Florida State dynasty started with desert magic

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

Do you believe in magic?

Neither do I. But I came close to embracing the supernatural on a dead hot afternoon in the desert toward the end of a football game twenty-two years ago. It was literally the Big Bang of the Seminole Dynasty.

First, a word about the magician. Michael J. Markowski is a Florida State graduate whose movie-star looks and genius for numbers made him one of the young lions of Wall Street in the 1980s. Today Michael Markowski is a businessman and a Platinum Chief Booster who lives with his family in Ft. Lauderdale.

A few years ago Markowski created a unique mathematical algorithm that allowed him to predict the performance, and especially the failure, of specific businesses. You can imagine the demand for his services during the current unpleasantness.

It was New Year's Day, January 1, 1988 at the Fiesta Bowl. The game started early, around 10:30 in the morning, and the slow moving all-nighters among our Seminole fans piled into the stadium. Heat ate through the morning shadows quickly then sat motionless in the air like a giant burning marshmallow.

Florida State was ranked #3, Nebraska #5. Our perfect season had been marred only by a one-point loss to Miami.

Nebraska started fast, jumping to a two-touchdown lead before some Seminoles had time to find their seats. Seminole defenders rose up. A Deion Sanders interception and a Paul McGowan fumble recovery both led to touchdowns. At halftime, the Seminoles were up 21-14.

Florida State had never won eleven games in a season; had never won a major bowl game. The Dynasty would be decorated with those achievements and more, year after year for the next fourteen years. But at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in the desert on that day, the Dynasty had not quite yet arrived.

Nebraska scored twice in the third quarter, pulling ahead 28-24. In the fourth quarter, the Cornhuskers' punishing runners drove the field, eating up the clock. My friends and I were sitting exactly on the Seminole goal line. We could look right down that line and see the Nebraska players confident and poised to score.

Cornhuskers in control. Ball on the 2; first and goal. Television time out.

It was during the long time out that Michael J. Markowski rose to his feet and surveyed our despondent Seminole crowd.

His voice thundered among the Seminoles. "Everyone! Listen to me!" Markowski raised his arms and turned roundabout to see all the faces. "I want you to focus. Focus your eyes and your minds on that goal line. Concentrate; as hard as you can. Stare at the ball and...think fumble."

"Trust me," he commanded. "Think. Fumble."

Hundreds of Seminoles did exactly as we were told. Why not? We lowered our eyes and stared at the goal line and the ball; that ball so close to that line. No one made a sound. We concentrated with all our might. "Fumble," we pleaded. "Fumble!"

The ball was snapped, helmets cracked against each other and the ball disappeared. In an instant, O'Dell Haggins discovered the football on the ground and beneath his belly. Magic! Seminole football on the two yard line.

When Seminole cheers subsided, fans were left to make what they would of the strange event. Some were uncomfortable with the feeling that they had conjured up forces of the supernatural. On the other hand, no one suggested giving the ball back to Nebraska.

Danny McManus took his team down the field in ten plays to the Nebraska 15. On a fourth down play, McManus threw a frozen rope to Ronald Lewis for the score and the victory.

Florida State finished the year with our first major bowl victory and a #2 national ranking. It would be another fifteen years before the Seminoles ranked lower than #4 at season's end.