Tony Rice, Major Harris make College Football history in 1989 Fiesta Bowl

When West Virginia played Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, it was a first that is rarely talked about. 

I’ll apologize in advance if this gets a bit too personal. Growing up in Northwest Indiana, there are not many allegiances. Most professional football fans root for the Bears; others who dare to be rebellious root for the Packers.

I was rebellious. As a child, I rooted for Green Bay partially to antagonize my father, who thought Walter Payton and Wilbur Marshall were the epitome of what a “real” man should be.

As a ten-year-old boy growing up in the Glenn Park neighborhood of Gary, Indiana, I rooted for the Packers because their quarterback, Don “the Majik man,” Majkowski sported a blonde mullet like my favorite wrestler at the time, Sting.

Things were different when it came to college football. While my father wasn’t much of a college football watcher, I was always drawn to the college game.

College football jerseys were cooler, and they did not run the option in the NFL. Then there were the men who called the games for television.  First is was Irv Cross and Vern Lunquist calling the Army/Navy game, then Keith Jackson, the most outstanding football announcer of all time, doing commentary with Dick Vermeil.

January 1, 1989, was something different. My father always made sure that I was proud of being who I was, something I did not come to realize until later in my life. He would always say, “Be proud of your history, all of your history. Learn who you are, every part.” It was important to him that I understood that what was on the news did not have to be who I could become. There was always more.

The year before, in 1988, my family and I moved to Glenn Park after moving around and almost being homeless. My father made sure the entire family watched the Super Bowl that year. Dad and I watched a couple of the press conferences, and one reporter asked Doug Williams, “So what is it like being a black quarterback?” Though the answer escapes my memory, the question resonates over 30 years later.

Fast forward to 1989. The last couple of days before Christmas break was always a tug of war between my parents and me because they wanted me to get ready to get back to school, and I wanted to stay up and watch the bowl games that started at 7 pm local time. Fortunately for me, the game started in the afternoon.

Why the game was significant.

The showdown between the Irish and the Mountaineers was a game of many firsts.  Though the game predates the Bowl Coalition, the BCS, and the College Football Playoff, those in charge of college football wanted to bring the top two teams together. The Fiesta Bowl was the second time in three years a bowl game was for the National Title (though West Virginia was ranked third). It was one of the few times in the poll era that two independents played one another for the National Title.

However, it was the first time that two black quarterbacks would play one another for the National Title. Tony Rice was the starting quarterback for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Major Harris was the starting quarterback for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The Tony Rice Controversy

The moment almost did not happen, at least for Notre Dame quarterback Tony Rice. The South Carolina high school standout was the crown jewel in coach Lou Holtz’s first recruiting class in 1986, did not qualify academically for Notre Dame, and became the university’s first Proposition 48 student. Professors and students alike voiced their displeasure over the university admitting a student that did not qualify academically like other students.

Rice did receive his degree in Psychology from the university in 1990, graduating in four years. Rice’s 65-yard run at the Los Angeles Colosseum against arch-rival Southern California cemented a lead the Irish would not relinquish, earning their place in the Fiesta Bowl. Rice had 213 passing yards, 75 rushing yards, and two touchdowns in the Fiesta Bowl, earning MVP honors.

This, a seminal moment in black history is underrated and often overlooked.