FIU coach’s father played key role in UM’s historic signing of Black pioneer Ray Bellamy

FIU coach Mike MacIntyre has a strong connection with Miami Hurricanes football history.

MacIntyre’s late father, George MacIntyre, was best known as Vanderbilt’s head coach from 1979 to 1985. But, from 1964 to 1967, he was a key Hurricanes recruiter, bringing in talented athletes such as Ray Bellamy, the first Black football player to sign a scholarship to compete for Miami. Bellamy was also the first Black athlete at any predominantly white university in the Southeast.

“My dad was the one who signed Ray (in 1967),” Mike MacIntyre said. “My dad convinced the coach, the athletic director and the president that they should sign Ray.”

Bellamy, who became an All-American at Miami and was inducted into UM’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, still stays in touch with MacIntyre.

In fact, Bellamy, now 73 years old and retired, called MacIntyre two days after the coach got hired by FIU this past December.

At 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds in his playing days, Bellamy was huge for a 1960s-era wide receiver. Bellamy played his high school ball up state in the city of Palmetto.

“(George) called me, ‘Big Ray’,” Bellamy told The Herald in a recent phone interview. “He said, ‘Big Ray’, they’ve never seen anybody (with your size and talents).

“In high school, I was also a defensive end and a kick returner.”

MacIntyre was right.

As a sophomore in 1968 – freshmen weren’t allowed to play varsity back then – Bellamy caught 37 passes for 579 yards and two touchdowns. His 37 catches established a UM sophomore record.

Bellamy’s career was upended by a near-fatal car crash on Miami’s Tamiami Trail on January 3, 1970.

“It was after Christmas break, and I was on my way back to UM, and I fell asleep driving,” Bellamy said. “I had to sit out for a year after that wreck.”

Bellamy said his car hit a pine tree. He was ejected from the vehicle, landing in the middle of the road. and his girlfriend at the time pulled him to safety.

“I broke my right forearm and my left femur,” Bellamy said. “I laid flat on my back at Doctors Hospital for 13½ weeks.”

As bad as it was, that car accident did not take away from the impact that Bellamy – and by extension MacIntyre – had on the Hurricanes transitioning to an integrated football program.

Bellamy said MacIntyre was a key reason why he signed with Miami instead of Florida State or the other schools who were recruiting him.

“To say that ‘Coach Mac’ was charismatic was an understatement,” Bellamy said. “He had the ability to reach into someone’s heart and make them feel 20 feet tall. He was an amazing man, very organized, and a good and decent person.”

Bellamy, who most recently served as an academic advisor at Florida A&M University, was more than just a dynamic athlete.

In 1971, he became UM’s first Black person to serve as student body president. He earned a Master’s degree in college-student personnel, and he was inducted into Iron Arrow, considered the highest honor at UM.

Following his Hurricane days, Bellamy spent less than one year with Montreal in the Canadian Football League – where he teamed with former Olympic sprinter John Carlos and ex-Nebraska running back Johnny Rodgers -- leaving to what became an unsuccessful tryout with the Joe Namath’s New York Jets.

Later, he served as an assistant coach at South Carolina State and at Fort Valley State.

But he has never forgotten MacIntyre’s influence on his life, including the coach standing up for him at a pivotal point in his career.

“I remember one day (in practice), a teammate deliberately ran into my leg in a walk-through drill,” Bellamy said.

“Coach Mac was angry. He yelled: ‘Listen to me. I will not put up with that kind of foolishness. You just hurt the best football player on this field. Big Ray is a human being just like all of you.’”

Bellamy said MacIntyre and Dr. Henry King Stanford, who was UM’s president from 1962 to 1981, were the “building blocks” for what became a championship Hurricanes football program.

According to Bellamy, MacIntyre was heavily involved in the recruiting of several UM star players such as running backs Tom “Silky” Sullivan and Chuck Foreman and defensive back Burgess Owens.

Together with Bellamy, they are considered to be the first four Black players in the Hurricanes program, and all of them were wildly successful.

Sullivan played for Miami from 1969 to 1971 and led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 1974. Foreman and Owens played for Miami from 1970 to 1972 and both were NFL first-round pick in 1973. And Owens went on to become a Super Bowl champion with the Raiders.

“George MacIntyre had a hand in all of that,” Bellamy said. “He was one of the most respectful human beings I’ve ever met.”

Similarly, Bellamy believes Mike MacIntyre will turn things around at FIU (1-2), which plays at New Mexico State on Saturday night.

“It’s in his DNA,” Bellamy said. “That’s who his father was, and that’s who he is.”