So call this Part 2 of my post from earlier this week. I suggest you read that post before you proceed here, but in summary, a Michigan Daily writer’s story about a group of students (including a football player and the basketball captain) selling sports gambling cards on campus caused a major stir and made national headlines. Several students were arrested and that Daily writer, Bart Huthwaite, was hanged in effigy in the Diag. As promised at the end of that post I tracked down Mr. Huthwaite, now 74, and he shared a few more memories of the story (including the FBI’s involvement) and more from his days at U-M, including the Spring Break he spent in a Cuban jail cell! The 1960 U-M grad now lives on Mackinac Island, MI although he spends his summers in Florida. Today he runs the Huthwaite Innovation Institute, as he describes it, “helping companies design their products so they cost less, they can sell more and they are easier to use and on and on.” Clients include Boeing, Gulfstream, and 100s of others. MVictors: So looking back at 1958, you’re a student working at the Michigan Daily when you wrote the parlay card story that made headlines around the country. First off, when’s the last time someone has mentioned this story to you?…
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The Parlay Card Peccadillo (1958)
In 1958 a Michigan Daily writer named Barton Huthwaite exposed a gambling ring on campus that led to the arrest of a few notable students including a fellow Daily writer and couple prominent athletes. While betting on football wasn’t (and isn’t) exactly unheard of around the country, the report and arrests caught the eye of the nation—all the way up to media heavyweights such as The New York Times, LIFE Magazine and Sports Illustrated.
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Howard Wikel, Michigan Man, 89
Never met the man, but I’ve heard much about him from a few friends and acquaintances around campus including Captain Conley. He was a dear friend to Bo, in fact, I’ve been told he was his best friend here in town. Re-posting his obituary from AnnArbor.com/MLive: Howard really didn’t know every person in Ann Arbor. But as legendary University of Michigan Football Coach Bo Schembechler was quick to say: “Anyone from Ann Arbor who says they don’t know Howard Wikel must be living in a cave.”
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History on Display
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend any of the rededication activities at Crisler this weekend but I was involved on the periphery. I assisted in editing some of the bios of those enshrined within the Michigan Hall of Honor, one of the features on the large interactive screens available in the spacious lobby of the tricked-out Crisler Center. Here I am looking over the tribute to Old 98: The boards are pretty cool and I hope #1000SSS shares this content throughout the athletic campus (at the Big House & in the renovated Schembechler Hall for starters). Naturally it was a process to get all the bios edited and photos uploaded et cetera, and naturally there was (and certainly still is) a typo or misplaced photo here and there. I also assisted with some error checking over the past couple weeks and was there when we spotted this priceless gem:Poor Fritz. At another (perhaps the last?) great event celebrating Michigan athletics tradition in 1979, Fritz was invited but certainly was far from thrilled when he gazed at the fourth line on the tickets to the event: Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Santa Delivers
Here’s Santa himself paying the Michigan football team a visit in Pasadena back on Christmas Day in 1947: Fullback Jack Weisenberger receives a gift from Kris Kringle and one can only assume the old man handed over USC’s offensive and defensive playbook. A few days Fritz Crisler’s magical crew stomped the Trojans 49-0 to seal the national championship. Wiesenberger scored three touchdowns! Merry Christmas and Go Blue! Follow MVictors on Twitter and get it quick
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RIP Captain Bob Derleth, 90
From the U-M Bentley Library, left hockey captain Derleth from ‘44, and right seated next to Fritz Crisler in the ‘46 football team photo Thanks to reader TM for passing this along: Robert "Bob" Derleth Age 90, passed away December 16 at Hospice House of Mid-Michigan in Lansing due to complications from a stroke. Bob was born and raised in Marquette, Michigan and graduated from Bishop Baraga High School in 1941. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1947 with degrees in chemical and metallurgical engineering. Bob won six varsity letters as a member of Michigan’s football (’42, ’43, ’45 and ’46) and hockey (’43 and ’44) teams, and was captain of the 1944 hockey team. During World War II, he served on active duty as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Navy (1944-1945), and played football for the Iowa Seahawks Navy pre-flight team in 1944. Bob was President of Motor Wheel Corporation from 1967-1979. He was actively involved with many community and charitable organizations in Lansing, including the Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, the Board of Trustees of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, The Board of Directors of the United Community Chest, the Advisory Board of St. Lawrence Hospital, the Board of Directors of the Greater Lansing Urban League, President of Junior Achievement,…
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The Michigan ‘Mad Magicians’ Travel Budget (1947)
Check out this letter including the estimated budget for the trip then-Coach Crisler and his Mad Magicians Magicians would take to Pasadena to pummel USC in the Rose Bowl. It includes the logistics of the nearly two-day trek to the west coast involving stops in Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico.
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Platooning to Stop Davis, Blanchard (1945)
While 1945 isn’t the greatest in Michigan football history, Fritz Crisler’s crew finished the season #6 in the country and played one of the toughest schedules in the land. More importantly, Crisler made history when he faced the #1 Army at Yankee Stadium and their Heisman-winning duo Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard. TWIMFbH gets into it here, and I even said “Fritzmen”: You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. Listen to it live tomorrow on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM or catch it live inside the Bud Light Victors Lounge.
