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Article of Miami History

QuatroCane said:
Yeah, my mom and dad saw tons of stars at the old beach hotels Gleason, Davis Jr., Sinatra etc. My mom still tells the story about when they saw Kennedy in his motorcade coming down 7th ave, she swears he waved directly to her. Lol.
That was a completely different Miami.
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Saw Kennedy driving into Americana in Surfside in fall, 1963. He was sitting in the topless convertible. I told my mother he was a sitting duck for a shooter. Why I thought that, I don't know. Just the way I think.

A month or two later, he was dead. Wonder if it was the same presidential car. I guess they ferried them around in another plane.

I think he was going into the AFL-CIO convention at the Americana.

EDIT: Actually, the visit to the Americana (now Sheraton) in Surfside that I saw and remembered was the same week Kennedy was killed. I saw him Monday, the 18th. My mother and I were standing on the big intersection of Collins Avenue and I think 96th Street where the latter bisected Surfside from Bal Harbor. In my memory, I had always placed the visit as very close to the assassination, maybe just days before. But in recent years, I read about his visit to the AFL-CIO convention which was weeks or months before. So, I assumed that my memory was faulty. I just found some articles about a visit on Monday of the same week. My first recollections were correct. It was very close to the assassination, the same week.

If you read the linked article, he did come down Collins Avenue from the north and turned left into what was probably a side entrance to the Americana. This is consistent with the report he got into the limousine at Haulover and traveled down to the hotel.

I remember that very well as he was sitting on the right side with his right arm over the window area waving. The top was down and he had that distinctive reddish-brown hair. I had seen it when I visited Washington the previous summer ('63) and I went with my cousins to the Senate gallery. JFK was standing around talking to other senators. Same color hair, it was distinctive.

That was probably July or August of '63. I remember as we began to drive South from D.C. we saw many, mostly Black people, walking on the side of the highway to D.C. This was just before the start of the 1963 March on Washington. They were trekking to D.C. to assemble for the event, where MLK gave his "I Have a Dream Speech". At the time, I didn't have a full appreciation for what was about to happen. My parents were in a rush to get back down to South Florida for the start of school.

https://miami-cbslocal-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/miami.cbslocal.com/2013/11/21/exclusive-jfk-death-threat-note-in-nov-1963-in-miami-revealed-for-1st-time/amp/?amp_js_v=a2&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQCCAE%3D#aoh=15542167932903&amp_ct=1554216935866&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fmiami.cbslocal.com%2F2013%2F11%2F21%2Fexclusive-jfk-death-threat-note-in-nov-1963-in-miami-revealed-for-1st-time%2F.

SECOND EDIT:

Again I was wrong about seeing Kennedy on the floor of the Senate. That would have been on my 1960 visit to D.C. That was earlier the year he was elected President. I recall visiting relatives in DC from Miami in 1960 and 1963. I did see him in Bal Harbor in 1963; on the floor of the Senate from the Senate gallery in 1960.
 
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daytonacane said:
Matador, Doug went to Mexico City when they played Mexico Poly. He said at the game the fans whistled a lot - guess that is how they cheered their team. He also said the players were real little, but extremely elusive. The freshmen, "baby" canes played the "baby" Gators and "baby" noles. Don't remember them playing any other teams??
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As I recall, Doug would have played freshman ball in the mid '50's. I recall the story of how George Mira (the real Matador) got tackled and cursed in Spanish by a Mexico Poly player. The Mexican was stunned when George got up and gave it back to him in Spanish. (That was probably 1960--George played varsity '61-'63, I'm pretty sure.)

I don't know when we stopped playing Mexico Poly. We were still playing freshmen on a separate non-varsity freshman team as late as '69, I think. By then my family had moved to Cocoa Beach and we drove down to see Miami freshmen play Ga Tech freshmen in Vero Beach. We got beat but I remember Chuck Foreman bringing back a punt 60 yards for a TD.

Where did Doug grow up? Was he a Floridian or, like so many of the Gustafson- Kichefski recruits, from PA-OH-IND-WI?

