But none of these games, even the Rose Bowl, told the story of the 1950 season. It was all about what happened in the amazing game in Columbus that year. It was November 25, 1950, in Columbus—a game that will forever be known as The Snow Bowl. The lead-up, game and aftermath of one of the greatest games in college football history: 1950's "Snow Bowl" - Michigan at Ohio State.
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When the Game Must be Moved
Played January 11, 2009, scheduled January 9, 2009 Red Berenson and crew continued its roll yesterday afternoon, wrapping up a sweep of Miami, OH with a 4-0 shutout. The rare Sunday tilt was of course due to the postponement of Friday’s scheduled game, due to the structural issues uncovered at Yost Ice Arena. This wasn’t the first time a scheduled game had to be moved, and unfortunately many of the other incidents were brought on by darker circumstances. I thought this would be a nice opportunity to look at some of those instances: 1963 – Kennedy The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963 moved out the Ohio State game which was scheduled to be played in Ann Arbor the next day. Played November 30, 1963, scheduled November 23, 1963 I was able to connect with Dr. Barry Dehlin, a sophomore on Bump Elliott’s 1963 crew and ask him about his memories of the days surrounding the assassination. Here’s what he wrote: Naturally the assassination was a shock to all of us. I remember being in the dorm getting ready to go to practice when I heard what had happened. One of those sentinel moments in your life that you will always remember. We still met that Friday and the decision was already made that the game was postponed…
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Stoned Wisconsin Badgers say, “I was there” (1981)
Here’s a look at an interesting pin commemorating Wisconsin’s 1981 victory over Michigan. Certainly, no one in Madison would produce a trinket today for a regular-season victory, but keep in mind that Barry Alvarez wouldn’t arrive for another decade and Badger football consistently had a place at or near the bottom of the Big Ten. The lowly Badgers and hadn’t defeated the Blue since 1962 and in the previous four meetings, Bo’s Wolverines outscored Wisconsin 176 to zero. Michigan was riding a nine-game win streak (including Schembechler’s first Rose Bowl victory) and that was enough for the pollsters to slot the Wolverines #1 in the preseason poll. This seemed to be an ideal opponent for the opener, held September 12, 1981, and Michigan came in as a 19 point favorite. Over 68,000 pickled fans witnessed the historic 21-14 upset. Longtime sportswriter Jack McCallum was on hand for Sports Illustrated: Last year Wisconsin didn’t score a touchdown until its fourth game. On Saturday in Madison, against a Michigan team that hadn’t yielded a touchdown in 5 games, Wisconsin scored two touchdowns in the second quarter and the gamer—on a 71-yard pass play. Quarterback Jess Cole throwing to Tailback John Williams—in the third. “This win is the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Coach Dave McClain. The issue? Michigan’s new…
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1997 Michigan National Championship Ring – For Sale
This site has profiled a few different Michigan championship rings that have ended up on eBay. Long time readers may recall: 1986 Rose Bowl Ring: This prompted a few follow-up posts, the first speculating on the original owner and then another, after a teammate confirmed my sleuthing. 1977 Championship Ring: Not as pretty as the others, but painful to see. 1980 Rose Bowl ring: Probably the wildest story, a ring alleged to a salesman sample bearing the name ‘McCartney’ on the side prompts a note from former Michigan and Colorado coach Bill McCartney’s wife Lyndi, asking that the ring be returned to her husband. Funny, when I was posting about these other rings it crossed my mind that this day could happen but hoped it never would. It did: Ah yes, the 1998 Rose Bowl, what a week, what a game. [Sidenote: I arrived in Los Angeles a couple of days before the game. I saw Morris Day and the Time at the House of Blues on 12/30, then I joined Run DMC at the Viper Room to ring in the New Year. I still have the T-shirt from the show, it was incredible]. As with the 1986 ring, the seller has offered a clue as to the original owner, but not much. From the auction description: “..this is a…
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Lloyd Carr Chuckled at this
Thanks to an October 25, 2007 post on the NY Times sports blog The Quad, we know that Lloyd Carr is a big fan NYT opinion columnist Maureen Dowd. It prompted me to write this post which included this spicy meatball: Well, if Carr isn’t too busy with consulting on the Eastern Michigan coaching search, he read Dowd’s column on Saturday. She was filling in for fellow columnist Frank Rich and scribed a piece on the state of the print news industry, in particular, the trend that some papers are firing staff and outsourcing their news to India. Seriously. Paying by the article, one thousand words for $7.50. Dowd found James Macpherson, the man who runs Pasadena Now, an online news site covering the town where you want to be each January first. Here’s a snip: So, he thought, “Where can I get people who can write the word for less?” In a move that sounded so preposterous it became a Stephen Colbert skit, he put an ad on Craigslist for Indian reporters and got a flood of responses. He fired his seven Pasadena staffers — including five reporters — who were making $600 to $800 a week, and now he and his wife direct six employees all over India on how to write news and features, using telephones, e-mail,…
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eBay Watch: Blue Get Bombed in the Bronx
1950 was a special season in Michigan football history. Many M historians know this is the year that the Wolverines defeated Ohio State 9-3 in the epic Snow Bowl. That classic win earned the Blue a trip to Pasadena where they defeated Cal 14-6 on two late touchdowns. All’s well that ends well, but things didn’t start well and included a trip to New York. The next edition of eBay Watch features this ticket stub from the Army-Michigan game held October 14, 1950 at Yankee Stadium: You can see the full auction here. Army was riding a twenty-two game winning streak heading into the game and dropped the Wolverines 27-6 in front of 67,076 fans including General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Gazing soley at the boxscore you might have figured the Victors prevailed or at least kept the score respectable: The New York Times commended the Wolverines effort that day and reported that Oosterbaan’s men put a bit of a scare into the Black Knights, scoring early and threatening often. In the end Army was too tough, capitalizing when they needed to pull safely away. Army’s streak eventually ended later that season in a 14-2 loss to Navy. While the football squad took a bit of a beating in a hard fought battle, the Michigan Marching Band made a few headlines…
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eBay Watch: Oh Man, 1986 Rose Bowl Ring
Once again we’ve got a Michigan Rose Bowl ring on eBay adding to the recent auctions of the 1977-78 and 1980-81 versions. This time it’s a beauty from the 1986 season and it commemorates the Rose Bowl appearance [see the auction here]. The game was unfortunately a loss for the Wolverines who fell to 22-15 to Arizona State in Pasadena. Schembechler’s men actually played 13 games that season somehow getting the green light to schedule Hawaii after the close of the Big Ten schedule. A shocking defeat to Minnesota on November 15th was the only other setback that season for the Wolverines who ended up ranked #8 in the AP. The seller is a true beauty himself…see what I mean as you check out this warning to bidders within the item description: If you have zero feedback or less please bypass this auction unless you contact us first, otherwise your bid will unfortunately be cancelled then stomped all over before we catapult it into outer space using our giant intergalactic slingshot. There are too many of you rascals out there who understand with absolute precision how to place a bid but freeze up like a popsicle during the payment process it’s really quite weird. This ring is very nice. A little worn, but the inscription of “The Team” below the…
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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…
