It’s always a great day when season tickets arrive.   This year’s cover art features various views of Michigan Stadium from over the years including a great shot on the original construction in 1927.  The shot is taken (I believe) some time prior to the dedication as it doesn’t include the temporary seating around the bowl that Yost  fashioned prior to the Ohio State game.   Very well done, here’s the UMass ticket:

 
If that’s the Ohio Wesleyan game, then coach Red Simmons is in this photo 

As a bonus you also get a super sized ticket to the UConn game.   I mean it’s bigger than life itself.  HUGE:

Don’t have season tickets?  Never fear, StubHub is here:

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An email from Brian at the great U-M Bentley Library this week was pretty enlightening (and a little discouraging) as far as the prospect of one of these being out there:

UM records show most were redeemed.  Not only redeemed, but also destroyed by burning:
A March 17, 1955 document states:

The Board in Control of Intercollegiate Athletics … hereby certifies that it has proved the following described documents and has caused same to be completely destroyed by burning them to ashes in the presence of the undersigned witness.

(1) Stadium Bonds issued by the Board in Control … numbered 1 to 3000, inclusive, except bond numbered 2393, together with all unmatured coupons attached thereto, all of said Bonds thus destroyed having previously been paid in full, duly retired and cancelled. . . . "
   
HO Crisler
Marcus Plant
Norma Bentley

I thought you might be interested in this information.  I’d love to know if there are any Bonds that weren’t redeemed and are still out there, but like I said, there couldn’t me many.  I think there were 2-3 reported lost or stolen that were replaced, so MAYBE the originals of those exist.

The elusive bond #2393!   So once again I’ll ask, anyone have one of these stowed away in their attic or on an office wall?

Here’s bond #2999

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On Saturday night, the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund held its second annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Gridiron Greats fund came about in 2007 to assist players from what former Detroit Lions DT Roger Brown called the “B.C. Era” – Before Cash – and has granted upwards of $2 million to former players and their families since its founding.

14 men were inducted into the hall of fame, mostly men who played or coached for the University of Michigan, Michigan State, or the Detroit Lions at some point in their careers. Among the inductees were legendary Detroit Lions Lomas Brown and Lem Barney, broadcaster Pat Summerall and headliner Mike Ditka, who has served as the public face of the nonprofit since its founding.

Four Michigan Men were inducted into the Hall:  Lloyd Carr, former head coach and retiring associate athletic director, “The Specialist” Bob Chappuis, war hero and star of Michigan’s 1947 national championship-winning team, John Greene, an end under coach Fritz Crisler who went on to break barriers as a Detroit Lion, and Michigan’s new athletic director David Brandon.

Lloyd Carr
Without Lloyd Carr, the University of Michigan would have to look back to the 1948 season to remember a time the Wolverines took on all comers, fair and square, and emerged from every contest victoriously.

Beyond the memories of the 1997 national championship season, which featured the breakout performance of Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, what Carr contributed to Michigan was the belief that winning big, even in the modern game, is not at odds with recruiting and playing by the rules.

Carr, who recently announced that he’d be retiring as associate athletic director, has maintained that Michigan is the only place for him, and echoed those remarks, calling Michigan “the greatest university you could ever be a part of.” Carr will likely remain involved in some capacity at the university; in a February interview with AnnArbor.com, Carr expressed an interest in using his talents to benefit other parts of the university with recruitment and development.

Bob Chappuis
After the ceremony, Chappuis told me a story that emphasized Crisler’s motivational skills.  The Michigan football team was practicing about two days before the 1948 Rose Bowl when Chappuis went down with a tweaked hamstring.

Trainer Jim Hunt ran over to check on The Specialist, who had finished 2nd in Heisman voting to Notre Dame QB Johnny Lujack.

Chappuis had played the entire 1946 season with a broken wrist and thought that Crisler might have some sympathy for him.

“What’s going on here, Jim?” Crisler asked his trainer.

“He’s got a hamstring,” Hunt replied.

“Oh well. At least it wasn’t anyone who can run,” Crisler said before walking away in disgust.

