Hot Tub Time Machine – Bob Bergeron (1984)

Pure gold.  Above that’s Michigan kicker Bob Bergeron from Sports Illustrated’s 1984 college football preview.

Bergeron got the honor in large part for banging through this famous field goal to defeat Iowa, thirty years ago this fall in 1983:

These days Bergeron, 51, lives in Ft. Wayne with his wife & two kids and is a coach on the Snider High School football squad.   I dialed up the U-M legend recently and chatted about that great photo, Bo, his famous kick and much more.  The net of all this will appear later on, but in the short term a few interesting facts about that classic photo:

  • SI tried several different photos, originally under one of the tall showers in Crisler Arena in an attempt to demonstrate Bergeron’s short stature.   Yes, they also took a few regular shots of him kicking before settling on the hot tub pic—also shot in Crisler.
  • The football, cleats and Ricky Leach poster were brought in as props.  Interesting that the ‘Champions are made in practice’ sign was not brought in—it was a fixture in the hoops arena.
  • Why the tub?   At one point Bo famously claimed that Bergeron, “weighs 135 pounds soaking wet.”
  • Why the pizza?  After Bergeron’s epic ‘83 kick vs. Iowa reporters joked with Bo, noting that his kicker wasn’t even on scholarship.  Someone suggested that Schembechler, the owner of a Domino’s franchise, at least get him a pizza.  Bo obliged:
Pizza
  • And did Bergeron actually get to eat the pizza used in that photo?   “I did,” Bergeron told me with a laugh.  “I took it home and shared it with my roommates, Don Bracken [a punter] and Mike Melnyk [a kicker].”

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