SEPT/OCT 2012

College football is upon us, and this year all roads lead to South Florida as the Orange Bowl hosts the Discover BCS National Cham-pionship Game on January 7, 2013. This season has no shortage of storylines to follow as the top teams in the nation compete for a trip to Sun Life Stadium and a chance to play for college football’s ultimate prize.

The Southeastern Conference, football’s deepest conference, is home to the last six national title winners and had five teams ranked in college football’s preseason top-10. Last season the SEC man-aged to send two schools from the same conference to the National Championship Game, a first in BCS history. While both Alabama and LSU entered the season in the top three of the polls, each school has their fair share of obstacles be-tween them and a second straight national championship appear-ance. Alabama has to replace five All-Americans from what some considered the best defense in col-lege football history. Nick Saban is a recruiting whiz, but he’ll have some work to do if the Crimson Tide expects to take home their third crystal trophy in four years. LSU will try and move forward with former Georgia transfer and first-year starter Zach Matten-berger. Their defense does return

three potential first-round picks, but 2011 Heisman finalist Tyrann Mathieu isn’t one of them, leaving Les Miles’ squad without one of football’s biggest playmakers.

Wisconsin running back Montee Ball entered the season as the only returning Heisman finalist back at another shot at college football’s most prestigious individual award. Not only will the NCAA’s active rushing leader be trying to chase down the trophy, but he’s well on his way to rewriting the history books. After a record-tying 39 scores last season, Ball is closing in on some of college football’s all-time records. He’s just six scores away for most rushing touch-downs in FBS history, eight away from most career touchdowns and could set a new NCAA mark for points in a career, needing just 73

to match the mark set by former Boise State kicker Kyle Brotzman.

Despite Ball’s decorated college career, he isn’t the early favorite to join college football’s greatest fraternity. USC quarterback Matt Barkley turned down the NFL for one last hurrah with the Trojans, who find themselves back atop the college football landscape once again. After a two-year postsea-son hiatus the Trojans are back and hungry for a BCS title shot. Things in Southern California look good early, with Lane Kiffin and company sitting on a number one ranking in the AP Preseason Poll for the first time since 2007. They can field one of the most talented top 22 in the game, but

College Football Preview: The Road to South FloridaBy Ryan Trapp

Orange Bowl Youth Football

Alliance Kicks Off 14th SeasonBy Noah Sharfman

From the Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance, to the Orange Bowl record book, Geno Smith’s football career came full circle in 2012. The West Virginia quarterback and former Miramar High School star improved his personal record in Or-ange Bowls to 3-0. Smith, who won the 2004 and 2005 Orange Bowl Youth Football Champion-ships with the Miami Gardens Chargers, led the Mountaineers to a 70-33 victory over Clemson in the 2012 Discover Orange Bowl. In the win over Clemson, Smith shattered the Orange Bowl re-cord book, setting records for passing yards (407), passing touchdowns (6) and total touchdowns (7).

The Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance (Or-ange Bowl YFA) presented by Sports Authority, which has produced such talents as Smith, is home to more than 16,000 football players and cheerleaders. Consisting of nine member leagues, the Orange Bowl YFA ranges across South Flori-da, from north of Lake Okeechobee to Key West.

Entering its 14th season in 2012, the Orange Bowl YFA presented by Sports Authority supports six recreational leagues and three competitive

TH

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The 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game marks the 20th time the Orange Bowl has hosted the National Champion or National Championship Game

Geno Smith led the Miami Gardens Chargers in 2005, and the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2012

On July 19, 2012, the Orange Bowl announced its partnership with the City of Fort Lauderdale to invest $3 million - $1.5 million from each entity – to renovate Joseph C. Carter Park in Fort Lauderdale. Located at 1450 W. Sunrise Boulevard, the project will benefit thousands of un-derprivileged children who partici-pate in various athletic leagues, after school programs and summer camps at Carter Park.

A ground breaking ceremony was held at the park on July 19 at 10 am. The renovated park is expected to be unveiled at a ribbon cutting ceremo-ny during the week of the 2013 Dis-cover BCS National Championship Game. Once open, the football field will be officially known as Orange Bowl Field at Carter Park.

