For Saturday’s big game against Penn State we roll back to 1968, Bump Elliott’s final season in Ann Arbor. We take a quick run through Bump’s athletic career with stops at Purdue, Michigan, Oregon State, Iowa, back to Michigan and finally ending with a brilliant career as athletic director at Iowa. Go Blue!
Catch this on the WTKA 1050AM Countdown to Kickoff, starting Saturday at 3:30pm EDT!
/script:
On this day in Michigan football history in 1968, head coach Bump Elliott and his 18th ranked Wolverines traveled to Bloomington, Indiana and dropped the #19 Hoosiers 27 to 22. Chalmers Elliott was born in Detroit, grew up in Illinois and actually started his playing career at Purdue after he enrolled in a marine core program during WWII. He served one year as a leiutenant in China, and when the war ended he returned to the states and joined his younger brother Pete Elliott at Ann Arbor. Together they served on one of the greatest teams in Meechingan history – the Mad Magicians – and took the 1947 national title.
After his playing day Bump went onto to coaching – first joining Kip Taylor, the man who scored the first touchdown in Michigan Stadium, at Oregon State, then as an assistant at Iowa. After helping the Hawks win a Rose Bowl, his old coach and then Michigan athletic director Fritz Crisler came calling. Bump returned to Ann Arbor took the head coaching reins in 1959 at the age of 33.
Bump coached for 10 years before taking a position in the athletic department and along the way helped Don Canham find a new coach. Their first choice was actually Joe Paterno, the man who would make today’s opponent Penn State a household name, but thankfully they settled on a gent nicknamed Bo with a funny last name.
Bo was eternally grateful to Bump’s support during that 1969, so much so that he gave the game ball following the historic 24-12 victory to Elliott. Bump would go on to replace Forest Evashevski as Iowa’s AD and rebuilt the Hawks into an athletic and financial powerhouse – hiring coaching legends like Hayden Fry, Dan Gable and Lute Olson.
The iconic Bump Elliott turns 95 in January and the Michigan and Iowa families are forever grateful for his impact.
Go Blue, Beat Penn State, and for more, go to MVictors.com and WTKA.com – for the keybank countdown to kickoff this is Greg Dooley.
