Going Down Bloody-Nose-Lane With Bob Ufer (1965) | Storytime with Dr. Sap

[Ed.  Did you know the great Bob Ufer called the occasional hoops game?  Believe it.  Here’s Sap breaking down a recording from the 1965 IU game with Ufe on the mic.  P.S. If Ufe were alive today I bet he’d have a few choice words for Crean! #DONG]

A guest post by Steve “Dr. Sap” Sapardanis

With Michigan winning their first outright B1G Basketball Championship in 28 years, I thought it would be appropriate to look back on the 1965 Michigan – Indiana Basketball game.
Not because UM will be playing IU this weekend, but because Bob Ufer was doing the play-by-play radio on WPAG (the predecessor to your beloved WTKA 1050AM).

Back in 1965 Michigan, led by the great Cazzie Russell, also won the B1G title and was ranked #2 in the country behind some school out west (UCLA).  But the real story here is Ufer.

A few years ago, Ufer.org came out with a CD that had the first half of the UM-IU Hoops game and it is priceless.  To hear Ufer call a basketball game in much the same fashion that he called a football game is pure joy.  Here’s a breakdown of a few selected tracks:

[display_podcast]

Track #1:  Here you’ve got Ufe calling the opening tip of the game.

Track #2: If you listen closely you can pick up Ufer calling the game in the vernacular of the day.   Catch phrases, or Ufer-isms, like “Bloody-Nose-Lane” or “Net City” in 1965 would be replaced with “In the Paint” and “Nothing but Net” some 20 or 30 years later.

Track #3: My favorite might be the “right-handed push shot” that was used back in the day.

Track #4: You also gotta like how Cazzie always seemed to be the guy to “pull Michigan up by its boot-straps” when they needed a bucket!

So Ufer once again set the bar in UM radio broadcasting by calling both basketball AND football games.

And as the search for Frank Beckmann’s replacement continues, I wonder if Matt Shepard is reading…

Related:   Ufer merch?  T-Shirts, CDs and more.  Believe it.

Follow MVictors on Twitter