New features at Carter Park will include the installation of a synthetic turf football field which will reduce maintenance costs, increase availabil-ity for usage and is environmentally friendly. Additionally, the Orange Bowl will replace the bleachers to provide better visibility and protec-

tion from the weather for spectators, add a state-of-the-art eight lane regulation track and accompanying individual track & field event areas (long jump runway, hammer throw / shot put circle, etc.) and replace the existing scoreboard.

“Creating the opportunity for South Florida youth to benefit from the positive lessons learned from orga-nized sports – dedication, discipline and sportsmanship – is what drives the Orange Bowl in our desire to give back to the community that has supported our organization for the past 79 years,” said O. Ford Gibson, president and chairman, Orange Bowl Committee. “Following the Orange Bowl’s Moore Park project in Allapattah, we are looking for-ward to making a similar impact in Fort Lauderdale, serving thousands of residents and creating the op-portunity for Carter Park to attract a greater range of youth athletic com-petitions and community activities.”

“This project marks the beginning of an exciting new era in the history of Carter Park,” said City of Fort

(L to R) State Representative Perry E. Thurston, City of Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Bobby B. DuBose, Joseph Carter Jr., City of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and Orange Bowl Legacy Gift Chairman Frank Gonzalez break ground on the $3 million renovation to Carter Park.

Lauderdale Mayor John P. “Jack” Seiler. “It represents a significant in-vestment in our community that will allow us to expand our recreational programming, while continuing to encourage healthy, active lifestyles. The new turf football field, eight-lane track and other amenities will enable us to enhance our youth foot-ball program, build a championship track and field program, and provide adults and seniors with an outstand-ing venue for daily exercise and physical fitness. We’d like to thank the Orange Bowl for their commit-ment to this project, and we look forward to working with them to make this one of the premier athletic facilities in South Florida.”

The renovation of Carter Park is the Orange Bowl’s second legacy gift. In celebration of its 75th anniversary

in 2009, the Orange Bowl spear-headed a $5.65 million renovation of Miami’s Moore Park. Moore Park is the site of the 1933 and 1934 Palm Festivals, the predecessor of the Or-ange Bowl Festival. In January 2011, the renovations of Moore Park were completed and the Orange Bowl cut the ribbon on the brand new Orange Bowl Field at Moore Park.

Orange Bowl Breaks Ground on Carter ParkBy Noah Sharfman

2011 Orange Bowl Cheer & DanceOn Sunday, November 6, 2011, the Orange Bowl hosted the 2011 Orange Bowl Cheer & Dance Championships, presented by Sports Authority, at Nova South-eastern University’s Don Taft University Center.

The 2011 Orange Bowl Cheer & Dance Championships presented by Sports Authority saw 33 parks participate and 107 teams com-pete, the largest turnout in the 12 year history of the event. Teams competed in nine divisions (mini, pee wee, junior prep, prep, junior varsity, varsity, semi-pro, pro and special needs) and three squad sizes (small, medium, large). The Doral Lady Broncos of the Miami Xtreme Youth Football League won the Grand Championship by earning first place finishes in two categories, third place in two categories and earning the overall high score for the morning competition session.

The 2012 Orange Bowl Cheer & Dance Championships presented by Sports Authority will be held on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at the BankUnited Center at the Univer-sity of Miami.

2011 ORANGE BOWL CHEER & DANCE RESULTS: Grand Champion: Doral Lady Broncos (MXYFL); Mini Division: South Kendall Gators (MXYFL), Miami Springs Hawks (MXYFL), Indi-antown Thunderbirds (GTYAL), Palm Beach Tigers (PBYFL), Ives Estates Thunder (MXYFL), Broward Panthers (NYFL), Ken-dall Boys and Girls Club Kolts (MXYFL), West Park Hurricanes (MXYFL), Hialeah Cougars (MXYFL), Oak Grove Raiders (NYFL), Coral Gables Panthers (MXYFL), Palm Beach Tarheels

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The future of Carter Park.

2011 Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance Championship Results

On Saturday, December 10 and Sun-day, December 11, 2011, the Or-ange Bowl hosted the 2011 Orange Bowl Youth Football (Orange Bowl YFA) Championships presented by Sports Authority at Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium. Twenty four teams from seven leagues competed over the two day event in 10 different weight classes.

