Cold Case Closed: Herron (2011) vs. Harmon (1939)

Thanks to the new U-M Bentley Game Film vault, we’ll have a chance to see game events previously only experienced through photos, written descriptions, or rarely, first-hand accounts. And maybe we’ll use these videos to learn a few new things, and possibly, clear up a few mysteries or misconceptions.

In the 2011 season opener against Western Michigan, U-M’s Brandon Herron took an interception return 94-yards to the house. (The game was shortened by weather and the individual stats tossed out, but no matter.) Here’s a look:

At the time it was called the longest pick-six in program history. Back then, I knew Tom Harmon had a big return against Nile Kinnick’s Hawkeyes in 1939. So after that 2011 game, I dug up various accounts of that play and put up a post (original post, scroll down below). Depending on the source, Old 98’s long return at Iowa was 90, 91, 92, or 95 yards. Hmm.

Fast forward to today. After browsing the Bentley Library’s game films, here you go: Harmon’s pick at Iowa in 1939:

Let’s call it…91 yards!

Case closed. Now, someone let Herron know he holds a Michigan record!

Original Post from September 4, 2011:

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After it happened, media relations made an announcement in the box that Brandon Herron’s 94-yard interception return for a touchdown was the longest in modern (1948-present) history.   But the postgame notes make a more definitive claim:

Herron’s 94-yard touchdown was the longest interception return for a touchdown in Michigan program history. The previous record was 92 yards, held by Ken Tureaud (vs. UCLA, Sept. 30, 1961) and Thom Darden (vs. UCLA, Sept. 25, 1971).

Offhand, the only other long interception return I could recall in the “pre-modern” era was Tom Harmon’s pick of Iowa’s Nile Kinnick which he took back for a score at the Big House in 1939.   The rub here is figuring out exactly how long that return actually was.

I’ve read 90 yards [TIME Magazine and NY Times], other accounts of the game have it at 91. But I’ve also read it was a 95-yard return [LA Times, Harmon’s obit and here in his College Hall of Fame bio] — which is of course a significant factor in this case!

As a data point in this mystery, The U-M Bentley Historical Library has this great shot of Harmon with the caption “Tom Harmon intercepting a Nile Kinnick pass vs Iowa, 1939”:

Of course, this appears to be happening right on the goal line which would imply, if he took it back, that this would have gone for 100 or so yards.  Hmm.

I scanned through the news archives of the game and the best that I can determine: Harmon had at least two picks and that the above photo is probably not the one he took to the house.   More evidence comes from the postgame when Coach Fritz Crisler said, of Harmon, “He’s best known as a runner but I’d say his blocking and defensive work are equally good.  Iowa threatened only twice after their touchdown. Harmon stopped both.”

Stopped, in this case, probably means an interception.  This is backed up by a 1955 Michigan Daily piece that discussed that famed 1939 battle and coincidentally reprinted the above photo.  The Daily wrote that Harmon was “the defensive star of the [1939] game, intercepting several passes.”  That article also mentioned the big play in question:

On one play, the fabulous “98” accounted for what the next day’s Daily termed the most spectacular play of the afternoon, intercepting a Kinnick aerial on his own five-yard line and tearing down the sidelines unscathed for a 95-yard touchdown run, as Michigan triumphed, 27-7.

Fabulous.

This is a toughie, but given what I know about how football history accounts of big events tend to be stretched, the answer is it was probably around a 90-yard return.  But I do take stock in what The Daily wrote at the time.  I doubt that the New York Times had a man at the game and The Daily certainly had a few eyes on the play.

Verdict:  Screw it.  Call it 95 and give it to Harmon. 

[Ed. Update 9/4:] Thanks to reader Raoul. Currently, the athletic department acknowledges the play as 95 yards as well, as witnessed deep in the current record book on page 158:

Of course, this may all be moot.  Historians out there might recall a longer, less conspicuous interception return of 95+ yards prior in the early days of the program.