100 Student-Athlete Stories
The University of Miami has been resilient from the outset, surviving a major hurricane just days after opening its doors to its first class of students.
The Miami Hurricanes have displayed similar resiliency, whether it’s at the plate, at the rim, on the line of scrimmage, in the starter’s blocks, on the service line or anywhere else a ball needs to be struck, a time needs to be met, or a play needs to be made.
Athletics has been an integral part of the University’s mission since 1926, when a freshman football team under Howard Buck won all eight of its games. Since then, the Hurricanes have become one of the most successful and recognizable athletics programs in the country.
Miami, which currently sponsors 18 NCAA sports, has captured 21 team national championships and 86 individual national championships during its century of competition.
The school has helped produce 65 Olympians, 11 Pro Football Hall of Famers, nine College Football Hall of Famers, 62 first-round draft picks in the National Football League, 67 Major League Baseball players, and 40 Grand Slam tennis titles, just to name a few.
In conjunction with Miami’s centennial celebration, we have created “100 Student-Athletes Stories,” an online series celebrating 100 of Miami’s most successful and influential student-athletes across all sports. We launched the first segment of the series on April 7 — the university’s official centennial celebration week. Octavia Blue, Alex Cora, Michael Irvin and Lauryn Williams are the first student-athletes spotlighted and we will be updating it weekly through the rest of 2025.