GAME 1 – WEST PARK 27, OPA-LOCKA 6 (75 lbs.): In the battle of Hurricanes, West Park defeated Opa-Locka 27-6. West Park’s Keshawn Brown stole the show, accounting for all four of his team’s touchdowns. GAME 2 – PBCYFL 18, WCFL 6 (85 lbs.): The Palm Beach County Youth Football League All-Stars scored in the first, second and fourth quarters en route to an 18-6 vic-tory over the Western Communities Football League All-Stars. Ja’Kavian Williams scored two of PBCYFL’s three touchdowns. GAME 3 – WCFL 13, PBYCFL 6 (120 lbs.): A goal line stand with a minute left in regulation secured a 13-6 victory for the Western Com-

munities All-Stars over the Palm Beach County Youth Football League All-Stars. PBCYFL had first and goal on the three yard line be-fore WCFL defense held its ground and forced a turnover on downs. GAME 4 – PBCYFL 24, WEST BOCA TACKLE FOOTBALL 6 (140 lbs.): A one score game through nearly three quarters was broken open in the second half by the Palm Beach County Youth Football League All-Stars en route to a 24-6 victory over the West Boca Tackle Football All-Stars. Traionn Jones opened the scoring on a seven-yard touchdown run with two min-utes remaining in the first quarter.

GAME 5 – DICK CONLEY ME-MORIAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 0, PBCYFL 28 (165 lbs.): Behind three second quarter touchdowns, the Palm Beach County Youth Football League All-Stars defeated the Dick Conley Memorial Foot-ball League All-Stars 28-0. Trinton Hanson caught one touchdown and ran for another in the second quarter and Shannon Patrick threw two touchdown passes.

GAME 6 – PBCYFL 0, WCFL 19 (105 lbs.): On the heels of three short touchdown runs, the West-ern Communities Football League All-Stars defeated the Palm Beach County Youth Football League All-Stars 19-0. Anarjahe Douriet opened the scoring WCFL with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

GAME 7 – WASHINGTON PARK BUCCANEERS 24, FORT PIERCE SEMINOLES 0 (175 lbs): Three different Washington Park Buccaneers players scored touchdowns as the Bucs defeated the Fort Pierce Seminoles 24-0. Isaiah Michael scored the first Buc-caneers touchdown with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter on an 11-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Janarvis Pough.

GAME 8 – NORTH MIAMI BEACH 22, FORT PIERCE 0 (105 lbs): The North Miami Beach Sun Devils held the Fort Pierce Semi-noles off the scoreboard en route to a 22-0 victory. Sun Devil running back J’Veion Johnson scored the first North Miami Beach touchdown midway through the first quarter

GAME 9 – LAKE STEVENS CARDINALS 12, HIALEAH OPTIMIST CLUB 6 (120lbs.): A key special teams play resulted in the winning score as the Lake Stevens Cardinals defeated the Hialeah Optimist Club 12-6. With just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, and the score tied at six, Lake Stevens’ Canron Raye received a punt from Hialeah at his own 30 yard line and returned the kick 70 yards for the game winning score.

GAME 10 – KENDALL HAM-

MOCKS WARRIORS 28, HELP-ING HANDS BULLS 7 (130 lbs.): Three rushing touchdowns helped the Kendall Hammocks Warriors to a 28-7 victory over the Help-ing Hands Bulls. Harvey Clayton Jr. scored first of two first quarter touchdowns for the Warriors on a four-yard scamper eight minutes into the game.

GAME 11 – WEST PARK HUR-RICANES 25, PAHOKEE BABY BLUE DEVILS 0 (90 lbs.): The West Park Hurricanes pulled out all the stops en route to their 25-0 victory over the Pahokee Baby Blue Devils. The Hurricanes opened the scoring with a highlight reel touch-down three minutes into the game.

GAME 12 – KENDAL BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB 11, PAHOKEE BABY BLUE DEVILS 6 (145 lbs.): In a game dominated by the defense in the second half, the Kendall Boys and Girls Club Kolts defeated the Pahokee Baby Blue Devils 11-6. Both teams were held off the score-board in the final two quarters and combined for two interceptions over the final 20 minutes of play.