I guess Doug was one of the RBs who took a lot of pitches from Fran Curci on his famed option offense. Fran was good enough to make 2nd team AP A-A because of his exceptional play as an option QB.

Tell me a bit more about Doug. I was always fascinated about the history of those 50's/60's teams, the players and so forth.

We always had so many kids from up North. Probably because that's the background of so many of our coaches at the time. Coach Kichefski was from Rhinelander, WI--so we always had a good number of kids from Wisconsin. I think Coach Ski might have played pro ball in Pittsburgh, so he had a Pennsylvania connection as well. Of course, Coach Gus played at U-Pitt.
 
TheMatador said:
As I recall, Doug would have played freshman ball in the mid '50's. I recall the story of how George Mira (the real Matador) got tackled and cursed in Spanish by a Mexico Poly player. The Mexican was stunned when George got up and gave it back to him in Spanish. (That was probably 1960--George played varsity '61-'63, I'm pretty sure.)

I don't know when we stopped playing Mexico Poly. We were still playing freshmen on a separate non-varsity freshman team as late as '69, I think. By then my family had moved to Cocoa Beach and we drove down to see Miami freshmen play Ga Tech freshmen in Vero Beach. We got beat but I remember Chuck Foreman bringing back a punt 60 yards for a TD.

Where did Doug grow up? Was he a Floridian or, like so many of the Gustafson- Kichefski recruits, from PA-OH-IND-WI?

I guess Doug was one of the RBs who took a lot of pitches from Fran Curci on his famed option offense. Fran was good enough to make 2nd team AP A-A because of his exceptional play as an option QB.

Tell me a bit more about Doug. I was always fascinated about the history of those 50's/60's teams, the players and so forth.

We always had so many kids from up North. Probably because that's the background of so many of our coaches at the time. Coach Kichefski was from Rhinelander, WI--so we always had a good number of kids from Wisconsin. I think Coach Ski might have played pro ball in Pittsburgh, so he had a Pennsylvania connection as well. Of course, Coach Gus played at U-Pitt.
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Matador, Doug was @ Miami from 1957 and graduated in 1961. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL - one of the few native Floridians on the team at the time. Others from FL were Theron Mitchell from Lake City, FL. , George McIntyre, Bonnie Yarbrough & Charlie Linning from Jacksonville and John O'Day from Miami. Curci was the QB & BTW was inducted into Iron & Arrow & Jim Otto was the center and they were both a year ahead of Doug.

Interesting fact is that in 1983 our son and John O'Day's son were both on football scholarship @ UCF, Orlando, having been recruited by Coach Lou Saban . They have remained good friends over the years and John lives in the Gables and our son lives in St. Pete. When Coach Saban found out Doug had played @ Miami, he stated that Miami was the only place he regreted leaving. At the 10th reunion of the class of '61, we had the pleasure of having lunch with Coach Kichefski. Boy did he hate the Gator (never used as "s" when speaking of them) and it was a hot & intense hate. Doug's biggest disappointment @ Miami was the fact that they never beat the Gator...........
 
423Hurricane said:
Born in Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1957. Moved to Hollywood '59. Walked to school (later rode our bikes), played baseball in the street, played tackle football in my Mom's front yard, rode bikes to the beach, drank out of hose, stayed out until my Mom whistled for me to come home. Wasn't dirt poor but my Mom worked her *** off 6-7 days a week to maintain our home. Had a 225 customer Hollywood Sun-Tattler paper route that I threw off a bicycle 6 afternoons a week. Mowed 4 lawns a week and my own. Played at PPO for 7 years and never thought of transferring.

It's different now as it was different in the decades previous. Better or worse? It's all in one's perspective.
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Uhh we were doing the same thing in the late 90s-early 2000s lol
 
Peter Gibbons said:
15+ years after looking like a punch-drunk, haggard old man and he thinks he looks 40.

Sure.
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daytonacane said:
Matador, Doug was @ Miami from 1957 and graduated in 1961. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL - one of the few native Floridians on the team at the time. Others from FL were Theron Mitchell from Lake City, FL. , George McIntyre, Bonnie Yarbrough & Charlie Linning from Jacksonville and John O'Day from Miami. Curci was the QB & BTW was inducted into Iron & Arrow & Jim Otto was the center and they were both a year ahead of Doug.

