Back in the Big House today, here’s Albert (Al) Wistert. He’s the final living Michigan man to have his number (#11) retired and unretired via the Michigan Football Legends Program: Official release, via Media Relations: Wisterts Recognized as Michigan Football Legends, Safety Kovacs to Wear No. 11 Jersey ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Athletic Department officially recognized the Wistert brothers, Francis, Albert and Alvin, as Michigan Football Legends today (Nov. 11) during a pregame ceremony at the Michigan-Northwestern football game. Senior safety Jordan Kovacs (Curtice, Ohio/Clay) will wear the famed No. 11 jersey for the remainder of the season, switching from No. 32. A Michigan Football Legend patch over the left upper chest will be affixed to the No. 11 jersey worn by Kovacs and all other future players donning the Wisterts’ jersey number. The Wisterts, one of the great Michigan athletic families in school history, each wore the No. 11 jersey for the Michigan football program. All three brothers played tackle, were selected consensus All-Americans and were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and Michigan Hall of Honor. Francis “Whitey” Wistert (1931-33) played on three consecutive Big Ten Championship teams, including two back-to-back national championship squads. Whitey was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball and later played for the Cincinnati Reds. He was…
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TWIMFbH: Stanford, ‘73 and a Salute to the Big Ten
Salute! via Dr. Sap’s archives The Stanford Cardinals (yes, s) came to town exactly 39 years ago Saturday and surely braced themselves to face Bo Schembechler in the 1973 home opener. TWIMFbH gets into that game and much more. Have a listen…includes a couple salutes to the great Bob Ufer: [display_podcast] As discussed in the clip, the boys from Palo Alto hold a special place in Michigan football history as they were the lambs opponents vs. Fielding Yost’s undefeated, untied, and unscored upon Point-A-Minute crew in the 1902 Rose Bowl. Staring at a 49-0 deficit with eight minutes still left in the game, the Indians found the only white towel that wasn’t blood-stained and waved it, begging for mercy. It was granted. Fast forward nearly four decades and it was once again Stanford who faced another one of the finest Wolverines squads in history—this time Fritz Crisler, Bob Chappuis and the Mad Magicians of 1947. Once again Michigan hung 49 (to Stanford’s 13) on October 4, 1947. Bo Schembechler didn’t hold back either when the Cardinals visited in ‘73, thirty-nine years ago this Saturday, in fact he practically beat the “s” of the Stanford nickname (although that wouldn’t officially happen until 1981), winning 47-10. But ‘73 is better remembered by U-M fans by the vote of Big Ten commissioners that…
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The Game and the Buckeye Ballet (1938)
Above, take a look at this wire photo from the 1938 version of "The Game" - Michigan vs. Ohio State.
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Bennie Oosterbaan Honored as a Michigan Football Legend
Oosterbaan Recognized as "Michigan Football Legend," Linebacker Jake Ryan to Don Famed No. 47 Jersey
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Honoring Oosterbaan: An Interview with Ben McCready
Young Ben McCready with a gift from his godfather, namesake and then-U-M coach Bennie Oosterbaan. It’s the gameball from the 1958 Minnesota Little Brown Jug game & was a Christmas gift. For Michigan historians Saturday’s game holds special significance. Bennie Oosterbaan, arguably the greatest athlete in U-M history will be honored. He was the first football man to have his jersey retired (#47) and against Air Force, he will be the first to have a Michigan jersey “unretired”. Oosterbaan’s exploits on the field are well known: a three time All-American in football, a two time All-American in basketball, and a Big Ten batting title champion in baseball. The Muskegon native turned down offers to play professionally and instead chose a different path: a life dedicated to coaching U-M students in each of the sports in which he dominated. He coached all three sports at one time another, the highlight being when he led Michigan to the 1948 football national championship. After his coaching days he remained an administrator with the athletic department until he retired in 1972. Over the past year I’ve gotten to know Ben McCready, the godson and namesake of the great Oosterbaan. He’ll be there Saturday when his godfather is honored. McCready was kind enough to share some insight on how the “unretirement” came to be, his…
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It’s Been a Tad While Since..
Rich Rodriguez becomes the 1st former-Michigan coach to win a college football game since Tad Wieman, who took over for Fielding Yost from 1927 to 1928. Elton “Tad” Wieman went on to be an assistant at Minnesota (1930-31), then an assistant at Princeton. When Michigan lured Fritz Crisler to Ann Arbor from Princeton, Wieman took over as head coach of the Tigers. He won his first game on October 1, 1938. His last victory for the Tigers (and in his career) was on October 24, 1942 against Brown. That was the last time a former Michigan head coach won a college football game. P.S. I was happy for Rich Rod and especially for his son Rhett, who was on the sidelines and joined his dad on the field after the game. Those who live in my neck of the greater A2 woods know what kind of young man he is and feel for all he’s been through the past few years. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Michigan Drives The Trojans Mad (1948)
I can’t get enough of these diagrammed wire photos from yesteryear..especially those that capture the brilliance of Bob Chappuis and the Mad Magicians, here exposing the USC defense in the ‘48 Rose Bowl: The Wolverines pounded USC 49-0 and delivered Fritz Crisler a national championship is his final game at the helm of the Blue. Time Magazine did a nice job in describing the beating: Southern Cal’s beefy bruisers, the West Coast champs, were not clubbed to death. They were just hoodwinked and whipsawed by Michigan’s slickers. Jack Weisenburger, Crisler’s sturdy spinning fullback, started most of Michigan’s backfield ballet and ball-handling hocuspocus, and chewed through the center of Southern Cal’s bewildered line for three Michigan touchdowns.
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Righteous Stubs
I don’t feature ticket stubs very often on eBay Watch but this one is special. On its face, this musty, chewed up stub from the 1943 Michigan-Michigan State game doesn’t look very valuable, does it? I’m guessing the seller had no idea and is wondering why as of Saturday afternoon it had 17 bids, the tops at $330. It was a very nice season by Fritz Crisler’s crew, going 8-1, sharing the conference title and finally beating freaking Minnesota whom they hadn’t beaten since 1932. Readers of this site might recall that this is a very rare find, so rare, in fact is that it was the final stub that local Jack Briegel needed to complete his collection of every game played at the Big House (dating back to ‘27). Thanks to a gift of this stub in 2011 from fellow collector Ken Magee, Jack got that final piece of the puzzle. It’s rare for a few reasons as I explained in an earlier post: The ticket to that September 25 game actually lists Michigan State as the opponent. But the Spartans did not field a team that season as it was common for teams to shut down their football squads that year due to obligations to the war effort. Folks seemed to have better things to do that fall…
