The theme of this week's episode is the rise and fall of great pigskin powers. The game? 1937 Michigan vs. Chicago. If these teams met at the turn of the 20th century it would have been one of the biggest games in the country. I'm talking Stagg vs. Yost huge. But on that November 6th day 84 years ago back in 1937, it was about two once-great programs in tatters.
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Calisthenics with Coach Kipke (1933)
Thanks to Black and Blue creator Buddy Moorehouse for sending this over. There’s no audible sound but this clip is worth checking out nonetheless. It’s from 1933 featuring Coach Harry Kipke, several of the players and includes some game footage and a lot of shots of the team warming up and going through drills. Buddy found this on a recent visit to Grand Rapids to check out the Growing Up Grand exhibit at the Gerald R. Ford Museum: I love the vintage game footage of the kick-off 45 seconds in. The opponent throws up a double wedge but the Michigan men maintain their lanes and squash the return. The full clip is 9 minutes and is property of the U-M Bentley Historical Library. Also on display at the exhibit is the RIGHTEOUS pigskin from the 1934 Georgia Tech game: Buddy also passed along that in honor of Gerald Ford’s 100th birthday on July 14, 2013, every PBS affiliate in the state will be airing Black and Blue. Nice! Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Harry Kipke Tames Lions (1935)
I don’t if Harry Kipke liked to be photographed, or whether the press chased him around a lot but, brother, there are always a lot of interesting photos of the former Michigan All-American player and coach. Just right now you can find photos of Kipke in scenes that have nothing to do with football—[left to right above] on vacation with his wife in Florida chilling in a bathrobe, hanging out with golfing legend Gene Sarazen, and most frequently, Kipke on his boat sailing or hanging out with other people who love to sail. I don’t know if there are any Kipke family historians out there, but I’m guessing you can piece together Kipke’s life (certainly in the 1930s and 1940s) through solely the lens of newspaper wire photos that pop up on eBay. Here’s my favorite and this might end up in my man cave. Taken in May 1935 (notably after the horrific ‘34 season), on the left that’s Kipke’s son holding what you have to assume is a leather Michigan helmet. Kipke is kneeling in a sharp 3-piece suit with a flower tie as he tangles with two baby lions at his feet. Harry’s no fool—note the protective oven mitts. So what’s the deal with all of this? First, chalk this up to a day in the life of…
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TWIMFbH–Kipke, Crisler and The Dickinson System (1932!)
For the latest edition of TWIMFbH we step down to 1932 and check out when Harry Kipke’s undefeated crew, led by All-American quarterback Harry Newman faced a very familiar name—Fritz Crisler and his Princeton Tigers. We touch on that game played this Saturday back in 1932, but spend more time on the method to determine the national champion back then, namely, The Dickinson System. As always, you can listen to it out before the KeyBank Countdown to Kick-off on WTKA 1050AM tomorrow, or click play now: [display_podcast] You can hear all of the This Week… clips here. Follow MVictors on Twitter More on the Dickinson System here: See Dick Compute: How an Econ Prof determined the National Champion
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The Kipke Culture
Over the past few days I’ve heard many Michigan fans comparing the 1990s Ed Martin scandal to the Sweatervest mess. To me, this is much more similar to the events that led to the downfall of former Wolverine star and 1930s head coach Harry Kipke. There’s a reason why we have buildings named after Schembechler, Yost, Crisler and Oosterbaan while the Kipke surname adorns a service road/path on the athletic campus. Love this wire pic- on eBay right now Like Tressel, Kipke had early success—winning league championships in his second and third seasons before taking back-to-back national championships in 1932 and 1933. Unlike the Vest, Kipke’s fortune turned sharply midway through his coaching career including the worst stretch in Wolverine football history from 1934-1936. While it’s not clear to me when the corruption started, it’s safe to say Kipke had a bit of a system rolling when he was sacked in 1937. Along with illegal summer practice up at Ford and some sketchy associates, under Kipke’s watch incoming freshman were given “jobs” (note me also doing air finger quotes right now). According to a university report players were basically guaranteed a wage at certain jobs whether they showed up or not. The local employer was “instructed to bill another Ann Arbor firm for the time the freshman collected for not…
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Rough Seas for Coach Kipke (1936)
The fall of Michigan coach Harry Kipke.
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Harry Kipke and the Fall of 1934
In April 2008, an eBay auction popped up featuring a 1934 Michigan student ticket book. It actually had tear-away coupons for each event inside, most of which remained unused that season. According to the conditions written jacket, the tickets were to be used for athletic events in general but for football “reserved seating” in particular. As a U-M student in the early nineties, I recall we were required to use the coupon books and I thought this was primarily a means to stem the sale of individual games. Apparently, this wasn’t just a recent phenomenon as there was definitely an attempt by the University to crack down on anyone using these tickets beyond the rightful owner. The student was required to sign off on a set of conditions and the fine print within the ticket jacket included a strong warning: “If presented for admission by any person other than the owner the book will be forfeited, taken up at the time of improper presentation and full admission collected.” The owner of these student tickets certainly realized that there would be some challenges on the field in the upcoming season. Kipke lost three All-Americans (Charles Bernard, Francis Wistert, and Ted Petoskey) and a host of other key players. Sound familiar? The 1934 season is probably most recognizable for the presence of…
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Kipke Region Finals: Petrino v Schiano
The Regional Finals of the ‘Death March Madness’ tournament (current bracket HERE – background here). Here’s a printable version. Bobby Petrino (Atlanta Falcons) vs. Greg Schiano (Rutgers) {democracy} Petrino knocked off Kansas State headman Ron Prince in the first round, then upset Iowa coach and rumored favorite Kirk Ferentz in the second. Schiano barely slipped by Florida coach Urban Meyer in the second round in the closest battle of Death March Madness to date.
