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The historic Orange Bowl stadium opened December
10th 1937 for the Miami Hurricanes football team. It was built with a seating capacity
74,476. The Orange Bowl has played host to some of the most memorable collegiate
and professional football contests in history. It has been a part of 16 National
championships - including three University of Miami National Championships –
five Super Bowls and the 1972 Miami Dolphins Perfect Season.
The Orange Bowl is also the site of the NCAA’s longest college football winning
streak. Between 1985 and 1994, the University of Miami Hurricanes won 58 straight
home games. The Miami Dolphins also set an NFL record for most consecutive home
games won at the Orange Bowl, 31.
The Orange Bowl Stadium has a rich history as a venue for soccer, as well, including
the 1996 Summer Olympics soccer games and the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which showcases
the finest men’s national teams from North America and South America. Other
premier soccer events hosted at the stadium include the Marlboro Soccer Cup and
the AC Milan Soccer Game.
The stadium played host to such events as President Kennedy’s Cuban Missile
Crisis Speech, and concerts such as the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Prince
and many others.
It was the home of the University of Miami Hurricanes for more than 60 years and
the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins for more than 20 years, as well. And
it was, of course, the site of the annual Orange Bowl game, from which it took its
name, for decades.
A sampling of historic Orange Bowl Stadium moments:
The Miami Dolphins’ 1972 Perfect Season – Led by the
NFL’s all-time winningest coach, Don Shula, the Miami Dolphins win every home
game of the regular and post-season at the Orange Bowl, before proceeding to Super
Bowl VII, to defeat the Washington Redskins 14-7 and complete the only perfect season
in Pro Football history.
1937 Orange Bowl – In the first Orange Bowl game played in
the new stadium that would be renamed for the game and festival, Auburn squared
off against Michigan State before a crowd of 19,000.
1963 Orange Bowl – A powerful Alabama squad coached by Bear
Bryant and led by quarterback Joe Namath take on Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma Sooners,
in a game attended by President John F. Kennedy. Alabama’s Lee Roy Jordan
sets a major-bowl record with 31 tackles and the Crimson Tide win, 17-0.
1971, ’72 and ’73 Orange Bowls – The early part
of the decade sees three games in a row won by the Bob Devaney-coached Nebraska
Cornhuskers, including back-to-back National Championships in 1971 and 1972.
1975 Orange Bowl – Notre Dame lets a retiring coach Ara Parseghian
go out a winner, defeating Alabama, 13-11, and denying the Crimson Tide a national
title in the process.
1984 Orange Bowl – The Miami Hurricanes top the Nebraska
Cornhuskers in a 31-30 barn burner to win the National Championship in the 50th
anniversary Orange Bowl game played in the stadium.
1991 Orange Bowl – A controversial clipping foul in the waning
seconds wipes out an amazing 91-yard punt return for touchdown by Notre Dame’s
“Rocket” Ismail, and Colorado wins, 10-9, securing the National Championship
for retiring coach Bill McCartney.
1992 Orange Bowl – The Miami Hurricanes, coached by Dennis
Erickson, once again square off against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and earn the National
Championship by shutting out the Tom Osborne-coached ‘Huskers, 22-0.
1996 Orange Bowl – In this, the last Orange Bowl game played
in the Orange Bowl Stadium, Florida State tops Notre Dame, 31-26. It’s the
end of an era for college football in Florida and draws to a close an always exciting
and profitable 60-year association between the Orange Bowl game and the stadium
that hosted with so much grace and pageantry.
2007 Miami Hurricanes – The Miami Hurricanes complete their
final season in the venerable Orange Bowl Stadium and announce plans to play in
Dolphins Stadium in the future.
Super Bowl II – The Green Bay Packers of the National Football
League (NFL) defeat the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL), 33-14.
It is an unprecedented third consecutive World Championship for the Packers and
the last game as Packers coach for the legendary Vince Lombardi.
Super Bowl III – The New York Jets of the AFL, led by quarterback
Joe Namath who brashly “guarantees” victory, defeat the heavily favored
Baltimore Colts of the NFL, 16-7, in one of the greatest upsets in the history of
sport. It legitimizes the AFL in the eyes of fans and leads to the 1970 merger between
the two leagues.
Super Bowl V – A field goal as time expires by rookie Jim
O'Brian propels the Baltimore Colts to victory over the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, in
the final championship game for Colts quarterback legend, Johnny Unitas.
Super Bowl X – In what is generally considered one of the
most exciting Super Bowl games of all time, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the
Dallas Cowboys, 21-17. The game featured numerous future Pro Football Hall of Famers,
including Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Joe Green, Roger Staubach, and Randy White,
to name but a few.
Super Bowl XIII – In this rematch of Super Bowl X, the Pittsburgh
Steelers once again edged the Dallas Cowboys in a shootout, 35-31. It was Pittsburgh’s
third championship of the four they would win over the course of the 1970’s.
Don’t miss your once-in-a-lifetime chance to own a piece of these historic
Orange Bowl Stadium memories. Visit our STORE today.
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