For tonight’s epic revival of our series against our natural enemy Notre Dame, we salute the memory of Michigan’s iconic radio voice Bob Ufer. We lost him on this day in 1981 and while the Wolverine broadcasts will never be the same, old Ufer will never be forgotten and heard as long as Michigan football is played.
Here’s the clip – we miss you Ufe!
Check out ufer.org for more on Ufer! Listen live(!) inside the Labatt Blue MVictors Lounge on Saturday night and on WTKA 1050AM. And for more on the Notre Dame rivalry, check out:
Yost Gets a Dog to Get Shorty Longman’s Goat (1909/1910)
When Michigan Canceled the Notre Dame series (1910)
John Kryk’s Natural Enemies
script:
Today we honor the memory of legendary MEEECHIGAN radio voice Bob Ufer who passed away on this day in 1981. While we lost Ufer 38 years ago today, the old boy is FAR from forgotten. His famous calls still echo in the lots, in the neighborhoods, over the golf courses, and in homes from coast to coast – from the coast of Lake Michigan to the coast of Lake Erie when his beloved MEECHIGAN football plays on Saturdays.
Ufer called a few epic games against Notre Dame, and he certainly understood the significance of this rivalry. Ufe knew our history began when your beloved Wolverines traveled to South Bend and tought them how to play this game back in 1887.
When Ufer started his broadcasting career Michigan’s Grand Old Man, Fielding H. Yost was still around campus. Like any great coach, many of Yost’s former players went onto to have coaching careers themselves, including a gent named Frank “Shorty” Longman – a player on Yost’s point-a-minute teams. After U-M Longman took the head coaching job at Notre Dame and actually delivered the Irish’s first win over Michigan in 1909.
The following year the rivalry turned SOUR when scheduled game in 1910 between our schools was ABRUPTLY CANCELLED, literally hours before the scheduled kickoff. Things would never be the same.
After brief resumption of the series in the 1940s, it was another three and half decades before these natural enemies would face each other again. And that’s when Ufer comes back into the picture. Prior to that 1978 Reunion Game, Michigan QB Ricky ‘The Peach’ Leach suffereed an ankle injury that kept him out of practice all week…but the Flint native was boosted by a personal pep talk from Ufer before the game, and Ricky promised Ufer he’d give it a go.
And go Leach did – leading Michigan to a 28-14 victory over the Irish in undeniably one of Ufer’s favorite calls in his wonderful career.
We Miss and salute Bob Ufer, up in Meeechigan Football’s ValHalla, and say Go Blue, Beat the Irish and for more check out ufer.org, MVictors.com and WTKA.com – for the keybank countdown to kicoff this is Greg Dooley.
