61 Days to Miami Football: Don Bailey Jr. Hurricanes icon
Don Bailey Jr. was a center with the Miami football program from 1979-82 under legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger. Bailey is currently the color analyst on the Miami football broadcasts.
Don Bailey Jr. has become an iconic broadcaster for the Miami football program over the last 25 years. Bailey began his association with the Hurricanes as a center under Howard Schnellenberger. Bailey snapped the ball former Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly and former Miami head coach Mark Richt.
Bailey made his first start as a freshman in the Hurricanes 26-10 upset victory at number 19 Penn State. The victory on the Nittany Lions homefield is often credited as the game that launched Miami into the national consciousness in the Schnellenberger era. Bailey graduated a year before Miami’s 1983 National Championship season.
Following college, Bailey played in the NFL for the Indianapolis Colts in the 1984 and 1985 seasons. Bailey currently owns Don Bailey flooring, a business that was started by his father. Don Bailey Sr. made the company well known in South Florida for the billboards they posted.
As the analyst for Miami Football games, Bailey has become an icon with his style and pop culture references that are selected by the Hochman and Crowder Show in afternoon drive on WQAM in South Florida. Hosts Marc Hochman and former Miami Dolphin Channing Crowder give Bailey pop culture references to use during games.
Bailey makes a weekly appearance with Hochman and Crowder. The hosts discuss the background and meaning behind the references and Bailey Jr. somehow works them into the Miami football broadcast. Play-by-play announcer Joe Zagacki plays along, often not knowing what the context of the pop culture reference is.
Next. 62 Days to Miami football: K.C. Jones All-American center. dark
Bailey and Zagacki have been the Miami play-by-play announcing team for the Miami football program for nearly 20 years. The majority of those seasons have been mediocre for the Hurricanes, but Zagacki and Bailey make the games a fun listen often in spite of the outcome. Don Bailey Jr. is the best 61 in Miami history.