“You’ve never seen anyone hop up quicker after a hamstring!” Chappuis recalled. But Crisler’s motivational ploys worked. The Wolverines scored 7 touchdowns in a 49-0 romp over the University of Southern California in the 1948 Rose Bowl. Chappuis threw for two touchdown passes.

Michigan’s dominance in that Rose Bowl is important because Notre Dame had been the no. 1 team all year. After Michigan’s annihilation of the Trojans, the Associated Press took an unprecedented step and took a postseason poll to determine the national champion. Michigan won that vote, but much like 1997 with Nebraska, it shares the national champion moniker with Notre Dame.

Chappuis wore his 1947 national championship ring to the dinner.

John Greene helped break down barriers
“America was ugly when we came along,” Wallace “Wally” Triplett said when accepting the Hall of Fame award on behalf of his former Detroit Lions teammate John Greene.

Greene, who played end for Fritz Crisler and wrestled for Cliff Keen at Michigan, was a star on the Detroit Lions when Triplett, the first black player in NFL history, was signed to the Lions in 1949.

Greene, nearing the end of his career, walked across the room, shook the hand of his new teammate, and said “Welcome, Wally.” Not because Wally was a black player on an all-white team. But because Wally was a member of that team and should be treated just like anyone else – nothing more or less.

Triplett recalled that the state of the black professional athlete was precarious in those days. Without star players like Greene believing that the only color that mattered was the colors on the jersey, Triplett said, black players might have been relegated to the fringes of sport, like the Harlem Globetrotters: talented for sure, but sideshows undoubtedly.

“I want all of you to open your programs and cross out anything about John’s career stats,” Triplett instructed when he accepted on behalf of Greene, who at age 90 is in fragile health.

“His character means so much more than any of that.”

For Dave Brandon, the sidelines were a learning experience
Michigan’s new athletic director Dave Brandon was honored more for he and his wife Jan’s charitable contributions over the years than for his on-field exploits. About 2 minutes into his acceptance speech Brandon joked that he’d already talked for longer than he’d played one season.

Whenever Brandon’s playing days are mentioned, that he was not a star player comes up not soon after. But as Brandon has said many times since, that was just what he needed.

Brandon left Michigan feeling like a failure. He hadn’t played much, and was student-teaching and hoping to start a coaching career when he got a call from a Procter & Gamble recruiter.

He wasn’t about to ride the pine this time around. The job at Procter & Gamble – coincidentally, P&G is also where former Michigan AD Tom Goss started his career – was Brandon’s first step in a career that led to a seat on the Michigan Board of Regents and the big chair at Domino’s Pizza before taking the helm of the athletic department.

Michigan men, for the most part, shied away from the purpose of the Gridiron Greats fund, which is to help players from the “Before Cash” era with medical and living expenses. The Hall of Fame ceremony was the end of a long day that featured autograph sessions with inductees. Proceeds went to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, which said it has distributed more than $2 million in aid to former players.

Here’s a 2007 video with Ditka talking about how the fund came about:

James David Dickson is a reporter for AnnArbor.com who writes about Michigan sports in his spare time.

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As heard on the Michigan Insider this morning on WTKA, former Michigan WR Toney Clemons joined the Armstrong and Shapiro show on Denver’s The Score 1510AM radio.  Clemons, who transferred to Colorado last year, was of course was one of the players who corroborated some of the Freep’s practicegate findings.

Given the opportunity to take a swipe at RichRod (including the help of a leading question and a “dude”), Clemons surprisingly went the other direction:

“A lot of people from the outside looking in, they don’t understand that he really did have to rebuild.  When he came in a lot of guys left due to transfers, a lot of guys graduated out.  He’s running a whole different system and, you know, he’s right, he needs a certain type of player to run his system.  Big Ten Schools just need pro style offenses, they bring in big, fast guys and he likes the quick, speedy guys so he really had to rebuild.  A lot of people don’t understand that he lost a lot of talent due to transfers and graduation.”

