forums

When crowds packed the OB for HS games...

Applecane

Applecane

Recruit
Premium
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
1,427
Back 50-70 years ago, there'd be crowds of 20,000-40,000 to watch Edison and other schools play at the Orange Bowl.
Do I have that right? I see mentions of it from time to time.
Why did HS football attract such big numbers and when did that era end? And why did it end?
Maybe for lack of options before the Dolphins and the Heat?
Dunno.
 
Advertisement
Applecane said:
Back 50-70 years ago, there'd be crowds of 20,000-40,000 to watch Edison and other schools play at the Orange Bowl.
Do I have that right? I see mentions of it from time to time.
Why did HS football attract such big numbers and when did that era end? And why did it end?
Maybe for lack of options before the Dolphins and the Heat?
Dunno.
Click to expand...
We actually had caravans of cars leaving Southwest Miami senior high school in the 70’s a couple hours before we did , it was awesome.

I’d be sound asleep at home about 12-1 AM windows open and here my own friends papering my house, they’d yell go back to sleep This is a master piece lololol

Packed stands overflowing to visitors side , we couldn’t get off the buses.

When we played MH in the OB , there was about 2-3 K .

Best time of my life the 70’s at SWMSH .
 
Applecane said:
Back 50-70 years ago, there'd be crowds of 20,000-40,000 to watch Edison and other schools play at the Orange Bowl.
Do I have that right? I see mentions of it from time to time.
Why did HS football attract such big numbers and when did that era end? And why did it end?
Maybe for lack of options before the Dolphins and the Heat?
Dunno.
Click to expand...
My old man told me the stories, he graduated from Miami High in 1969, in those days Miami High vs Coral Gables was THE game. Heard stories from the likes of Edwin Pope, Greg Cote, Bob Rubin (could never stand him) etc. saying the same.

Gotta understand locally at the tme here outside of UM there was nothing else really, outside of spring ball at Bobby Maduro. Fins came in ‘66 and were irrelevant until Shula showed up. Canes were a mid program, and in Florida high school at that time Miami High and Gables were the football powerhouses.
 
Fzac75 said:
My old man told me the stories, he graduated from Miami High in 1969, in those days Miami High vs Coral Gables was THE game. Heard stories from the likes of Edwin Pope, Greg Cote, Bob Rubin (could never stand him) etc. saying the same.

Gotta understand locally at the tme here outside of UM there was nothing else really, outside of spring ball at Bobby Maduro. Fins came in ‘66 and were irrelevant until Shula showed up. Canes were a mid program, and in Florida high school at that time Miami High and Gables were the football powerhouses.
Click to expand...
I remember Craig Curry and Gerald Tinker of Gables High playing Miami High in front of 40,000 at the Orange Bowl.
 
Advertisement
I feel like community investment/camaraderie/pride began to fall as South Florida became more and more transient.
Gentrification, people moving in from other states, etc etc etc...
Most of the people who live here AREN'T EVEN FROM HERE. So why would there by any community pride and fanhood?

And the younger generation don't give a **** about anything, so they aint going either.
 
umhurricano said:
I’ll drop the clippings in here when I can get them from our house in NC but my grandad played for Miami high and my grandmother went to Jackson with Lee corso and Joe Brodsky they upset Miami high for the first time in 10+ years in front of 30k plus in the OB. At least that’s what I was told :)
Click to expand...
Something tells me my mom and your grandad went to school together at Jackson. She dated Corso and had classes with Brodsky.

They lived in Alapattah.
 
umhurricano said:
I’ll drop the clippings in here when I can get them from our house in NC but my grandad played for Miami high and my grandmother went to Jackson with Lee corso and Joe Brodsky they upset Miami high for the first time in 10+ years in front of 30k plus in the OB. At least that’s what I was told :)
Click to expand...

Joe Brodsky was our coach Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS, and he left my sophomore (JV) year so he wasn't my coach the last 2 years.
Anyways, even though Brodsky left for UM, alot of his stuff remained in the HC office, among the items was an old Miami Herald (or News?) article on the Jax-Miami HS game. I think it was a front-page with picture of Brodsky scoring a TD. It was framed and hanging in the office.
We moved into the Miami area in the early 1970s.
It's football culture was not unlike what you see today in the small southern and Texas towns.
Youth football was pretty big too.
There was an Optimist football game played at the OB which also drew alot of folks, between 20 and 30k.
In Hialeah, part of the main street (49th) would be closed on the week preceding the first week of season, so they can parade the Hialeah teams, including Hialeah, Palm Springs, Miami Springs and Medley optimist clubs. Firetrucks and everything.
Generally speaking, the kids from the different Hialeah teams were well-coached, with many assistants who had played at the HS level, minimum, and the kids knew each other from elementary to HS. It made for some good rivalries, unlike today where it is more of a frontrunning "join the hottest private school" deal.
Anyways, those Miami High school teams from the 1940s through mid1960s were very good. They sent alot of talent to big-time schools, including Army and Navy which in those days were perennial top10.
The black schools of those days also had their great players and coaches. Many of the players from the area attending the HBCUs, which had very powerful teams, especially FAMU.
 
305 MOUNTAIN MAN said:
How did we ever allow that glorious place to be demolished.
Click to expand...
Hurricanes Football Hugs GIF by Miami Hurricanes




This SOB father
 
Advertisement
Florido said:
I remember Craig Curry and Gerald Tinker of Gables High playing Miami High in front of 40,000 at the Orange Bowl.
Click to expand...

Those late 1960s/early1970s Gables team had some players.
Tinker, Ralph Ortega (Buck's dad), Glenn Cameron, Gary Dunn, Neal Colzie playing a bunch of years in the NFL, with I believe Tinker also winning a gold medal (relays) in the Olympics. Those teams also had several other players who started at UM and UF.
Very talented program.
 
MedleyCane said:
Joe Brodsky was our coach Hialeah-Miami Lakes HS, and he left my sophomore (JV) year so he wasn't my coach the last 2 years.
Anyways, even though Brodsky left for UM, alot of his stuff remained in the HC office, among the items was an old Miami Herald (or News?) article on the Jax-Miami HS game. I think it was a front-page with picture of Brodsky scoring a TD. It was framed and hanging in the office.
We moved into the Miami area in the early 1970s.
It's football culture was not unlike what you see today in the small southern and Texas towns.
Youth football was pretty big too.
There was an Optimist football game played at the OB which also drew alot of folks, between 20 and 30k.
In Hialeah, part of the main street (49th) would be closed on the week preceding the first week of season, so they can parade the Hialeah teams, including Hialeah, Palm Springs, Miami Springs and Medley optimist clubs. Firetrucks and everything.
Generally speaking, the kids from the different Hialeah teams were well-coached, with many assistants who had played at the HS level, minimum, and the kids knew each other from elementary to HS. It made for some good rivalries, unlike today where it is more of a frontrunning "join the hottest private school" deal.
Anyways, those Miami High school teams from the 1940s through mid1960s were very good. They sent alot of talent to big-time schools, including Army and Navy which in those days were perennial top10.
The black schools of those days also had their great players and coaches. Many of the players from the area attending the HBCUs, which had very powerful teams, especially FAMU.
Click to expand...
Fascinating...
 
Last hs game at a stadium i remember was central vs booker t 2012 i think, idk if they even allow it anymore
 
Back
Top