Miami One Of Dozen Dynasties Displayed At College Football Hall Of Fame
Jan. 12, 2000
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The College Football Hall of Fame unveiled its “Dozen Dynasties”exhibit Friday at the world-class sports museum in South Bend, Ind.Alabama, Florida State, Harvard, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota, Notre Dame,Oklahoma, Southern California, Texas and Yale are the schools represented inthe exhibit honoring the 12 greatest dynasties in college football history.
Notre Dame and Oklahoma are the only schools recognized as achieving”dynasty” status in two different eras. Notre Dame’s first dynasty, from1919-1930, featured head coach Knute Rockne, 101 victories and threenational titles. Eleven years later, until 1955, the Fighting Irish had astretch where they claimed four national titles amongst their 119 victories.Oklahoma’s twin dynasties ran from 1948 to 1958 and from 1971 to 1980. Thefirst run includes Oklahoma’s 47-game winning streak that was a NCAA recorduntil this season and three national titles. The second run was highlightedby back-to-back titles in 1974 and 1975.
The longest-running, and earliest dynasty, belonged to Yale from 1880to 1909. In that span, Yale rang up 302 victories and 16 national titles.Harvard carried the Ivy League torch from 1906 to 1920 with 110 wins andnational titles in 1908, 1910, 1912, 1913 and 1914.
In between the two Notre Dame dynasties, Minnesota ruled the collegefootball world. From 1933 to 1941, the Golden Gophers notched 58 wins andfive titles.
The Texas Longhorns were the team of the 1960s as coach Darrell Royal’stroops won 123 games and were voted the nation’s top squad three times from1959 until 1972.
Sharing the college football spotlight with Oklahoma in the 1970s wasBear Bryant’s Alabama teams and the Southern California teams of John McKayand John Robinson. From 1971 to 1980, the Crimson Tide tallied as many winsas the Sooners but scored one more national championship with three. From1967 to 1979, the men of Troy rolled on to victory 122 times and to fournational titles.
Two Florida schools, Miami and Florida State, are the most recentjuggernauts featured by the exhibit. From 1983 to 1994, the Hurricanes blewthrough the college football landscape with 116 wins and four nationaltitles with three different coaches – Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnsonand Dennis Erickson. The Seminoles, the only team currently listed as adynasty, started its run in 1987 and has claimed two crowns and won 141games under Bobby Bowden.
In addition to written material supporting the teams, the exhibit isrich with memorabilia from the respective eras. A letter sweater by HeismanTrophy winner Leon Hart of Notre Dame, a jersey worn by Texas Longhorn greatJames Saxton and a coaching shirt worn by Erickson are featured in the casealong with a book on the Split-T formation written by legendary Oklahomacoach Bud Wilkinson and a Yale game program from 1889.