“I wish them the best.  I have a lot of friends on that team.  I still love the Big Ten and I got a lot of friends who play throughout it so I’d like to see them get back on top because you never want to see a program like that struggle and I wish them the best.”

Here’s the audio:

OK, T. Clemons, you’re off the list.  Let’s put away the Raid we use on the roaches, and instead spray Febreeze.  Ahhhh, that’s better.

A big thanks to Ira at WTKA 1050AM for forwarding over this clip.   You can hear Ira and Sam discuss this and all the topics each day on their well-run podcast page.

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eBay Watch brings this incident back on the front page, as a seller is offering up wire photo reproductions of three of the stills from the famous incident that originally appeared in LIFE magazine, click the photo to see each auction:

I’d probably hold off on bidding on these and instead enjoy a couple of the tributes to the incident out there on YouTube.  First, the special edition YouTube of the battle including photos and quotes from the LIFE magazine feature on the incident:

Or, enjoy this clip of the run pulled together by WolverineHistorian.   Watching the buffoonery going on by the Cal defenders as they hopelessly try to wrap up 98 while taking horrible angles, I kind of understand what drove Brennan on the field:

More Harmon stuff:
* Harmon and Old Number..Six?
* Tommy’s the BMOC
* Tom Harmon says ‘Vote Heston’
* Old 98’s Son Faces Michigan, MSU
* Harmon Goes for the Gusto

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Unbelievable. If you missed it – U-M senior golfer Lion Kim took the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Greensboro, N.C. and in doing so, qualified for a spot in the freaking Masters.   Yes, he’ll play at Augusta national, legendary course architect Alister MacKenzie’s “other” jewel (other than the U-M Course).  Perhaps the Kim will have an advantage on those greens.

More from the USGA official site on the victory.

Greensboro, N.C. – The USGA already has a “Tiger,” a “Spider” and a “Golden Bear” as national champions. Add to that list Lion Kim, who won the 2010 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in the most dramatic fashion possible, sinking a 6-foot par putt at 9:06 p.m., 34 minutes after sunset, to defeat David McDaniel, 6 and 5, at the 7,218-yard, par-71 Champions Course at Bryan Park Golf & Conference Center Saturday.

Kim, 21, from Ann Arbor, Mich., lost the first hole of the scheduled 36-hole final to McDaniel, 25, of Tucson, Ariz., but won the second to square the match. He never trailed again.

“I was really tired mentally, but I just kept telling myself, ‘You know what, you’ve come this far,’” said Kim, a rising senior at the University of Michigan. “To give up… I wasn’t going to give up. I told myself, ‘It’s too late to give up, you’ve come too far, you have to give everything you have. If you’re going to go down, go down fighting.’”

Naturally Kim was asked if his first name was inspired by the nickname of you-know-who, and Kim told the story he’s probably had to tell 1,000 times like a pull-toy:

“My dad wanted to name my Lion because, number one, it’s very easy to remember,” said Kim. “I’m sure my parents got the idea from Tiger Woods. But I know for a fact they didn’t name me Lion Kim thinking I would be the next Tiger Woods. Trust me, they’re smarter than that.”

He’ll get a chance to see the more famous feline namesake next April.

(Hat tips to Mark at the Freep, and mgolf4 at mgoblog.) 

* sorry about the post title.

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According to the auction description this prize was originally given to “T.C. Garrett – 2nd base”.   Further, the seller claims the charm is “gold-filled except the baseball which looks to be solid gold.”  Top notch.

Coach Carl Lundgren probably presented Garrett with this prize and it was well deserved for the Wolverines.  They finished the conference schedule undefeated at 9-0 and dropped but a single game all season.  The concept of the College World Series wouldn’t arrive until 1947 (in Kalamazoo, not Omaha) so the Western Conference title was the brass ring.   Lundgren’s tenure at the helm (1914-1920) rested between two legends, Branch Rickey (1910-1913) before him and afterwards, the great Ray Fisher (1921-1958) who lead Michigan to its first CWS title in 1953.