Interesting fact is that in 1983 our son and John O'Day's son were both on football scholarship @ UCF, Orlando, having been recruited by Coach Lou Saban . They have remained good friends over the years and John lives in the Gables and our son lives in St. Pete. When Coach Saban found out Doug had played @ Miami, he stated that Miami was the only place he regreted leaving. At the 10th reunion of the class of '61, we had the pleasure of having lunch with Coach Kichefski. Boy did he hate the Gator (never used as "s" when speaking of them) and it was a hot & intense hate. Doug's biggest disappointment @ Miami was the fact that they never beat the Gator...........
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Your stories are sooo very welcomed...
 
D RevLee said:
I forgot about the cocaine 80's in Florida. I guess that would have been fun.
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Four national champions won over nine seasons—with a few left on the field—weren't bad, either. Witnessed all those titles (and countless Saturdays at the Orange Bowl) between fourth grade and my senior year of high school. Incredible era.
 
daytonacane said:
Matador, Doug was @ Miami from 1957 and graduated in 1961. He was born and raised in Jacksonville, FL - one of the few native Floridians on the team at the time. Others from FL were Theron Mitchell from Lake City, FL. , George McIntyre, Bonnie Yarbrough & Charlie Linning from Jacksonville and John O'Day from Miami. Curci was the QB & BTW was inducted into Iron & Arrow & Jim Otto was the center and they were both a year ahead of Doug.

Interesting fact is that in 1983 our son and John O'Day's son were both on football scholarship @ UCF, Orlando, having been recruited by Coach Lou Saban . They have remained good friends over the years and John lives in the Gables and our son lives in St. Pete. When Coach Saban found out Doug had played @ Miami, he stated that Miami was the only place he regreted leaving. At the 10th reunion of the class of '61, we had the pleasure of having lunch with Coach Kichefski. Boy did he hate the Gator (never used as "s" when speaking of them) and it was a hot & intense hate. Doug's biggest disappointment @ Miami was the fact that they never beat the Gator...........
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Just got back to this...what great stories! I remember every one you mentioned...John O'Day, Charlie Linning, George McIntyre (later to be our freshman coach).....Did Charlie Diamond overlap with Doug? He and brother Bill came put of Curley HS in Miami. Youngest brother Steve was HS AA on powerhouse Miami High team and could have gone anywhere but decided to go to Harvard. Then followed it with Columbia Law and ended up practicing in NY, I believe.

Did you ever know Bill Watts? Big tackle from Illinois who ended up living in DC area in '80's. Spoke to him back in late '80's, as I did with another lineman, guard Vic Savoca, from Maryland. Some of these guys might have been there in '60, which I guess was Doug's last year as a player.

Bonnie Yarborough was answer to a trivia question that eventually led to founding of a group of UM fans in DC area that became forerunner to a big alumni group. Will have to tell that story separately....it's funny.

Another Miami kid who might have overlapped was Racey Timmons who was co-leader in interceptions one year. He might have been early '60's.

Doug, I guess, would have overlapped with Eddie Johns who was our QB the one year between Curci and Mira. As you might remember, Eddie was a very good runner, an option QB like Curci, and was to move to halfback (what they called it then) to make way for super-passer George Mira. Johns would have QB in '60. Doug would have been on that team. Eddie's career was wrecked by that knee injury.

Yep, Coach Ski always called them "The Gator" and had endless stories, all true and un-exaggerated, of the enormous evil of the Gator. One I remember was the road trip to play the Gator in Gainesville and UF arranged a motel for UM in Ocala. It rained the night before and the motel roof had enormous leaks. This was probably late '40's, early '50's. The Gator evil went way back in time.

I wonder if the athletic department has any film of old Kichefski talks on the very deep malevolence of the Gator.

Too many youngsters on here with their youthful Millennial naivete and lack of learning about our illustrious history and the many great people who passed through the program.
 
