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While Wolverine fans tend to toss any great individual performance that occurred during a loss in the circular file, there are a few that stand out.  One of those is tailback Jon Vaughn’s 201-yard rushing performance in Gary Moeller’s coaching debut, a thrilling 28-24 loss in South Bend in 1990. 

Thanks to eBay, we now also know that Vaughn had a little more than game film and the occasional ache/pain to remember that great effort.  Evidently Vaughn was the game’s ‘Offensive Hustler’:

Yes, apparently Coach Mo not only dealt out helmet stickers, he also handed out Little League second place trophies for individual efforts.  Per the auction description:

Very rare one of a kind John [sic] Vaughn offensive hustler award for the game on sep 15 1990 vs the notre dame fighting irish. The trophy stand approx 14 inches high. The trophy does have some wear in areas. Please note that this trophy does not specifically mention his name. However i just recently purchased a memoribilia [sic] grouping from John [sic] Vaughn.

Vaughn earned more prestigious honors at the end of the season, particular co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.   Against Moeller’s advice, Vaughn bolted to the NFL after the season and had a short career in the bigs. 

Other Hustlers eBay
Here’s a couple other guys who deserved the distinction of Michigan’s offensive hustler, call it a Hustler lifetime achievement award.  

Let’s start with the great Bob Chappuis, here featured in this incredible photo currently up for bid.  He’s leaping over Michigan State’s Lynn Chandnois (or Jaws for James Bond) and both men signed the shot, very cool:

There’s always a bunch of cool stuff featuring all-time Hustler Tom Harmon, but this one was pretty nice.  It’s some sort of card featuring a photo of Harmon on the front with 98′s career stats on the back:

I don’t know if you can read that, but one thing stuck out–Harmon attempted 94 passes in 1940 and had 11 picked off.  Yikes.  That of course didn’t stop Harmon from taking home the ultimate college football Hustler award. 

Finally, this photo deserves a good home.  It’s 1920s revolutionary Wolverine footballer Benny Friedman on the sidelines from 1939:

This was more than a decade since his days in Ann Arbor, and at the time he coached at City College of New York (some folks wanted him to return to Ann Arbor to replace Harry Kipke).  As noted in the wire photo caption, he also strapped on the helmet for a local pro team named, naturally, the Wolverines.   From Murray Greenberg’s Passing Game: Benny Friedman and the Transformation of Football:

A true piece of Michigan football history just sold on eBay.  It’s a postcard but no ordinary piece of mail.   It’s a 1909 postcard depicting that season’s championship squad along with a flag presented to the team by the crew of the U.S.S. Michigan:

This is a special item for me—I first noticed this a couple years ago and used it to lead my submission on the 1909 season in Brian Cook’s Hail to the Victors 2009.   Back then, the gent named Don McCord who owned a different version of the mailer forwarded me a high res version for the publication.  Here’s how it looked in HTTV ‘09:

So as you can see, the original owner of the item recently auctioned on eBay took a few liberties with the pen, decorating the front with various info including a few cheers and the score of the following week’s game against powerful Minnesota (a 15-6 victory which earned U-M the title ‘Champions of the West’, and oh, was the first time the teams played for the Little Brown Jug.)

On the back (opposite the address line) the owner jotted down the words to your favorite fight song along with the notes:

It’s addressed to one ‘Miss Flora Bates’ up at Michigan Agricultural College in East Lansing (!):

Most notably, scribed sideways on the front of the postcard was a note about the flag adorning the center (flipped 90 degrees clockwise):

This reads, “the flag the sailor boys gave our team at Philadelphia – a beauty!”

Indeed a beauty and here’s the story, with parts extracted from HTTV ‘09:

In 1909 Michigan won the first four games of the year but was stunned 11-3 by Notre Dame (coached by former Michigan player Shorty Longman) on November 6.  It was ND’s first victory over the Wolverines.  Two tough games remained, trips to powerhouses Penn and Minnesota.

Penn was a team Yost and crew met in the prior three seasons but had yet to muster a single point against the Quakers.  It was getting so bad that traditional eastern power Penn was growing bored with the Wolverines and pressure was mounting to drop Michigan from the schedule in favor of Dartmouth.  A few weeks prior a Penn official told reporters, “If we beat Michigan, I don’t see how we can schedule her again.”

Something was clearly different this time and it started even before the game began and when the Wolverines arrived in Philadelphia they got a big boost.  The battleship U.S.S. Michigan happened to be docked nearby and contained around 400 sailors on board “determined to see the name Michigan honored.”  The “jackies”, as they were called, decided to rally behind Yost and the boys and marched onto the field before the game bearing Maize and Blue emblems.   A gift (that flag that made it onto the postcard) was presented to the team.  And to the dismay of Quaker fans the jackies didn’t head back to the ship after the ceremony. They stayed–cheering and singing songs to honor their namesakes on the gridiron.  Michigan captain Dave Allerdice later called this gesture, “as fine a spirit as I have ever witnessed.”

Clearly inspired by the Navy men, Michigan jumped on the Quakers when the battle started just past two o’clock. Michigan struck first, set-up by a fake field goal by Allerdice who feigned a kick but instead fired the ball to tackle Stanfield Wells who took it down to the Penn three. Two plays later the Wolverines pounded across the line for U-M’s first score (ever) against the Quakers. Michigan added another touchdown a few minutes later.

After a mere eight minutes of play, Michigan led 12-0. Per the Michigan Daily, “so stunned the Quakers that they gathered in the middle of the field and decided that something unusual was happening.”

Penn tallied a late score to make it 12-6 but by all accounts the game wasn’t that close. The Daily’s recap suggested that Yost took the foot off the gas, as the Wolverines were “able to score whenever they wished…content simply to win and not wishing to disclose many plays.” In the aftermath of the historic win the players carried Yost, who toted an unlit cigar in his mouth, off Franklin Field as the Michigan faithful cheered.

After the season the gesture by the men aboard the U.S.S. Michigan lingered firmly in the minds of those on campus. In January, nearly two months after the game, the U-M student council agreed to take up a collection to fund a special tribute to the crew. Chairman of the Board in Control of Outdoor Athletics George Patterson offered his endorsement for the project saying:

“The spirit and alertness displayed by the team throughout the game was without doubt due in no small measure to this auspicious welcome from our gallant friends of the U.S.S. Michigan, and I hope that they may carry away with them on their cruises around the world a fitting remembrance of the University’s gratitude and appreciation of their friendship and good will.”

The U-M yearbook, The Michiganensian, summed up the Penn triumph in its season summary thusly: “Football is not a serious thing to many people, but the stand made by Allerdice and his men against Pennsylvania meant something.”

Regarding the auction of the postcard, a few folks clearly realized this was something special up for bid.  I actually tried to bid on this but was left way in the dust.  The auction closed with a top bid of $112.50 earlier this week.

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