No one’s met the reserve yet, opening bid $9.99.  I hope this finds a good home.

Elsewhere:
One nice thing about having the eBay Watch series running as long as it has, I’m getting more and more people contacting me about unique auctions or items.   Thanks to everyone who has emailed as of late. 

This came directly from the Bentley Library curator Greg Kinney a week or so back and it’s not available on eBay.  It’s a gold pocket watch given to Michigan athletics legend Horace Greely Prettyman:

The owner of the watch contacted the Bentley asking if any collectors, family members or historians would be interested in purchasing the watch.  Per the owner:

14K. Waltham Watch Co. Personalized pocket watch that was presented to Horace Greely Prettyman from the Fraternity Lodge No. 262 Ann Arbor Michigan  on 12.20.1898.

Not familiar with Prettyman’s work?  I don’t go to Wikipedia too often for info on historical posts but HGP’s entry is well done:

Prettyman won a record eight varsity letters at the University of Michigan, playing for the school’s football team from 1882–1886 and 1888–1890. He was the team’s captain in 1884, 1885, and 1886, and scored the first touchdown in the first game played at Michigan’s first home football field in Ann Arbor. Prettyman later became a successful businessman and civic leader, operating a boarding house, a laundry service, a power company and the Ann Arbor Press, and holding office as an Ann Arbor city councilman, postmaster and Washtenaw County, Michigan supervisor.

Amazing resume.  And Prettyman strived to keep pace with his surname, changing his look as fashion and/or the ladies dictated as the years passed by.   Judge for yourself, from a few of the team photos over the years:

Anyone with serious interest in the Pettyman watch?  Send me an email.

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I just chatted with Aaron Herdez of Herdez Pawn in Phoenix, AZ.   He’s the nephew of the shop owner and was willing to talk about the status of the Scot Loeffler 1997 Michigan championship ring that showed up on eBay.   To recap, once word was out that former Michigan assistant’s ring was stolen, the authorities were contacted and the eBay auction was pulled.    A few different MVictors readers reported contacting Loeffler directly (or through family members), confirming that he wanted the ring back and was upset at some of the neg bombs flown his way, implying that he sold it.  

A few quotes from Herdez on the situation:

• On Loeffler:  “He didn’t call it in stolen, he said he lost it and then he changed his mind.”  “We don’t know what really happened.”
• On how the store treats items like this that come in the store. “We do a police report for everything that comes into the store.”
• What is the status of the ring?  “It’s not for sale and it’s already been seized [by the police].  If I want it back I’ll have to take it court.”
• On how they came to own the ring:  “Everything we get comes from customers that walk into the store.”
• When they got the ring:  “I really don’t know, would have to look into the system.”
• Do they intend to fight this?  “We really don’t know yet.”
• Do the police decide what happens to the ring next?  “Yes, it’s really their choice.”
• On their next move.  “We lost out on this”.

    
It sounds pretty clear to me: Loeffler’s getting his ring back and that’s that.  I’m trying to get confirmation that it’s back in his hands.

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Check out this beauty.   A quick Friday edition of eBay Watch features a postcard, circa 1927, with a cool view down the endzone aisle inside the freshly built Big House.  Most photos of the stadium are from above or from the air, but this cat went Ansel Adams on me, click to enlarge:

It’s gorgeous and it’s not for sale anymore.   It went for $12 and it has a good home

Don’t forget, for more on the original stadium construction and much, much more pick up your copy of Brian Cook’s epic Hail to the Victors 2010 – it’s appearing around town (even at Meijer I hear!) and elsewhere now or order online. 

Elsewhere on eBay:

Hat tip to reader Steve V. for sending me this link, it’s the auction of a vintage Barry Larkin game-worn Michigan baseball jersey.  Very cool:

Bidding is currently at $213 and you’ve got 2 days left if you are reading this right now.

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Usually laced into the madness is a Michigan reference or two and they didn’t disappoint:

And I love they used the Michigan version of his last name before it changed to “JHY” after he transferred to North Carolina.

(HT: Thanks to Matt for the podcast)

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