West Park downs Opa-Locka in the battle of the Hurricanes for the 75 lbs. title

The 2012 OBYFA Championships pre-sented by Sports Authority will be held on December 8 and 9 at Florida International University

Get 5% back on all in-store merchandise when you earn 100 points or more during a qualifying period. Sign up in-store or online at sportsauthority.com/theleague

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Hayley: What makes the Orange Bowl such a successful organiza-tion?Ford: We did a survey asking why our committee members wanted to be a part of the Orange Bowl, and what surprised me was that it was not college football. The number one reason was people wanted to give back to the community. We have some great community leaders that have embraced being a part of this organization, and giving back to and strength the community. It started well over 75 years ago, with the specific purpose of generating tourist dollars and boosting the economy. It was started as a community event and it remains that way today.

How did you become President of the Orange Bowl?It’s something that I think if you enjoy the Orange Bowl, you want to make a difference. I think you follow one of two paths to the presidency. One is that you want to do some-thing for the community and one is that you love college football.

I stayed involved and things just evolved. I never said my goal in ten years is to become president, it just happened.

What are your favorite aspects of being an Orange Bowl Member?I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the com-munity interaction. We probably do a better job in that aspect than any other bowl game.

The Orange Bowl is in the midst of its second legacy gift. How did that project start?We are now doing restorations at Carter Park and we have another facility restoration planned for Ives Dairy. But it all started in 2009 and Danny Ponce should get most of the credit for the Moore Park project. He researched ideas and the first Or-ange Bowl, called the Palm Festival, was played at Moore Park, so it was a natural gravitation we had toward that park. When you go out there and see how active that park is and that state that park was in, it auto-matically gelled. I was fortunate to

implement Danny’s dream. There are two youth sports leagues that use that facility. They have a state-of-the-art artificial turf. They have a state-of-the-art Olympic track. It is utilized all the time. This organization will continue to do all we can to help the community.

What are some of your favorite Orange Bowl memories?There have been so many great memories. One that sticks out was hosting Bobby Bowden. He’s what’s great about college football. Getting to spend time one-on-one him and then seeing him out in the public interacting, I can say that he doesn’t change. With Bobby, what you see is what you get and he is a genuinely good person.

What does the future hold for the Orange Bowl?That is more or less limitless. I think the projects we have done should continue in tangible items like park restorations. We are now starting a lacrosse legacy. I would love to see us get involved in more women’s athlet-ics.

Committee Corner: Ford Gibson

By Hayley Salyer

Gibson and former Clemson head coach Danny Ford.

Gibson with former FSU head coach Bobby Bowden at the 2011 Discover Orange Bowl

Gibson and his family celebrating the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Moore Park.

PAGE 8 | INSIDE THE ORANGE BOWL SEPT/OCT 2012

“We probably do a better job in that aspect than any other bowl game (on comunity interaction).”

~Ford Gibson

2012 Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance Sponsors

scholarship sanctions have limited the team from building the kind of depth accustomed to at USC.

Urban Meyer, whose first college coaching job was as Ohio State’s tight end coach, will return to The Horseshoe’s sidelines after a brief reprieve from coaching. The former Florida head coach has his new campus buzzing with anticipation as he takes one of college football’s most storied programs in a new direction.

Meyer isn’t the only name with a new home in 2012. It’s a time of change in college football, and there will be plenty of familiar faces in new places this season. Four schools will begin play in new conference this season, with West Virginia and TCU joining the Big 12 while Texas A&M joins Missouri as new members of the SEC. While conference shifts happen all the time in college football, the 2010-12 period marks one of the largest realignments in college football history, with all eleven FBS conferences either gaining or losing football members.

This isn’t your daddy’s collegiate football. No longer is the college game just three downs and a cloud of dust; schools have intricate offenses, complex defenses and players are entering the NFL more prepared for the demands of pro football. Over the past two years, nine quarter-backs have been taken in the first round; and all but one started their rookie seasons, and all nine became starters by their second year in the pros. Eleven were taken in the previous five years combined, and just seven are still holding on to starting gigs. Players like Barkley, Oklahoma passer Landry Jones, Tyler Wilson out of Arkan-sas, Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith and Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas could all get first round looks come April.

No matter which week you decide to turn in, there’s always something that’ll take your breath away and leave a hungry football fan asking for more. Upsets will occur, players will rise and fall while teams climb through the rankings until just two remain with a chance to play for the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship in South Florida come January.

