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Pure gold.  Check out 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:

* 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].”

More to come.

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