bowls played in 1996. It was also the first of three televised by CBS. In the second 1996 game, the University of Nebraska defeated Virginia Tech, 41-21 in the 63rd FedEx Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve.The 1998 FedEx Orange Bowl was the final bowl game in the original Bowl Alliance before moving to the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) on ABC. The "Battle By The Beach" was true to form, as the Nebraska Cornhuskers claimed share of the national title with a 42-17 win over Tennessee.The FedEx Orange Bowl is now part of the BCS, a four-bowl rotation where number one and number two teams are matched up for a national championship game. This arrangement also re-establishes conference affiliations, which partners the Atlantic Coast and Big East Conferences with the Orange Bowl.The last Orange Bowl of the nineties brought together the University of Florida and Syracuse. The Gators routed the Orangemen 31-10, earning Travis Taylor an MVP award

OB in the new millennium

Y2K brought the Orange Bowl another national championship game. The number one-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, sporting a 12-0 record, met the number two-ranked Florida State Seminoles. It matched the country's top quarterbacks: FSU's Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke and OU's Josh Heupel, the Heisman runner-up. Oklahoma nearly shut out the Seminoles, winning the game 13-2.In The FedEx Orange Bowl's involvement in deciding the college football national champion will continue for through at least 2006, as conference commissioners approved the Orange Bowl's inclusion in the new BowlChampionship Series. The FedEx Orange Bowl, along with the Nokia Sugar Bowl, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl, will rotate over the next five years in hosting the #1 vs. #2 national championship

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