Preview Continued from Page 1

(PBYFL), Olinda Park Bulls (NYFL), Project Hope (MXYFL), Tamiami Colts (MXYFL), North Miami Beach Sun Devils (MXYFL), West Kendall Dolphins (MXYFL), Kendall Ham-mocks Warriors (MXYFL), Western Communities Ultimate Team (WCFL); Pee Wee: Small: Miami Springs Hawks (MXYFL); Pee Wee: Medium: Doral Lady Broncos (MXYFL); Jr. Prep: Small: Hialeah Cougars (MXYFL); Jr. Prep: Medium: Doral Lady Broncos (MXYFL); Prep: Small: Miami Springs Hawks (MXYFL); Prep: Medium: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); Prep: Large: Western Communities Varsity Team (WCFL); Special Needs: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); Jr. Varsity: Small: Miami Springs Hawks (MXYFL); Jr. Varsity: Medium: West Kendall Dolphins (MXY-FL); Varsity: Small: Coral Gables Panthers (MXYFL); Varsity: Medium: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); Var-sity: Large: West Kendall Dolphins (MXYFL); Semi Pro: Small: Palm Beach Sr. Dolphins (PBYFL); Semi Pro: Medium: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); Semi Pro: Large: Kendall Hammocks

Warriors (MXYFL); Pro: Medium: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); Pro: Large: West Kendall Dolphins (MXYFL); Morning Spirit Award: West Ken-dall Dolphins (MXYFL); High Score Overall Morning: Doral Lady Broncos Medium Jr. Prep (MXYFL); Afternoon Spirit Award: Tamiami Colts (MXYFL); High Score Overall Afternoon: Tamiami Colts Medium Varsity (MXYFL).

MXYFL- Miami Xtreme Youth Football LeagueNYFL- National Youth Football LeagueGTYAL- Glades Tri-City Youth Athletic LeaguePBYFL- Palm Beach Youth Football LeagueWCFL- Western Communities Football LeagueWBTFL- West Boca Tackle Football

Cheer

The Kendall Hammock Warriors of the Miami Xrtreme Youth Football League

SEPT/OCT 2012 INSIDE THE ORANGE BOWL | PAGE 11

PAGE 12 | INSIDE THE ORANGE BOWL SEPT/OCT 2012

As tourists meccas go, Miami was still a struggling, largely isolated fishing village in 1930. The land boom of the early twenties had col-lapsed, and the 1926 hurricane had flattened the area and frightened developers. That natural disaster was compounded by the man-made stock market crash of 1929, which darkened Miami’s future. To turn darkness into light, ambitious city fathers worked hard to develop winter attractions that would bring more visitors to the community. A longer tourist season, they reasoned, was needed to boost the economy.

The University of Miami began play-ing intercollegiate football in 1926, but players brought in for that first season got the scare of their lives when the hurricane hit, and many of them couldn’t wait to get out of town. Nevertheless, Miami played New Year’s Day games in 1927, 1928 and 1929. The games received little publicity and were not part of any festival.

Henry Dutton, director of recre-ation for the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, first promoted the idea of a post-season football game to attract tourists to the area. Dutton lured the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame to play an exhibition on New Year’s Day, 1926. He added fireworks, parades, bands, dancing and a golf exhibition with Tommy Armour, Bobby Jones, Leo Diegie and Gene Sarazen and called the three-day affair “The Fiesta of the American Tropics.” Three days was the extent of it. Dutton did not attempt a second “fiesta.”

In the spring of 1929 a group of Miami business men formed their own version of a quarterback club to help the revitalized University of

Miami rebuild its football program. The stock market crash and Miami’s up-and-down teams did not discour-age the group, then known as the Greater Miami Athletic Association. It was from this nucleus that the Orange Bowl Committee was born.

By 1932, the enthusiasm of the association’s membership came to a boil. Plans for the first “Palm Festival” were formulated. “Have a Green Christmas in Miami” was the slogan, and a festival football game was scheduled for Moore Park. Wooden bleachers, seating 1,800, were erected at the corner of N.W. 7th Avenue and 36th Street. At that site, in honor of its 75th anniversary in 2008-09, the Orange Bowl Com-mittee spearheaded a $5.7 million legacy gift to the community to rebuild Moore Park.

