• The Snow Bowl (1950)

    But none of these games, even the Rose Bowl, told the story of the 1950 season. It was all about what happened in the amazing game in Columbus that year. It was November 25, 1950, in Columbus—a game that will forever be known as The Snow Bowl. The lead-up, game and aftermath of one of the greatest games in college football history: 1950's "Snow Bowl" - Michigan at Ohio State.

  • Stoned Wisconsin Badgers say, “I was there” (1981)

    Here’s a look at an interesting pin commemorating Wisconsin’s 1981 victory over Michigan. Certainly, no one in Madison would produce a trinket today for a regular-season victory, but keep in mind that Barry Alvarez wouldn’t arrive for another decade and Badger football consistently had a place at or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The lowly Badgers and hadn’t defeated the Blue since 1962 and in the previous four meetings, Bo’s Wolverines outscored Wisconsin 176 to zero.   Michigan was riding a nine-game win streak (including Schembechler’s first Rose Bowl victory) and that was enough for the pollsters to slot the Wolverines #1 in the preseason poll. This seemed to be an ideal opponent for the opener, held September 12, 1981, and Michigan came in as a 19 point favorite.  Over 68,000 pickled fans witnessed the historic 21-14 upset.   Longtime sportswriter Jack McCallum was on hand for Sports Illustrated: Last year Wisconsin didn’t score a touchdown until its fourth game. On Saturday in Madison, against a Michigan team that hadn’t yielded a touchdown in 5 games, Wisconsin scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and the gamer—on a 71-yard pass play. Quarterback Jess Cole throwing to Tailback John Williams—in the third. “This win is the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Coach Dave McClain. The issue? Michigan’s new…

  • J. Fred Lawton & ‘Varsity’ (1911)

    Probably based on the posts on this site around history and memorabilia, I receive the occasional email from folks asking where to find an old item, or more frequently, asking to put a value on something. So I’m like those twins on Antiques Roadshow who price out furniture. Reader Meg sent this note to me recently: I have a signed copy of Roses That Bloomed in the Snow, a book of poetry by J. Fred Lawton. Is it worth anything? Good question. I’ll get to the value in a minute but first, a little about Lawton. From a umich.edu page on the history of the Michigan Marching Band: During the fall of 1911, two Michigan students — J. Fred Lawton and Earl Vincent Moore — decided that the University needed a new song. (Since Michigan was no longer a member of the Western Fooball Conference, the words “…champions of the West…” as sung in the Victors seemed inappropriate.) Together, they wrote the fight song, Varsity, which was an immediate hit at the weekly Friday night pep rally in University Hall at which Moore played his new song on the Frieze Memorial Organ. Fischer was in attendance that night and, upon hearing Varsity, recognized its appeal. He agreed to play the march the next day at the Michigan-Case football game. Yes,…

  • Ripped Ohio, (Cont.)

    Thanks to the readers of this site for the great comments as of late. Check out the thread on the Dantonio Imbroglio post for a little back and forth between in-state rivals. And readers Chris and Bonus rolled up there sleeves and rolled out some passion-filled thoughts on this season in the days following the Ohio State game. The highlight for me, a former Michigan Marching Band member ‘jeffgoblue’ gave a little inside pool on the history of the MMB creating the script Ohio: I’m a former Michigan Band member (89-92). The first script Ohio has long been a part of MMB lore. Mind you, the ’32 band did not actually perform the cursive writing Script Ohio drill as the OSU band has done since 1936, they just made the formation. In the 1970’s, MMB director George Cavender, charted a Script “State” formation that the band marched to while playing the OSU fight song. The announcer’s script read something along the lines of “We taught you how to spell OHIO, now we’ll teach you how to spell STATE.” Here’s the photo from ABC last Saturday:

  • Ripped Ohio

    One good thing that came out of the game, ABC showed a photo of the Michigan Marching Band in 1932 introducing Ohio State to a little thing called the script Ohio. The photo is from the opposite side of the field, thus Ohio appears upside down. The October 15, 1932 game against Ohio State was played in Columbus: Michigan Marching band performing the Script Ohio, 1932 Michigan won the game 14-0 and on the back for player of the year quarterback Harry Newman, went on to win the national championship.

  • The Inspiration of 1898

    With Saturday marking the one-hundredth game between Michigan and Michigan State, I took a look back to find the first meeting of the two schools. It dates back to the late 19th century when on October 12, 1898, the Wolverines defeated the crew from Michigan Agricultural College 39-0 in Ann Arbor. The season of 1898 was a special one for other reasons. The Gustave Ferbert coached squad made it through the season undefeated heading into the final game- a showdown with the powerhouse University of Chicago held on Thanksgiving Day. The defining moment of the game was when Wolverine Charles Widman broke free on a 65-yard run that allowed the M men to take down Chicago 12-11 and claim the title of Champions of the West. One of the 600+ fans that attended the game was music student Louis Elbel. As recorded in the October 1979 version of the Michigan Alumnus and posted on the alumni website, here are Elbel’s own words on how the Chicago win and the season of 1898 inspired the greatest fight song in the world: “We were crazed with joy,” Elbel. “We paraded in the dark. We yelled and followed our U-M Band, singing to the tune of “Hot Time in the Old Town.” It struck me quite suddenly that such an epic should be…

  • Jug Retained – Minnesota Recap

    Another slow start, another nice win for a Michigan team playing short handed. Despite the early mistakes blew away the Gophers in the second half and retained the Little Brown Jug. Ryan Mallett took one step back but two steps forward in his development, making up for some early mistakes by connecting with Manningham on some nice throws in the second. In the end Captain Shawn Crable secured the ancient receptacle and the Wolverines ensured that it would be safe in Ann Arbor for another year. A few takes from inside the Big House: – As I observed at the 2005 game, the Gopher fans were a big no-show at the Big House. I think I counted about 20 Minnesota fans, concentrated in one pocket of the stadium (see pic above). Either that or they have devious Maize and Blue colored disguises. I think I saw more hockey fans from Boston U. who were in town to watch the Terriers get swept by the Blue at Yost. – All signs point to a health Hart and Henne returning next week for the big one against State. Henne was active on the sideline and I saw Hart do a little sprint after the pre-game coin toss. They’ll be needed; Danontio will have the Spartans primed. – I caught Beckmann and Brandstatter…