A historic day on and off the field in 1972 as Dennis Franklin became the first black quarterback to take the field at Michigan, and the Michigan Marching Band included female performers for the first time! Much more:
This Week in Michigan Football History appears live on the WTKA 1050AM (and WWWW 102.9FM) Countdown to Kickoff approximately two hours before kickoff. Full script:
Good EVENING you Maize and Blue fedora wearing faithful!
Not unlike your 2023 Wolverines, back in 1972 Meechigan head coach Bo Schembechler faced questions about replacing a highly successful team from the season before. Despite losing a ton of talent heading into the year– NOBODY in the Big Ten had sympathy for Bo, who already won 2 league titles in his 3 seasons and joined Woody Hayes in DOMINATING the rest of the conference.
In the season opener 51 years ago today, the Wolverines started with a critical conference game against Northwestern in front of a three-quarters-full Big House. The lone points in the 7-0 victory were from a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dennis Franklin to Bo Rather, with an extra point kick by Mike “Super Toe” Lantry.
The day was historically significant for a few reasons OFF the field. Franklin became the first African-American quarterback to play for Michigan. And this was the first instance of a gender-integrated Meeechigan Marching Band as prior to 1972, the band had been an all-male unit. The ’72 edition of the MMB featured six female musicians and along with a twirler.
In other games on this day in history:, back in 2006 Michigan POUNDED #2 Notre Dame 47-21 in South Bend, paced by Mike Hart who ran for 124 yards and a score. And during World War II in 1944, Fritz Crisler’s boys defeated a team named “Iowa Pre-Flight”- a group of naval aviators who trained at Mrs. Steve’s Clarke’s beloved University of Iowa. Make no mistake, these fly boys could ball out, and finished second in the AP poll the year before.
GO BLUE! Beat the Falcons! And FOR MORE, check out MVictors.com and WTKA.com – For the KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff — this is The Professor, Greg Dooley!