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TheMatador said:
Matador, I well remember the Diamond brothers & always thought they were Seminole Indians. Do you know if they were? Perhaps I just thought they were??? Didn't know they had a younger brother. George McIntyre also coached @ Vanderbilt. He was a super nice guy. His son is the DC at Ole Miss & former head coach @ Colorado. I didn't know Bill Watts, Racy Timmons or Vic Savoca but do remember Eddie Johns.

Bonnie Yarborough is the one who encouraged Doug to go to Miami. We all went to Robert E. Lee HS in Jax. Doug was being heavily recruited by Wally Butts @ Georgia, but after visiting both campuses, it was Miami hands down. He was offered a scholarship by just about every college in the SE with the exception of UF which fueled his hatred of the "Gator" just like Coach Ski.

Doug's favorite coach @ Miami was Hank Stram who subsequently became HC @ the KC Chiefs. Interesting thing about Coach Stram is that he never had a DC, OC or special teams coach during his entire tenure with the Chiefs.
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First I ever heard of the Diamonds being Indians. I certainly don't know everything so it could be true. I do remember pictures of Bill and/or Charlie and they did have that kind of dark look and facial features that I've seen in many Native Americans. Older two brothers went to Catholic school, Curley, I believe. Younger brother Steve played on national champs Miami High and was nationally ranked HS player. Went for the academics at Harvard.

I have a recollection that the local powers (Miami High, Edison) used to regularly play top Jax teams. I guess the two cities used to dominate the state.

By mid-60's we had two outstanding Native American DBs in Jim Wahnee and Andy Sixkiller. Both from Oklahoma, I believe and both maybe JUCO transfers. Sixkiller, in particular, was quite a star.

Wonder if I can ever find Steve Diamond's website. In a small law firm in a small community north of NYC, I think. Maybe doing trust and estates, etc. He'd be mid-70's if still practicing.

I think a lot of the Miami City kids ended up going to school elsewhere. There was a star lineman, John Battle, at Miami High around that time ('60 or so) who I think went to Georgia Tech. I think he was almost a legend in Miami HS football.

Back in '94 I went with a friend from in Columbus, OH to Morgantown where we played WVU, as I recall.

During halftime I met a former Miami High player, a DE, named Joe Cooper. He was all-city I believe, in around '62. He told me he spent time at Iowa, Oklahoma and maybe UM. He used to post on Grassy as Mokie. Haven't seen him in ages. Would have liked to discuss with him why Coach Gus preferred northern players to Miami city players. I guess he thought they were better in Pittsburgh, Ohio, Wisconsin than from South Florida. Obviously the demographics have changed.

Interesting that we had as many from Jax. Now I know one reason you might want to stay in Daytona...besides being nice, pleasant, ocean and where you have probably lived for years, it is fairly close to your home town of Jacksonville.

So Doug was your HS sweetheart? You followed him down to UM? Cool!

A lot of guys got married in school, I guess. George Mira married his GF before his senior year and some old-fashioned people, older than I was, blamed his disappointing senior year at UM on married life! Funny the ideas people had or have.

I remember all the media attention to his getting married to, I think her name was Regina. I believe she is GM Jr's mom. And I think she and George Sr have been divorced for many years.

Life at UM and in college sports is much much different.

I would have loved to see UM freshmen play in Mexico City. Our freshmen teams probably didn't have that many players so our guys probably played both ways (most of our varsity guys did anyway until about '63 or so.)

This is very interesting. You know, I never went to UM but I followed the program very closely for a very long time. I read voraciously (Herald and Miami News), magazines, watched sports news, listened to Luther Evans call-in show every Sunday night. Devoured all UM-related news.

The Canes were really the city's team so younger sports fans like me would also discuss Cane's news and developments. There was nothing else locally to distract from UM: no Fins, Heat, Marlins, etc.

Thanks for filling me in on the history. I have a few friends who are my age--passed thru the program in late '60's--and I'm wondering if George McIntyre was their freshman coach. I think Fran Curci might have been freshman coach at UM before he went to take head job at U of Tampa. Sigmar was starting center for us in late '60's. Posts here once in while. I think Charlie Tate started to recruit more in South Florida. I think he had been a head coach at Miami High at one time.
 