Making a match for the first game was only half a problem. Poor little University of Miami was more than willing. “The Hurricanes were so poor,” says Earnie Seiler, then the City of Miami’s recreation director and the acknowledged ramrod of the Orange Bowl, “They had 14 pairs of

shoes for 32 players.” But bringing in a team to play the Hurricanes was another matter.

George E. Hussey, recreation direc-tor for Florida Power and Light, was friendly with Chick Meehan, Coach of the Manhattan College team. Manhattan was an Eastern power in those days. After an enthusiastic call from Hussey, Meehan agreed to come to Miami. Henry L. Doherty, who owned the Miami Biltmore, the Roney Plaza, the Key Largo Angler’s Club and the Biltmore Golf Course agreed to put the Manhattan team up at the Biltmore and to under-write $5,000 of the game’s expenses. The festival committee guaranteed Manhattan $3,000 to appear, $1,500 in advance.

Meehan brought his team to Miami by ocean liner, the only team ever to travel to a bowl game by sea, and on arrival demanded the additional $1,500 advance. Seiler and his group didn’t have it. “So we made the Chief of Police our financial chair-man,” Seiler recalls, “and he went around to the prominent bookies in town, including the notorious Acey-Deucey, and we came up with the

full guarantee on game day.”

In a meeting with Meehan a few days before the game the spon-sors implored him to take it easy on hapless Miami. Meehan agreed to hold the difference down to “no more than three touchdowns.” The Hurricanes, meanwhile, got coach-ing assistance from immortal Bob Zuppke of Illinois. Miami’s head coach, Tommy McCann, had played under Zuppke.

Thinking the result a foregone conclusion, Seiler ordered a giant “Congratulations Manhattan” cake for the post-game party. Miami had other ideas. The Hurricanes, as gutty as the soon-to-be-formalized Orange Bowl Committee, held off repeated Manhattan threats, once at the 3-inch line, and won, 7-0. Miami drove from its 44 for the lone touchdown in the fourth quarter, Cecil Cook scoring from two yards out. Seiler scrambled to the phone to call the chef at the Biltmore Hotel to change the name on the cake.

The first Palm Festival was light years removed from the pageantry of to-day’s Orange Bowl, but some notice

History Of the Orange Bowl : The Beginning Years

Aerial shot of Miami Stadium during the 1935 Orange Bowl between Miami and Bucknell.

The 1933 Palm Festival Program Cover.

was served that in the future when football was played in Miami, the game would not be the only attraction. Just before kickoff, an auto moved on the field with an oversized replica of a football on top. A cannon boomed, the football opened and dozens of pigeons fluttered into the sunshine - Seiler’s first “extravaganza.”

In 1934, W. Keith Phillips, chairman of the Greater Miami Athletic Club and President of the Miami Chamber of Commerce, invited Seiler and others to his office to discuss the pros-pect of a New Year’s Day football game—to be played at Miami Stadium—to succeed the first two Palm Festivals of 1933-34.

Phillips and local radio announcer Dinty Dennis brought the name “Orange Bowl” to the newly formed committee where it was immediately embraced. Despite having just six weeks to organize the contest, the first Orange Bowl Classic, pitting Bucknell against Miami, was played on January 1, 1935 in front of 5,135 fans, many begged off the streets at no charge. The game site was at N.W. 4th Street, the former Orange Bowl Stadium site. The Bison routed the Hur-ricanes, 26-0.

The committee was riding a wave of national publicity and, with a year to prepare for the 1936 Orange Bowl, decided to expand the Festival and stage a lavish parade prior to the game. On December 9, 1936, a proposed charter of “The Orange Bowl Committee” was put together. An election of officers was scheduled for the spring of 1937. The charter called for the Orange Bowl Committee to be a non-profit organization.

teams, Catholic University and Mississippi, to the 1936 Classic, doubling nationwide interest. The thrilling 20-19 Catholic victory was played in front of 6,568 fans. The fans sat on wooden bleachers at the former Orange Bowl site. The 1936 game also marked the first Orange Bowl to be broadcast on radio with CBS’ Bill Munday delivering the play-by-play. Following Mun-day’s call of the 1936 Classic, the Committee and CBS signed a contract to broadcast the game on national radio and convinced the network to send its top announcer, Ted Husing, to the game.

