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Jan. 27, 1985: On a tragic day, Miami Women’s Tennis coach Leann Grimes Davidge loses her life in a car accident at the age of 29. In her five-plus seasons, she led the program to a 93-53 mark, including a stellar 25-1 MAC record and four straight MAC titles. In 1986, she is the first woman inducted into Miami’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Additionally, the Leann Grimes Davidge Memorial Award annually honors an outstanding Miami female student-athlete who has excelled in athletics, academics and leadership.
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March 1985: Miami Women’s Tennis overcomes the tragic loss of its coach to post a 17-5 overall record and 8-0 MAC mark, capturing a fifth straight MAC championship. Senior Vickie Shields, a future Miami Athletics Hall of Famer, earns All-MAC honors for the third straight season.
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March 15, 1985: In an unforgettable dual of eventual Top-10 NBA draft picks, fifth-seeded Maryland and Len Bias outlast 12th-seeded Miami and Ron Harper, 69-68, in a first-round NCAA tournament game in Dayton, Ohio.
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May 1985: Miami distance runner Brian Carlton wins the final two of his five total MAC Outdoor Track and Field championships with wins in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter events at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Carlton goes on to finish third in the 5,000 at the 1985 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, earning All-American status in the event for the second time.
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February 1986: Miami Women’s Swimming and Diving wins the fifth of what would be seven straight MAC titles (1982-88), scoring a MAC Championship record 927 points. The Red and White is led by seven MAC individual titles, including three by Kelly Davis and two by Chery Lubeck, and sweeps all four relay events.
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March 14, 1986: Miami Men’s Basketball makes its third straight NCAA tournament appearance, earning an at-large berth after winning the regular-season championship under head coach Jerry Peirson. The Red and White falls to Iowa State when the Cyclones’ Jeff Hornacek connects on a long jumper as time expires. Consensus All-American Ron Harper finishes his career with back-to-back MAC Player of the Year awards and as the all-time leading scorer in Miami and MAC history. His jersey was retired at his final home game earlier in the season.
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May 1986: Miami wins the MAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship — the program’s first. Karen Bakewell wins both the 400- and 800-meter events; Mary Alice Wolf wins the high jump and heptathlon; and future hall of famer Candice Honroth wins the first of three straight titles in the 100-meter hurdles. Head coach Rich Ceronie captures MAC Coach of the Year.
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June 6, 1986: Karen Bakewell shocks the field at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis, winning the 800 meters in a then-NCAA-record time of 2:00.85. Bakewell, the MAC champion in the 400 meters a year earlier, had only been running the event competitively since March.
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Sept. 20, 1986: Miami Football goes into Death Valley and shocks No. 8 LSU, 21-12. Miami forces seven Tiger turnovers, blocks a punt and holds LSU to only six points on three trips inside the Miami 5-yard line. “They came and played hard, they played with enthusiasm, excitement and it’s a great tribute to a great bunch of guys,” says then-LSU head coach Bill Arnsparger, a 1950 Miami graduate, after the game. The Red and White goes on to win the MAC championship and earn a berth in the California Bowl.
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Spring 1987: Mark Brewer captures individual medalist honors, and Miami Golf wins the MAC title by 16 strokes over Ball State. The win begins a stretch of six consecutive seasons in which Rodger Cromer’s team won or shared the MAC title.
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Spring 1988: Sue Brozovich wins the No. 1 singles title at the MAC Women’s Tennis Tournament, making her the only woman in MAC women’s tennis history to win four singles crowns. Miami wins four straight MAC titles in her four seasons, and she joins the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.
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Oct. 21, 1988: In front of one of the largest crowds in the history of the former Goggin Ice Arena, Miami Hockey tops defending national champion Lake Superior State, 4-3.
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March 11-15, 1989: A Miami Softball team featuring future Hall of Famers Kristy Burch, Theresa Shepard and Monique Abbit starts 3-0 by sweeping NCAA tournament-bound Florida State (4-3, 1-0) and downing Missouri (4-3). Abbit (2006) and Shepard (2009) are the first African-American women inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame.
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Spring 1989: Led by All-MAC picks Stacey Mack, Jane Filus and Meg Boyle, Miami Women’s Tennis wins its ninth straight MAC championship. The streak ends the following year with a runner-up finish. In its first 16 seasons (1981-1998) of MAC play, Miami Women’s Tennis wins 14 MAC championships and never finishes outside the top two in the conference tournament.
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Spring 1989: Led by two-time All-American and two-time MAC meet individual medalist Sean Gorgone, Miami returns to the NCAA Championships for the first time in 15 years and finishes No. 21.
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