TheMatador said:
First I ever heard of the Diamonds being Indians. I certainly don't know everything so it could be true. I do remember pictures of Bill and/or Charlie and they did have that kind of dark look and facial features that I've seen in many Native Americans. Older two brothers went to Catholic school, Curley, I believe. Younger brother Steve played on national champs Miami High and was nationally ranked HS player. Went for the academics at Harvard.

I have a recollection that the local powers (Miami High, Edison) used to regularly play top Jax teams. I guess the two cities used to dominate the state.

By mid-60's we had two outstanding Native American DBs in Jim Wahnee and Andy Sixkiller. Both from Oklahoma, I believe and both maybe JUCO transfers. Sixkiller, in particular, was quite a star.

Wonder if I can ever find Steve Diamond's website. In a small law firm in a small community north of NYC, I think. Maybe doing trust and estates, etc. He'd be mid-70's if still practicing.

I think a lot of the Miami City kids ended up going to school elsewhere. There was a star lineman, John Battle, at Miami High around that time ('60 or so) who I think went to Georgia Tech. I think he was almost a legend in Miami HS football.

Back in '94 I went with a friend from in Columbus, OH to Morgantown where we played WVU, as I recall.

During halftime I met a former Miami High player, a DE, named Joe Cooper. He was all-city I believe, in around '62. He told me he spent time at Iowa, Oklahoma and maybe UM. He used to post on Grassy as Mokie. Haven't seen him in ages. Would have liked to discuss with him why Coach Gus preferred northern players to Miami city players. I guess he thought they were better in Pittsburgh, Ohio, Wisconsin than from South Florida. Obviously the demographics have changed.

Interesting that we had as many from Jax. Now I know one reason you might want to stay in Daytona...besides being nice, pleasant, ocean and where you have probably lived for years, it is fairly close to your home town of Jacksonville.

So Doug was your HS sweetheart? You followed him down to UM? Cool!

A lot of guys got married in school, I guess. George Mira married his GF before his senior year and some old-fashioned people, older than I was, blamed his disappointing senior year at UM on married life! Funny the ideas people had or have.

I remember all the media attention to his getting married to, I think her name was Regina. I believe she is GM Jr's mom. And I think she and George Sr have been divorced for many years.

Life at UM and in college sports is much much different.

I would have loved to see UM freshmen play in Mexico City. Our freshmen teams probably didn't have that many players so our guys probably played both ways (most of our varsity guys did anyway until about '63 or so.)

This is very interesting. You know, I never went to UM but I followed the program very closely for a very long time. I read voraciously (Herald and Miami News), magazines, watched sports news, listened to Luther Evans call-in show every Sunday night. Devoured all UM-related news.

The Canes were really the city's team so younger sports fans like me would also discuss Cane's news and developments. There was nothing else locally to distract from UM: no Fins, Heat, Marlins, etc.

Thanks for filling me in on the history. I have a few friends who are my age--passed thru the program in late '60's--and I'm wondering if George McIntyre was their freshman coach. I think Fran Curci might have been freshman coach at UM before he went to take head job at U of Tampa. Sigmar was starting center for us in late '60's. Posts here once in while. I think Charlie Tate started to recruit more in South Florida. I think he had been a head coach at Miami High at one time.
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Found this old article on 2004 football reunion. Hope they're still doing this. From time to time they would make efforts to reconnect with football alumni. In '80's it was assigned to former coach Harold Allen (along with a bunch of other stuff.)

There's a quote in the middle of the article from former end Larry Wilson. As you might remember, Larry played opposite A-A Bill Miller, who was a national star. Wilson mentions state champions Archbishop Curley. He and Bill Diamond played on that team. I never hear about Curley anymore.

https://hurricanesports.com/news/2004/5/4/205538937.aspx
 
Reason I don't hear about Curley anymore is that it closed in 2017. Merged with Pace. The enrollment was dwindling. Very different from '50's and '60's.