One week prior to the 1937 Orange Bowl, ground was broken for a new fa-cility. Upon learning of the plans for Orange Bowl Stadium, Husing admired the ingenuity of the game’s organizers. The broadcaster was overwhelmed by the Orange Bowl’s hospitality and despite the subpar facilities, Husing became one of the Orange Bowl’s biggest booster following the game.

leagues under its umbrella. The recreational league rules stipulate that all kids have an opportunity to play, while the competitive leagues hold tryouts for their roster spots on traveling teams.

Since its inception in 1999, the Or-ange Bowl has invested approximate-ly $5 million and countless volunteer hours in youth sports across South Florida. In addition to its contin-ued support of the Orange Bowl YFA presented by Sports Authority, the Orange Bowl directly supports locally-based festivals and events,

including those that provide partici-patory opportunites to youth from all over the world, such as Junior Orange Bowl, Orange Bowl Sailing Regatta Series and the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships.

Along with Orange Bowl YFA presenting sponsor Sports Author-

ity, additional sponsors include American Airlines, Doctors Hospital, Florida Blue, Frito-Lay, FSFlorida / Sun Sports, Hampton Farms, Mara-thon Petroleum, Urbieta Oil Co., MetroPCS, Nike, POWERADE, Sparkling ICE, Sun Life Stadium & The Miami Dolphins, The Miami Herald, Toyota and Wells Fargo.

Throughout the 2012 season, the Orange Bowl YFA’s Park of the Week program recognizes select youth football parks across South Florida each Saturday during the fall. At the weekly caravan style celebration, Orange Bowl staff and committee members present each park with a commemorative plaque and financial

contributions for park improvements and also distribute promotional items and discounts from official Orange Bowl YFA sponsors.

At the culmination of the season, the best of the best will take part in the Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance Championships presented by Sports Authority at Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium on the campus of Florida International University. The two-day championship event to be held on December 8 and 9 will pit cham-pions from various leagues against each other and will crown winners in eight weight-class divisions.

OBYFAContinued from Page 1

The Orange Bowl celebrated Park of the Week at the rennovated Moore Park.

Nov. 25 Orange Bowl Cheer & Dance Championships BankUnited CenterDec. 3-9 Dunlop Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships Frank Veltri Tennis CenterDec. 5 Orange Bowl Kickoff Party Seminole Hard Rock HotelDec. 8-9 Orange Bowl Youth Football Alliance Championships FIU StadiumDec. 26-30 Orange Bowl International Youth Ragatta Coral Reef Yacht ClubDec. 29 MetroPCS Orange Bowl Basketball Classic BB&T CenterDec. 30 Junior Orange Bowl Festival Parade Multiple LocationsJan. 1 2013 Discover Orange Bowl Sun Life StadiumJan. 3 10th Annual Orange Bowl Swim Classic Jacobs Aquatics CenterJan. 7 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game Sun Life StadiumJan. 12 Orange Bowl Paddle Championships Bayside Marketplac MarinaMar. 9 Orange Bowl Lacrosse Classic Sun Life Stadium

Get 5% back on all in-store merchandise when you earn 100 points or more during a qualifying period. Sign up in-store or online at sportsauthority.com/theleague

*No cash value. No cash back. No rain checks. Coupon not valid on prior, online or S.A. Elite by Sports Authority purchases, gift cards, licenses, event tickets, store services or items intended for resale. Offer good on in-stock merchandise only. Must present coupon at time of purchase to redeem. Cannot be combined with any other offer, Cash Card, coupon or Employee or Friends & Family discount. Coupon may not be reproduced. One coupon per customer, per purchase. Exclusions include clearance items marked with $.97 price endings; Power Play Deals; UGG; Under Armour; The North Face; Brooks; Babolat; Titleist; Burton; Volkl; Penn Reels; firearms; and ammunition.

EXCLUDES ALL SNIAGRAB MERCHANDISE. MORE EXCLUSIONS MAY APPLY. VISIT SPORTSAUTHORITY.COM/EXCLUSIONS OR SEE STORE FOR DETAILS.

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OFF$10JOIN THE LEAGUE & GET 5% BACK ON PROTECTIVE GEAR, GLOVES, CLEATS & EVERYTHING FOOTBALL

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