Last year I started putting a bunch of old images of cool Michigan memorabilia in what I called the ‘Memorabilia Vault’. Author Jerry Green was tapped to pull together the book version and they’ve done a real nice job with ‘University of Michigan Football Vault‘, available at Amazon. The detailed scrapbook narrative contains never before published photographs, artwork and memorabilia drawn from UM’s extensive campus archives. Tucked into dozens of sleeves and pockets, fans will find reproductions of old game programs, historic tickets, and numerous postcards and photos. These fascinating replicas include the building permit for Michigan Stadium, a letter from high school recruit Gerald Ford to Harry Kipke, and a souvenir program and scorecard from an 1894 game against Cornell. You can actually pull these replicas out of the book and hold them. It’s very cool. As described, they actually reproduced some well known (ticket stubs, programs) memorabilia, and some not so well known stuff like this budget for the trip to the 1947 Rose Bowl, click to enlarge: It’s very cool – highly recommended. The replica memorabilia is worth the price alone, and the photos in the book are outstanding. All in all, very well done.
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eBay Watch: Former Legends think they’re Bill Shakespeare
For many of the legendary Michigan coaches and players, life after football has been pretty good. Some like Dan Dierdorf, Tom Harmon and Desmond Howard have ventured into the broadcast media, many others like Fielding Yost and Jamie Morris filled other roles within the athletic department. Of course Gerald Ford ended up in the White House. Many former M Men wrote books about or related to their craft. Bo Schembechler hooked up with Mitch Albom and John Bacon to publish bestsellers. This installment of eBay watch takes a quick look at a few of the books out there: Heisman Winner Tom Harmon: Harmon contributed to a few books but the one most widely seen on eBay is titled “Tom Harmon and the Great Gridiron Plot”. I assume he had some hand in the book other than lending his name, but the official author is Jay Bender. At any given time there are a half dozen of these books for auction so I assume it was pretty popular. I can’t find a full abstract or review on the book but I do see it was targeted for kids and I found this item description: STORY OF TOM HARMON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN TEAM WHO FIND THEMSELVES HAVING TO WIN THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP OR THEIR COACH WILL BE DISMISSED Shocking stuff…
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Tribute to Carr from Lasting Lessons author
John Bacon, author of Bo’s Lasting Lessons, submitted a piece on Coach Carr to the current Michigan Today alumni magazine. Non-dues paying alums and non-alums alike might not see this otherwise. Here’s the link. It’s pretty much fluff but I like the way Bacon wraps it up: I teach a class at Michigan on the history of college athletics, and invited Carr to speak. Last year, just three days after Bo passed away and two days after the Ohio State game, Carr asked, “Do you still need a guest lecturer?” When I introduced him, all 75 students cheered, and he regaled them for the entire hour with stories about Bo, his own career and the importance of doing what you love and giving back. Carr may have a lukewarm relationship with TV, but the podium loves him. Carr told the class that if he wasn’t a college football coach, he would have been a high school English teacher—and a very happy one. Carr was a teacher—one of the best this university has ever had. And over time, I’m convinced, that is exactly how Lloyd Carr will be remembered. You can also catch Bacon on Sunday on 1050AM WTKA’s Off The Field with co-host and M legend Jamie Morris.
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Newsflash: O-line Getting Bigger
I picked up a copy of Bruce Madej’s Champions of the West this past weekend and it’s got some interesting stuff. Greg Kinney of the University of Michigan Bentley Museum contributed and that was a big selling point for me. It was published back in 1997 and provides a year-by-year capsule of Michigan sports, dedicating a page or two to each season. The focus is on football but covers the entire Michigan athletic package. It’s basically a collection of factoids, bios, lists and general items of interest over each year and I’ve cited the book here several times due to some of the nuggets they dredged up. One of the lists they pulled together was the average weight of the Michigan offensive line over the years. Since it was published a decade ago, I added the last data point based on this year’s line and slapped it into a graph. Yes, they are getting bigger: Based on the data points I’ve seen, when the Notre Dame series is scheduled to end in 2032 the average Michigan offensive linemen should come in at around 6’7″, 327 pounds. This of course assumes a lot of things. Forgetting about human progress in fitness & nutrition for a moment, a key factor might be the type of lineman you want to fit the offensive…
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‘M’erry Christmas
Ahh the holidays once again. The webmaster was treated to a few choice M-related gifts including the highly regarded Michigan Crocs and a copy of John Kryk’s Natural Enemies, the definitive tome on the Michigan v. Notre Dame rivalry. The book will make a great addition to my library.
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Michigan Tradition 101: Study Guide for Coach Rodriguez
In his introduction press conference last week, Coach Rodriguez was up front about not knowing much about the Michigan football tradition. He promised to take a book on Bo Schembechler (I assume it was the new one, John Bacon’s Bo’s Lasting Lessons) home over the weekend and give it a read. I think most Michigan fans are concerned about wins and losses and would trade a championship for a coach that knows, cherishes and embraces the previous hundred and thirty years of football in Ann Arbor. Fine. But there are quite a few of us around that the tradition matters. Again, not to say that an outsider can’t come in and embrace it. While I’m growing tired of the Bo references to this situation, you have to consider Schembechler. Bo wasn’t quite a complete outsider as was Rodriguez, but he was an outsider nonetheless and is now the quintessential M man. Count me as a one that will be disappointed if during his Monday press conference on November 3, 2008, Coach Rodriguez fails to recount the history of the Little Brown Jug, as Coach Carr did each year during his tenure. And consider me ‘blue’ if we learn that Rodriguez doesn’t do something each practice to prepare for Ohio State, as has been done by each opponent since the days…
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Bargain Bin for Bo?
I saw this outside Borders in Ann Arbor last night. On the bargain bin was a paperback copy of the book ‘Tradition’ by Bo Schembechler with Dan Ewald. While its 222 pages lack a lot of written content, the photos are exceptional. And inside the back cover they included a copy of the outstanding Michigan Memories documentary on DVD (“expanded and revised”). So what? It was $4.99! It lists for $40.18 on Amazon.com. Memo to all you latte-sucking Ann Arborites: go pick up a copy! Need more convincing? Check out this incredible shot of the 1902 Wolverines at the Rose Bowl on a trolley ride. Check out coach Fielding Yost at the bottom with his hand on the trolley. The grin on the coach is worth the five spot alone (Click to see full size):
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Michigan Man, Hercules Renda
Little man with big heart dies at 88Sad news out of Michigan’s Schembechler Hall as 1930s Michigan football player Hercules Renda died yesterday while doing his daily walk at a Pontiac high school track. By all accounts, this was a great guy/ My wife had my copy of Jim Brandstatter’s “Tales from Michigan Stadium” signed by the man. Check out the photo above, I like his style. First off, he signed on the page of the book with his photo, second, he simply signed it “Hercules”.