I wonder of that's true of most Catholic schools. I suspect a lot of the better athletes at the Catholic schools are not Catholic. Probably better academics and, if the school commits to athletics (like STA in Ft. Lauderdale and DeMatha here in Maryland), they attract a lot of athletes.

I don't think the STA phenomenon existed back then. I suspect most of the athletes at the Catholic schools were Catholic. I know Miami didn't have so many private schools, or if they were around, you never heard of them for athletics. There were just not that many schools playing sports. And of course, many of the best athletes you never saw or heard of because of segregation.
 
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Matador, I always enjoy exchanging information about the "evolution" of Miami Football with you. To have not attended Miami, you are quite well versed and knowledgable. Robert E. Lee in Jax. was the top football team in Duval County during the 50's and we routinely played teams from Miami. We played in the old Gator Bowl and would routinely average 25,000 to 30,000 for our games. The team and fans use to travel to Miami via train and we always stayed at the Patricia Hotel downtown Miami. I am sure it no longer exists. Actually Doug was offered a scholarship @ Miami after we played Coral Gables one year. He initially worked for Atlantic-Richfield Co. & we had the choice of living either in Daytona or Orlando so that's how we came to Daytona.
 
There's a thread on here asking for people to nominate the best UM assistant. I was thinking of nominating Stram, because he did reach the pinnacle as a successful pro coach.
 
daytonacane said:
Matador, I always enjoy exchanging information about the "evolution" of Miami Football with you. To have not attended Miami, you are quite well versed and knowledgable. Robert E. Lee in Jax. was the top football team in Duval County during the 50's and we routinely played teams from Miami. We played in the old Gator Bowl and would routinely average 25,000 to 30,000 for our games. The team and fans use to travel to Miami via train and we always stayed at the Patricia Hotel downtown Miami. I am sure it no longer exists. Actually Doug was offered a scholarship @ Miami after we played Coral Gables one year. He initially worked for Atlantic-Richfield Co. & we had the choice of living either in Daytona or Orlando so that's how we came to Daytona.
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Found this:

http://www.whitewayrealty.com/robert-e-lee-high-school

And did find Doug's picture. You're probably in there somewhere, too.

And probably the other Lee alums who became Cane's. I do remember hearing a lot about Lee back in the day.

Can you imagine 25000 at a HS game? Miami High--Miami Edison used to pull perhaps even more in the OB...I think I used to hear closer to 50000?

I went to one of the games in the early '60's and the crowd was huge. I remember the Edison side was all red.
 
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Patricia Hotel no longer exists.

82932



Many of the greatest names among South Florida hotels are gone..Patricia not on this list but names from my youth are...

https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/ten-iconic-miami-hotels-that-no-longer-stand-8387637
 
This has been such an interesting thread for me. Thanks guys. Being an old fart myself moving to Miami in '65, I am amazed at the details of your memories.
 
Hope I didn't get too personal for Daytona Cane. Sorry if I did, Daytona. Found the old high school pictures for her late husband, Doug, who played for us in late '50's.

I have such memories of my beloved Cane's through all the years. Lost touch for part of a decade, the '70's.

Amazed to find that Doug's teammate must have been the great singer-songwriter-actor Hoyt Axton.

Axton's mother was co-composer of the huge Elvis Presley hit, Heartbreak Hotel.

Hoyt himself wrote two huge hits by '60's-70's group Three Dog Night: Joy to the World and Never Been to Spain.

What's Axton's connection to UM football? Nothing really, but found this out while researching 1950's Jacksonville football which did have a significant connection to UM football. (Of course there was a later Oklahoma State connection -- Jimmy Johnson and much of his staff came to us from Oklahoma State. We had three former Oklahoma State coaches including assistants who later became UM head coaches: Jimmy, Butch and Larry Coker.)

For a number of years, UM lost it's connection to Jax--now it's back.

Again, Daytona, I hope you appreciate my finding the old Lee HS yearbooks. Hope I'm not getting too personal.

I did some reading on the McIntyre family and I didn't know all of this, especially his son's coaching career, now HC at Colorado. George was in charge of recruiting in mid-60's so he probably was also coach of the freshman team until he left apparently to join Curci at Tampa.
 
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