Over the last century, the University of Miami has turned out internationally renowned scholars and musicians, hosted presidential debates, bestowed degrees and has become an academic and athletic powerhouse. 

Chartered on April 8, 1925, the university is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The university was born in the midst of South Florida's first real estate boom. It almost went under when that boom went bad, followed by the Hurricane of 1926 that flattened Miami and the Great Depression. Yet the dream of a university in Coral Gables prevailed.

"There were some rocky times, especially at the beginning, and it almost didn't happen," Patricia Whitley, senior vice president of Student Affairs and Alumni Engagement, said. 

UM had humble beginning 

The university was the brainchild of Coral Gables developer and visionary George Merrick and former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. They envisioned a university that would serve South Florida from an idyllic educational institution that would encompass all of the Americas. 

In the short run, none of that happened 

It was only through the guidance of the university's first president, Dr. Bowman F. Ashe, that it was able to navigate through a bankruptcy, reorganize its financial structure and deal with the impact of World War II. The school system experienced major growth as returning veterans took advantage of the G.I. Bill to help pay for their education.

"We were able to get through it. The rest is history as they say," Whitley said.

In the beginning, the university had no campus, classes were taught in leased hotels and students went door to door asking for donations to keep it afloat. Over the years, the staff was able to lay the foundations university's School of Law, School of Business Administration, the School of Education, the Marine Laboratory, the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine.

It was the veterans of World War II with their G.I. Bill money that stabilized the university's financial issues. 

"I got out in May of 1946. They all started pouring in. They, the veterans, had guaranteed money, guaranteed tuition was going to be paid and each veteran had a pension," 99-year-old World War II vet Holmes Braddock recalled.  

The Merrick Building foundation was laid in 1926 and a framework went up. It then loomed unfinished for years. Dubbed "the skeleton," it was finally completed on the current campus in 1949. However, by that time, the original vision of a campus styled after Coral Gables signature Spanish Renaissance architecture was dropped. Modern buildings began to fill the campus.

"It's a special place. I think the fact we are located right in Coral Gables, a campus in a garden. Small enough to see the community of the campus but large enough to feel the spirit," Whitley said.  

There were academics and football

Football put the University of Miami on the national map. In 1956, it ranked sixth in the nation.

"By '83, of course, surprise for everyone, the first National Championship," Braddock said with a smile on his face. 

That win brought national attention and an increase in enrollment which included students from elsewhere who flocked to a campus where the winter weather was wonderful and the beach not far away.

With the influx, academics took precedence. 

"It propelled us to really attract more academically motivated students, honor students," Whitley said.

Former university president Tad Foote led the move by cutting the student body from 14,000 to 10,000, upping the admission standards and increasing the university's academic standing.

The University of Miami became more than "Suntan U." 

Looking back over the years Whitley said, "It was a slow start, right, and it took a while to get momentum."

University of Miami continues looking to the future  

That momentum continues to this day with the University of Miami Health System.

Former university president Donna Shalala built the massive system that not only benefits the Miami community but also helps to shore up the university's financial structure.

"I think the health system has put us in a great position, much more so than we ever anticipated," Whitley said. 

So what would the university founders say 100 years later? What if George Merrick could see the 2025 campus?

Miami Hurricanes super fan and UM graduate Braddock summed it up by saying, "Oh my God, I don't know if his imagination could imagine this to what it has grown to, its national stature."