• Benny Friedman author interview (UM podcast)

    I was digging around on the Michigan alumni site and found this. The True Blue Podsquad sat down with Murray Greenberg, author of Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football. The summary: Passing was not a major part of football in the early part of the 20th century. Then in the 1920s, Benny Friedman, the son of Russian immigrants in Cleveland’s Jewish ghetto, arrived at Michigan with a style and ability that changed the game forever. AAUM staff member Brad Whitehouse interviews Murray Greenberg, the author of “Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football,” to find out more about this largely forgotten U-M great. And the audio: [display_podcast] You can pick up a copy of Passing Game here. Related: – Benny Friedman Juggled Chairs – Yost Busts the Ghost – eBay Watch: The Wolverine Pack and 1926

  • Benny Friedman juggled Chairs

    Check out David Davis’ interview on Nextbook.org with author Murray Greenberg on his new book, Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football. An excerpt: How exactly did Benny Friedman transform college football? In the mid-1920s, at the University of Michigan, along comes Benny Friedman. He had a unique ability to grip the football and throw it down the field with accuracy. As a kid, he had ambitions to become a strongman, so he’d done a series of exercises designed to stretch and strengthen his wrists and arms: lifting heavy chairs and tossing them from hand to hand, things like that. Combined with his physical strength, he had nerve. He was completely unintimidated and uninhibited. He’d throw the ball on any down, from anywhere on the field, when that was practically a mortal sin. later: In the book, you point out that Friedman played at the University of Michigan while Henry Ford was promoting anti-Semitism in nearby Dearborn. How did the anti-Semitism of the day affect colleges and college football? The Jewish college football players of Friedman’s time walked an interesting tightrope. On the one hand, if they were good enough, they were welcomed onto the teams. On the other hand, they knew that schools had Jewish quotas and that, if they weren’t football players, they wouldn’t be welcome.…

  • Benny Baseball

    Thanks to his dominance in the early days of pro football some go as far to label Benny Friedman the Babe Ruth of football.  And related to the Bambino, did you know Benny used to swing the bat in Ann Arbor?  

  • Tom Harmon vs. Ohio State (Bentley)

    Terrible Tommy Nabs His Heisman | This Week in Michigan Football History

    This Week In Michigan Football History, as played during the WTKA 1050AM 'Countdown to Kickoff' held November 28, 2020 before the Michigan-Penn State game. Michigan has three Heisman Trophy Winners (Tom Harmon, Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson). We consider former Michigan players that probably WOULD have won the Heisman has it been awarded prior to 1935 - including Willie Heston, Bennie Oosterbaan, and Harry Newman. And finally we look at Tom Harmon's brilliant career and in particular the 1940 season, concluding with his dominant performance against Ohio State.

  • The Life and Career of Fielding H. Yost

    A video of my complete guest lecture at U-M course EDUC 212: The History of Intercollegiate Athletics. The topic is the career of Fielding H. Yost. In Part I we cover his early life and coaching career before Michigan, and just into his first season in Ann Arbor. Part II gets into his coaching and AD career, and legacy.