Evening star., 1953-12-13
Some Stand in Line
20 Hours 10 Obtain
End Zone Tickets
By Don cuddy
SeeeiaI Correspondent Of The Sior

MIAMI, ria, Lee. Ill you
happen to have both q "con-
nection" with the University Of
Maryland and friends in Miami,
the chances are you will be
warmly welcome here just before
New Years Day.
And, by the way, how about
bringing along a couple Of extra
Orange Bowl tickets? Or, If
you can't come, just send the
tickets.
The chase is on down here
for any stray tickets that hap
pen to get into circulation for
this years top postseason foot
ball attraction. They're scarcer
than a modest bathing suit on
Miami Beach.
Terps Aren't Only Attraction.
It may come as a shock to
Maryland partiSanS, but the fact
that their flrst-ranked Terrapins
are playing Oklahoma in the
Goth edition of the Orange
Bowl festival is almost Incl
dental to the dyed-in-the-wo
Miami fans. Choice tickets for
this soiree have been a badge
Of social and professional afflu-
ence in these parts for dozen
years-regardlesS Of the teams
engaged.
Only $500 tickets-about 10
per cent of the seating capacity
are placed on one-day public
sale in late November each year. |
Several thousand persons here
have no other means but to
stand in line up to 20 hours to |
get them. The tickets are for |
end-zone locations and come In
pairs sealed in one-to-a-customer
envelopes. You take what you
can get when your turn comes.
BY comparison, and National |
Collegiate Athletic Association |
edict, the participating schools |
split an ALLEGATION of %, 1892 good
seats for the game that also pays
them about $4,000 each from
the gate receipts. So ingenious
gimmicks for prying loose a tick
ct or two from visiting partisans
are common. For example. when
little Santa Clara played Ken
lucky in 1850 the Broncos quota
Of tickets was quickly sold, but /
1t is estimated that three-quar-
ters Of the people who used the
seats never left home.
Miami Is Bowl Crazy.
The Orange Bowl stadium
ranks fourth behind the Rose,
Sugar and Cotton Bowls by seat
ing-capacity standards. But |
that's no measure of Miami's |
passion for postseason football |
spectacles. When you add up |
the support given the annual
Orange Blossom, Kiwanis and
Shrine classics-Miami is the
best bowl town Of them all.
The Orange Blossom contest
Is played in early December with
Florida A65M College as the host |
team. It usually decides the Ma
tional Negro intercollegiate |
championship and draws 10000. |
Kiwanis sponsors an annual high |
school game between the local |
champ and an intersectional
rival that attracts at least Is, 900. |
On Christmas night, Mahi Shrine
stages the North-South College !
All-Star game that is expected to
draw more than $4,000 this year. |
That's more than 100000
attending poSt-SeaSon games in |
the stadium before the decks
are cleared for the big one. The
picture could be inflated by
adding the 10000 who see the
Florida Miami "grudge" battle,
and some 10000 who return to
the stadium on January 2 for a
repeat performance of the $780,
900 King Orange Jamboree pre-
game parade and halftime cere-
monies.
padding" Days Long Gone.
The Orange Bowl and football
didn't always have it so good.
For the first four games, includ-
ing the original two called the
Palm Festival, the now power
full AZ members Of the Orange
Bowl Committee stood on street
corners giving away blocks Of
tickets to any one who would
pay the tax on them. Still. the
1885 game was played in COM
parative privacy. with attend
ance padded by bands and free
leaders to 5,134.
With only an 5000 -bleacher
saucer Salvaged from stands for
an American Legion convention,
the Orange Bowl group sought
national recognition. BY point
ing out that a big New Years
Day game would attract winter
visitors earlier and focus at
tention on Miami's holiday sun,
$4,000 was raised to underwrite
the 1886 presentation.
A slur by a national sports
caster about "the game without
a stadium" Stung Miami It
went after a stadium. with a
political double-play unrivaled
In sports.
"Favorite" Team Won.
In those depression years. only
the Federal Government had
funds to invest in civic improve
ments and among those whose
support was solicited was James
A. Farley, then Postmaster Gen.
eral.
Big Jim had a favorite foot
ball team He'd hardly mem
toned that Catholic University