Miami 1952-56

"Stick through what?" I said.

He said didn't I remember that Iron Arrow, "the highest honor achieved by men at the university," had been forced off campus because of our "discrimination" against women? I told him I had nothing against women, at least not that I knew of. I said as far as I was concerned there were some I had seen at the alumni dance the night before who would look very good in a Seminole Indian jacket.

"I missed the dance," he said. But did I realize, he went on, that while I was dancing, the Miami undergraduates having their formal on Miami Beach had done $10,000 in damage to the Konover Hotel's men's room? I told him that at least they showed some spirit. He said it was no laughing matter. I said I'd see him around.

It was months later before I sat down to put my thoughts together. I counted on time to be a leavening factor. In the interval, Lou Saban quit (with four years on his contract) and moved on to West Point, an ironic twist. I had no sense of loss. Nevertheless, when it was announced that Miami had hired Howard Schnellenberger to take his place, I was relieved. Schnellenberger learned under Bear Bryant, and Bryant never left a job he did not first succeed at.

But in recollecting my experience, I was shocked to discover that I couldn't remember the name of the team Miami had played that Homecoming night. I actually had to look it up in my notes.

The more I thought about it, the more significance I found in this oversight. When Miami's 1979 schedule came out I checked for the Homecoming date, and made a note on my calendar.