The most organic piece of sports memorabilia for the University of Miami as it returns to the national stage of the Cotton Bowl isn’t some musty ticket, sweat-dried jersey or videotape of players dirty dancing on the field at the game.
It’s a 56-year-old man who dresses in business suits and investigates illicit money for the Department of Homeland Security who famously ran out of the end zone after a touchdown catch and disappeared up the Cotton Bowl tunnel.
Randal Hill is still running to some, too.
“You’re that guy,” a federal official said recently to Hill, a federal agent, as they left a meeting of high-ranking officials.
“What guy?” Hill said, even as he knew what was coming, because it’s come from judges and lawyers as he’s testified in court, on trips to the Caribbean for work or the supermarket for dinner on almost a still-daily basis.
“You are ‘The Tunnel Guy,’ ” the official said in Washington.
As the Miami Hurricanes move to a national stage for the first time in decades, it intersects with their dynastic and distant path in such an obvious manner that Mario Cristobal had the right words for it.
“Those were great days,” the Miami coach said, “but it’s our turn.”
Sports is about now, today, the next big moment, he was saying. And he’s right for those on the stage. But sports also is a conversation for the rest of us that involves memories, at least if you were around to have them.
Miami’s playoff game against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl next Wednesday comes with a potent whiff of nostalgia. The last time Miami played for the high stakes that define its program was in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State that ended in defeat and a controversial referee’s call.
The last time Miami played in the Cotton Bowl, too, it dominated Texas in a 46-3 win that is more remembered for its 202 yards of penalties, Canes-being-Canes behavior and, yes, Hill running up the tunnel before returning with finger-six-shooters firing.
“It throws everyone for a loop today when they hear my name, because I wear suits and have a briefcase and am involved in national security and they think, ‘Is this the same guy?’ ” he said. “But then I never fit any of their (stereotypes).
“I graduated in four year(s). I’m from a family of educators. I’ve never had a drop of alcohol in my life. I’m married to a doctor. I’m as square as you get.”
He laughs. “I’m the complete opposite of who I was on the field with Miami.”
Once, a federal judge asked of that run up the tunnel, “Why did you do it?”
“I was mad,” he said.
The full Miami team was that day because they weren’t playing for the national title. The added component as the rout went on for Hill was he wasn’t getting the ball thrown his way. He went in the huddle before the play and told quarterback Craig Erickson, “I’ve got man-to-man coverage — throw it to me.”
Erickson did and 46 yards later Hill kept running.
“Forrest Gump owes me,” he said of a scene in the movie where Forrest kept running just like Hill.
“It’s a moment I wouldn’t want to change,” Hill said. “There’s a lot of positives, and there’s some negatives to it. It went down in history, but it probably hurt me as far as (former Miami coach) Jimmy Johnson wanting me with the Dallas Cowboys. They wouldn’t want the guy who run up the tunnel at the Cotton Bowl.”
Hill was a first-round draft pick of the Miami Dolphins in 1991 who was traded to Arizona before playing a down and returned to the Dolphins in 1995. He was asked to give a speech before federal officials one day. Afterward, an agent suggested he join their ranks after football.
So, in 2003, he became a federal official involving work he won’t talk about beyond it often involving illicit money, foreign borders and bad guys. He followed Miami football from afar until recent years when Cristobal, UM president Joe Echevarria and athletic director Dan Radakovich expressly invited former players back.
Now that Miami’s advancing in the playoffs and program is back to its …
“It’s not back,” he said. “It won’t be back until they win a national title.”
The standard is the standard. He likes this team, supports Cristobal, “150 percent,” and, yes, agrees with Cristobal that it’s their turn now. It all links with the past, though. And that past involves a guy running up a tunnel in a manner he’s still running in some memories.
