I love this ad from LIFE Magazine in the days leading up to the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics featuring Michigan Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon. Old 98 is featured as an NBC broadcaster who likes his Schlitz beer with a little extra gusto.
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Coaching Legends in Atlantic City (1957)
This edition of eBay Watch takes a look at a special pint glass. Like I’ve found with many of these memorabilia auctions the description doesn’t quite make sense and certainly doesn’t do the item justice: Up for bid we are listing 9 vintage football glasses all in mint condition. This one is Herbert ” Fritz ” Crisler from the University of Michigan 1957. The top of the glass reads Atlantic City National Football Clinic. The back lists the Clinic staff members. It measures 5-3/4″ tall. Great piece for the collector. Paypal preferred or money order only. Yes, it’s an old pint glass for a football clinic with famous Michigan coach and athletic director Fritz Crisler on it. That got my attention. But on the back of the glass it lists the rest of the staff for the event and it’s remarkable. Here’s a photo of the piece which recently sold on eBay for $15: Check out some of the legends that attended the conference in the city where the sand turns to gold from March 11-14, 1957: The top of the list of coaches is the great Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant, who at the time was still the head man at Texas A&M. 1957 was his final season for the Aggies as his “momma called” him back to Alabama where he…
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Affectionately, Fritz Crisler (1968)
Check out this late 1960s unique item-it's a program from some sort of reception or dinner for Fritz Crisler. This one is pretty cool as Crisler signed it for a gentleman named George writing, “To George, a grand person, Best Wishes all ways, Affectionately Fritz Crisler."
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eBay Watch: The 1954 Bust
There’s a bevy of legendary former coaches and players descending on Ann Arbor for the 2008 Griese/Hutchinson Champions for Children’s Hearts Celebrity Golf Tournament (Sunday) as well as the Swing to Cure Diabetes (Monday) both at the M Course. This provides a nice opportunity to take a look at another item in the eBay Watch series, this time a signed program from the 1954 post-season football Bust autographed by the team and many of the greatest names in Michigan football history. Check it out: Coach Bennie Oosterbaan’s ’54 Wolverines finished just 6-3, certainly nothing too special but there were some notable wins. Anchored by All Big Ten quarterback Ron Kramer and All American tackle Art Walker, Michigan upset #4 Iowa and #8 Minnesota at home but fell 21-7 in the season finale to Woody Hayes and his #1 Buckeyes. The AP slotted the Wolverines at #15 in the final poll and Dr. StrangeHayes and the Bucks ended up sharing the national title after downing Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl. The 1954 season holds a special place in Buckeye lore. Obviously the national championship cements this distinction but this is in essence the year Woody Hayes deflected his critics and became a legend. I could go on about the ’54 version of ‘The Game’ but since my team lost, I…
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The Drunk and Old 98
Here’s a great moment of Michigan Football lore. Were you aware of the showdown between Wolverine legend and Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon and a drunken fan during Michigan’s game at Cal back in 1940. I recently purchased this page out of Life magazine on eBay for $6.50 and it depicts the scene. Additional research yielded some great quotes from the fan, enjoy: There are so many great things about this incident. The guy is just a real classic. After watching this thing and picturing Brennan giving the interview for Life magazine, you end up wishing he actually did bring Harmon down. I love that Harmon had to make a little move and apply a stiff arm to shed the pickled Brennan. The beauty of it is that Brennan, in his mind, feels like he actually did tackle Harmon, first saying he almost did, then he changes his tune by saying no Cal player tackled #98 all day but “I did.” This guy is a national treasure. I tracked down some more info on the game here, turns out Harmon called it a day before the first half even ended. The fact that Life took the pains to put this pictorial together is great as well [a 1940s version of YouTube], and their caption writer deserves major props, “..Brennan sinks…
