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How did you become a Hurricanes fan?

When I was a young kid, my older brother asked me to record a football game of his favorite team, Miami, on VHS because he had to work that day. I had never heard of Miami before. I had never watched a football game before. And I had to watch the whole game because he wanted me to pause the recording during commercials. It was on a Saturday at 12 noon, when normally I was outside playing with my friends. It was something new to me because I was a heavy outside playing kid. That game turned out to be Wide Right 1 (Miami at FSU). The intro to that game was the greatest ever! If you know, you know. I got hooked. Since that day I've blead Orange and Green. I haven't missed a televised Miami game since that day.
 
Many moons ago the U gave high school football players free admission to the games if your coach brought the team as a group. I think half the coaches at my high school played and graduated from the U so we were always being brought to the games. My family moved to South Florida when I was in the ninth grade so Miami became my team
 
sigmar said:
Many moons ago the U gave high school football players free admission to the games if your coach brought the team as a group. I think half the coaches at my high school played and graduated from the U so we were always being brought to the games. My family moved to South Florida when I was in the ninth grade so Miami became my team
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The first UM game my family and I attended was the 1979 home opener vs Louisville. The Hialeah Optimist coaches got a bunch of free tickets courtesy of Burger King, who used to give many tickets to youth organizations. It was Howard Schnellenberger's first game as HC, and we actually had pretty good seats, upper bowl near the 50 yard line on the visitor side. No one knew much about Louisville during this time, but it turns out they had some players who were big. Joe Jacoby, Otis Wilson, Franl Minniefield, Eddie Johnson, Mark Clayton, etc.
 
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My grandparents moved to Florida in like 84 and they got me and each of my brothers gear from the schools there, UF for my older bro, Miami for me, and FSU for my younger bro. I’m the only one that actually follows college ball. Turned my younger bro into a canes fan, my older bro is just a poser and only watches NFL. Which is the norm here in the northeast.
 
MedleyCane said:
The first UM game my family and I attended was the 1979 home opener vs Louisville. The Hialeah Optimist coaches got a bunch of free tickets courtesy of Burger King, who used to give many tickets to youth organizations. It was Howard Schnellenberger's first game as HC, and we actually had pretty good seats, upper bowl near the 50 yard line on the visitor side. No one knew much about Louisville about the time, but it turns out they had some players who were big. Joe Jacoby, Otis Wilson, etc.
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My first game as well, lol. My buddy got free tickets from his job and we had 3 classmates from school, Lester Williams, Smokey Roan and John Swain on the team. I think the score was something like 24-12 Canes.
 
FreddyCane said:
My first game as well, lol. My buddy got free tickets from his job and we had 3 classmates from school, Lester Williams, Smokey Roan and John Swain on the team. I think the score was something like 24-12 Canes.
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Yes, and the Louisville QB was Stu Stram, son of late NFL coach Hank Stram (also former UM asst). I think that Louisville also had future NFLers Mark Clayton, Eddie Johnson, Frank Minniefield, Joe Jacoby and Otis Wilson. I remember Wilson being a very physical and destructive LB much like he was later with the Chicago Bears. Our QB was Mike Rodrique, from the Ft. Walton Choctawatchee.
I remember Williams from Carol City HS.
Huge dude!
Williams, Johnny Lewis (OU), and James Gilbert (FSU) were big strong dudes.
 
Got to know Howard back in the day. Lou Saban had bolted for the HC job at Army. They called to talk about his OL coach & Lou, the ultimate suit case coach, said Hey, I’d be interested. The program was mediocre at best on the field, fan interest was minimal & Dolphins ruled Miami. Some talk of even shuttering the program. Howard brought the program to life & found myself captivated by the little train that could suddenly kicking ***.
 
It was in the latter 1960's when my mom (my dad had already passed away) managed to get a color TV for the house. I was a junior in high school and it was a Saturday afternoon. I remember that it was a rainy day in central New Jersey where I lived and the only thing worth watching on the tube was a football game.....Miami versus Florida. Living in NJ I didn't know anything about either team but I had to pick a team to root for. I chose Miami because not only did they appear to be the better team, their lady cheer leaders were better looking than Florida's hags. Miami won and I decided then and there that I would attend the U after I graduated from high school.

So I kept my word and became a Cane. Lucky me, I often walked to class with a really BIG guy compared to me. His name was Ted Hendricks!
 
Back in 1983 i was 19 .. making like 3$ an hour part time going to college . I made a 200 bet that miami would beat Nebraska.. the rest is history as they say
 
My uncle has been a UM season ticket holder for 45 straight seasons. Only missing 2 home games during that time, which I might add. But he took me when I was a kid in 1990 to a game vs Kansas in the OB. Been hooked ever since.
 
Family trip when I was an infant, dad's dad bought me miami hurricane pj's as they had Sebastian on them, he passed shortly after and they were my team. First game watched was the 2002 fiesta bowl..but was forced to bed before it ended and McGahee went to the Bills. All came full circle.
 
Born and raised in OH.

I was 5 years old for the 87 ship. Watched it as a kid and fell in love with the flashiest and best players on the flashiest and best team.

2 years later, ship in 89 reinforced that love.

2 more years later, ship in 91, even more reinforcement.

Never faltered since
 
Born in South Miami Hospital, raised a couple blocks from Eureka Park right on 184 until Andrew round age 8. Pops coached Pop Warner at Kendall (Coral Reef), South Kendall for the Eagles with Coach Scott, Suniland, and South Miami. Started playing at 5 yrs old for South Kendall, have always loved the game. When I wasn't playing, I was milling about my dad's practices. I spent endless hours out on those fields from Gwen Cherry to Florida City and everywhere in between playing throwback tackle and helping my dad run drills or do game day prep.

I was always a fan of the Hurricanes as far back as I can remember. We were always at the park on Saturdays, like all **** day, all over the county at every park whether it was game day or scouting with my pops. Watched all these kids raise up through pop warner to become household names all over the nation. Nothing better than watching the kids put on for the city they grew up in.

When I was younger, I didn't watch a lot of college football unless it was a night game. We were Canes through and through though. As I got older life happens and I had to move out of the tri county, but my heart is in those little league fields in South Miami Dade where the Canes are born and built. Watching them take the field in the fall is like grabbing a little piece of home every Saturday
 
Got cable for the first time as a kid in 2001. I would watch a lot of ESPN, they talked about the Canes often. As the season went on, I thought it would be cool if they went undefeated. I don't recall watching any of the games though. I vaguely remember watching a portion of the national championship game, but I could be misremembering. I didn't start watching every game until 2003 I believe
 
Was 4 years old for first Natty and lived in Miami. I remember watching a game on TV in 86’ don’t know who we were playing, but almost every play was our D line behind the line of scrimmage man handling the opponent and celebrating “Miami” style after school play. I was in AWE. Started going to games in 89’ and was at every game including the natty against Nebraska. To this day… I have never seen that type of pure dominance
 
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