Then UM coach Howard Schnellenberger is carried off the field after the Hurricanes beat Nebraska for the 1983 national title. Players described the atmosphere at the Orange Bowl that night as electric and like a prize fight. (Miami Herald file photo)

The 70-year-old Grand Dame looms over Little Havana, tired, weathered, in need of a face lift, an imposition on a city that once revered her. Oh, the noise she made back in the day, back when University of Miami fans stomped on her shiny steel as the Hurricanes stomped on opponents. Things have been a bit quieter since those concrete reinforcements went in.

Oh, the stories the Orange Bowl could tell, if she could talk.

Surely, she would tell about the night of Jan. 1, 1984, the night she was gussied up for the 50th Anniversary of the Orange Bowl Classic. A classic, indeed, in front of a capacity crowd of 72,596. The City of Miami had been boiling for days following a police shooting of a young black man at an Overtown arcade, and many local fans were eager to put the violence behind and unite to root on the 'Canes.

Then-UM coach Howard Schnellenberger had stirred things up a few days earlier when he arrived at Orange Bowl media day in a helicopter as Nebraska coach Tom Osbourne addressed the media. The chopper landed on the 20-yard-line as players and reporters gaped.

It wound up being one of the most exciting college football games of all time, and the true birthplace of a Miami mystique that would extend well into the next decade.

UM, ranked fifth and without a single All-American, stunned top-ranked Nebraska, a team that was averaging 52 points a game, a team on a 22-game win streak, a team that boasted the Heisman Trophy winner (Mike Rozier), Heisman runner-up (Turner Gill) and the Outland and Lombardi Award winner (Dean Steinkuhler).

PRIZE FIGHT FEEL

Nearly one-third of the stands were filled with Huskers fans, whose sun burns were as red as their Nebraska t-shirts. They were in South Florida for a balmy holiday, a parade down Biscayne Blvd., and presumably, another national title. By the second quarter, they were silent.

Behind the passing of freshman quarterback Bernie Kosar, the Hurricanes raced to a 17-0 lead in a game that had the feel of a prize fight with back-and-forth action down to the wire. Nebraska resorted to the ''Fumblerooski'' trick play, got to within 31-30, and made a valiant last-ditch effort, going for two with 48 seconds remaining. But UM safety Kenny Calhoun's fingertips knocked Gill's pass away from intended receiver Jeff Smith, and the Hurricanes hung on to clinch the national title.

The tension -- and noise -- had been building in the Orange Bowl as the evening kickoff approached. The Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Suger Bowl were all played that afternoon, and every domino fell UM's way. Second-ranked Texas lost, No. 4 Illinois lost and No. 3 Auburn barely beat Michigan, paving the way for UM's improbable championship.

''I remember every last instant of that night,'' said Schnellenberger, now at Florida Atlantic University. ``It's been a long time, but my senses will never be too dull to remember the exhilaration, the electricity, and the feeling of completeness I felt in that building that night. I'm saddened the Old Lady couldn't have been refurbished along the way because the sightlines are great, the atmosphere is hard to match, and the nostalgia is so thick it puts soft pads on the aluminum benches, it makes escalators out of steps, it makes lounges out of bathrooms.''

Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bear Bryant, Joe Paterno, Joe Namath, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Walter Payton -- they all ran through the Orange Bowl tunnels. And the Orange Bowl Classic, with its glitzy halftime show and gorgeous aerial blimp views, was a must-see every New Year's Day.

''The Orange Bowl is a dump, let's face it, the locker rooms are tiny and you could barely understand what Jay Rokeach was saying on the muffled speaker system, but it was our home and we loved it and there were two nice things about it that helped us that night against Nebraska -- the playing surface and the volume,'' said former UM center David Heffernan, a Miami attorney. 'When that place was full, as it was that night, it was literally and figuratively rocking. I remember looking up into the stands and thinking, `This is so cool.' All the deficiencies aside, the Orange Bowl had an aura that cannot be replaced.''

ELECTRIC FEELING

Kosar went on to play for the Cleveland Browns, in front of the boisterous Dawg Pound fan section. He played in AFC Championships and was with the Dallas Cowboys for a Super Bowl. Nothing, he says, compares to the atmosphere in the Orange Bowl the night of the 1984 championship game.

''By game time, that stadium was so electric,'' Kosar. ``It was the loudest stadium I have ever been in, by far. Two hours before the game, it was already rocking. It still gives me goose bumps talking about it. When people started stomping their feet on the metal bleachers, the place was shaking, and it never got quiet. Sure, the locker rooms were crappy, but it was so noisy, the fans were right on you, and we were used to that breeze coming through the open end zone. We had a true home-field advantage.''

Mark Seelig, a kicker on that Hurricanes team, recalls a special moment nearly an hour after the game. The players had showered and done their interviews and were heading out of the locker room for the team buses.

''The walls of the locker room were thick, so we didn't realize how many people were still in the stands,'' said Seelig, a high school geography teacher in Orlando. ``We walked out and there were probably 30,000 UM fans, still there, partying. A bunch of us got on the microphones and thanked them. I don't remember what I said. I just remember it was neat. Really neat.''

Tony Fitzpatrick, the UM nose tackle that night, says a big part of UM history will die when the Hurricanes play their final game at the Orange Bowl Nov. 10. ``It will never be the same as that rickety, electric OB. It gutted me when I heard UM was leaving. That building helped us beat Nebraska, and got it all started that night. The game became an ESPN Classic and UM went on to dominate for so many years, and part of that aura was the Orange Bowl. You can't recreate that place.''