How about the 1948 Rose Bowl in Pasadena against USC? The 49-0 win capped off a national championship season where the Wolverines went 10-0 and outscored their opponents 394-53. You may have seen some clips of this version of Fritz Crisler's "Mad Magicians" featuring Bob Chappuis and Bump Elliott on Michigan Football Memories show from PBS. The combination of line shifts and ball movement is jaw-dropping:
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Coach Mac Wants his Mojo Back
On November 20 last year I wrote this post on the auction of a 1980 Big Ten Championship (and ’81 Rose Bowl) ring. This beauty eventually sold for a cool $1,990. The ring bears the name “McCartney” and thus it was speculated that this could be the property of former Michigan assistant coach Bill McCartney. This suggestion was dismissed as the seller pointed out that this was merely a salesman’s sample and we all moved on with our happy lives. Until last night. Turns out McCartney’s grandson TC McCartney is a freshman quarterback for Coach Miles [recruitniks: Yes, TC considered Michigan so take a cold shower]. After returning from the BCS Championship in New Orleans, Coach Mac’s better half was looking for some LSU Championship news and found MVictors (naturally). More specifically, she found the story on the ring and it prompted her to give us an excellent saga along with a plea: We just got back from watching our grandson’s team, LSU win the National Championship. I was browsing about looking for anything National Championship or LSU when I came upon this site. Oh my goodness, my husband’s 1980 Rose Bowl ring! How in the world did it get there? When one of our son’s was in high school his Dad let him wear the ring to impress somebody…
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Michigan Memorabilia Vault: 1960-present
A gallery of Michigan athletics memorabilia from around the web. Do you have anything from this era to share? Scan it in and send it over to me. Click to see full size:
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Michigan Memorabilia Vault: 1940-1959
A gallery of Michigan athletics memorabilia from around the web. Do you have anything from this era to share? Scan it in and send it over to me. Click to see full size:
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Michigan Memorabilia Vault: 1920-1939
A gallery of Michigan athletics memorabilia from around the web. Do you have anything from this era to share? Scan it in and send it over to me. Click to see full size:
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Michigan Memorabilia Vault: 1800s-1919
A gallery of Michigan athletics memorabilia from around the web. Do you have anything from this era to share? Scan it in and send it over to me. This collection includes a variety of photos, stubs, programs, pins and other items from the dawn of Michigan football in the late 1800s, to the crafting of The Victors by Louis Elbel, to when Fielding Yost arrived on campus and began the reign of terror with his point-a-minute teams. Enjoy the memorabilia – Click to see full size:
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eBay Watch: M Men sell their Rose Bowl rings?
After all my dogging of former Ohio State players for selling their precious charm pants (which they receive if they beat Michigan) on eBay, look what just showed up in the memorabilia auctions. It’s a 1980 Big Ten and Rose Bowl ring. Often the OSU gold pants auctions hide the name of the original owner; in this case the name is in giant letters on the side of the massive ring: Did this beauty belong to coach Bill McCartney, architect of the McCartney’s Monsters defense as Ufer described them, who was an assistant under Bo Schembechler on that great team? There were no other McCartney’s on the 1980 squad. Did Coach McCartney voluntarily sell his ring? Maybe not. The auction specifies that this is a “RARE salesman sample with all proper markings inside the ring”. Whew…perhaps the integrity of the Michigan coaching staff is preserved! McCartney left Michigan a year later to take over the Colorado head coaching position. He led the Buffaloes to a national championship in 1990 and retired following the 1994 season. Sample or real, this is quite a piece of Michigan history will significant ties to the present. Check out some of the names on the 1980 team and staff: Assistant coaches: Lloyd Carr, Jerry Hanlon, Bill McCartney, Les Miles, Gary Moeller Players: Mike Trgovac, Butch…
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To go along with your Michigan lawn gnome
A few items of interest from around the web, here on Wednesday evening before the battle for the Little Brown Jug: – Just posted on mgoblue.com, for sale is a replica commemorative coin that is being used on Novermber 17th as the flip coin for the big game. It features the likeness of Woody on one side, and Bo on the other. Have to assume the Buckeye captain will call ‘Woody’ when the teams meet at midfield but we’ll see. For those who need to add to their collection of knicknacks, and knicknacks. – Frank Deford on NPR this morning, discussing the ridiculous nature of the college bowl system: “No fair or rational system can choose just two teams to play for the title. ‘Dancing with the Stars’ is a more genuine athletic competition.” – Earlier this week Mgoblog on Lloyd Carr: Carr has once again picked his charges up off the mat and driven them towards respectability. We can wish this peculiar talent of Carr’s was less firmly established, but we should be thankful for it at the same time. – And finally back to the Little Brown Jug, an excerpt from this week’s Game Notes press release: The trophy disappeared from the trophy case of the Michigan Athletic Administration building in 1930 and was not found until 1934.…
