Cigars, Ghosts, Field Houses and Yost. You get a little bit of it all and more in this week’s edition of This Week in Michigan Football History. Enjoy: [display_podcast] Want more? Check out: Yost Steps off the Sidelines, for now Leathernecks Help Dedicate Yost Field House (1923) 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 at the Wolverine Beer Tap Room. Just a reminder the segment is sponsored by Stadium Trophy which has partnered with WTKA on its ‘Michigan High School Scholar Athlete of the Week Award’ segment.
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The Human Bulwark is a Lock
I was recently contacted by the Detroit News for a freelance assignment to come up with a list of the Top 25 Michigan football players of all time. I’ve kinda had lists like this in my head over the years but never actually put it down on paper. One guy who is a lock is Mr. Adolph “Germany” Schulz who dominated the line of scrimmage on Yost’s teams between 1904 and 1908. If he wasn’t a lock on the first pass, this note in his College Hall of Fame profile sealed it: Grantland Rice wrote in 1928: “Schulz stands as the fastest giant who ever played football, a human bulwark fast enough to tackle at either end, as he brought down his man after the manner of a hawk snaring a quail.” Clearly, the clever guy who dubbed young Adolph Schulz “Germany” never conferred with the original G Rice. Speaking of Schulz, I love this photo that I share courtesy of the great U-M Bentley Historical Library. Here’s the still imposing Germany inspecting the 1949 Michigan Stadium expansion, looking somewhat skeptical (click to enlarge): I’m not sure when the News plans to publish the Top 25 list but I’ll keep you posted. I expect to get the usual beatings that are thrust upon dudes who make sports lists. Hawk-on-quail-like…
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Willis Ward Getting His Day
Readers know I’ve been pushing for a while to have Willis Ward honored by U-M. While that hasn’t happened just yet, this isn’t half bad either–last week the State of Michigan Senate unanimously passed a resolution to declare October 20, 2012 as “Willis Ward Day” throughout Michigan. The Detroit News is getting behind the idea as well. Check out the editorial from September 29: A petition for history’s sake On Oct. 20, 1934, U-M football star Willis Ward was held out of a home game against Georgia Tech because the Southern school refused to suit up against a black player. The incident is widely regarded as the darkest day in the proud, 133-year history of Michigan football. As much as Michigan alums and the Ann Arbor community tried, they were unable to get then-athletic director Fielding Yost to stand for right and defend his player. Exactly 78 years later, on Oct. 20, Michigan faces the Michigan State Spartans in a home game. Filmmakers Buddy Moorehouse and Brian Kruger, creators of "Black & Blue," a documentary on Ward (and teammate and future U.S. President Gerald Ford, who almost quit after Ward’s mistreatment) have started a petition on change.org to get U-M to honor Ward on the 20th, with the whole world watching. Signing the petition will help. Officially honoring Ward and…
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Happy Birthday Old 98
[Ed. Originally posted July 2010- reposting today on Old 98’s birthday] September 28, 1940, is a great day in Michigan football history. On his 21st birthday, to-be Heisman winner Tom Harmon helped the Wolverines roll up Cal on the road at Berkeley 41-0. The season opener also yielded one hilarious moment, when Bear fan Harold Brennan got fed up with Old 98’s exploits and tried to take matters into his own hands. Check out these wire photo reproductions of three of the stills from the famous incident that originally appeared in LIFE magazine: I’d probably hold off on bidding on these and instead enjoy a couple of the tributes to the incident out there on YouTube. First, the special edition YouTube of the battle including photos and quotes from the LIFE magazine feature on the incident:
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1910 All Over Again | Michigan-Notre Dame Series Nixed
So this just came over the wire a few minutes ago. Doppler radar confirms that a mass of ear steam has been spotted in the vicinity of #1000SSS. Read on: Michigan-Notre Dame Series Cancelled from 2015-17 ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan Athletic Department announced today (Sept. 25) that the series with Notre Dame has been cancelled for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 football seasons. The Irish informed Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon prior to kickoff of the match-up Saturday in South Bend. “The decision to cancel games in 2015-17 was Notre Dame’s and not ours,” said Brandon, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics. “We value our annual rivalry with Notre Dame but will have to see what the future holds for any continuation of the series. This cancellation presents new scheduling opportunities for our program and provides a chance to create some new rivalries.” The Wolverines and Irish have met on the gridiron 40 times, the most for Michigan against any non-conference opponent. One of the schools three main rivals along with Michigan State and Ohio State, the Wolverines hold a 23-16-1 all-time record against the Irish. The final two games in the rivalry will take place on Sept. 7, 2013, at Michigan Stadium, and the following year on Sept. 6, 2014, at Notre Dame Stadium.…
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The 2012 Ufer Classic | Toe Meets Leather at Noon Saturday
God bless your maize and blue fedora-covered ears, old Ufe returns Saturday. Continuing an awesome tradition, starting at noon Saturday WTKA 1050AM will air another game from the Bob Ufer radio archives, this time the 1979 battle against #16 ranked Michigan State played in East Lansing on October 6. [According to the stub, the kick-off was at 1:30PM?]. So after weeks of ignoring those important in your life, tune in while you are making good with your spouse, friends, family or putting rake to leaf in the yard. 1979 held a special significance in Ann Arbor as it was the 100th anniversary of the Michigan football program. A grand banquet was held in “Chrysler” Arena (oy!) on September 8th of that year. Willis Ward was a guest speaker and represented the decade of the 1930s. 1979 also featured Ufer delivering the greatest radio call in college football history, just three weeks later. You can support the Ufer Foundation here. More: ..from AnnArbor.com here, including an outstanding pic of Ufe from the MLive archives. Related: TWIMFbH: Stanford, ‘73 and a Salute to the Big Ten eBay Watch: Bo Rolls into Berlin (Navy 1976) eBay Watch: Where Ufer Laid Woody Hayes Away eBay Watch: WPAG Wall Clock (1940s) WTKA to broadcast Ufer, 1979 Indiana game today Follow MVictors on Twitter Stub via…
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Dr. Sap’s Decals | Notre Dame
Ed. Dr. Sap is back with his decals for week 4. I added the Editor’s pick and Fan award again this week. Here are the picks from Week 1 and Week 2 and Week 3. Back when Bo was coaching the Michigan Football team, he awarded decals for individual as well as TEAM accomplishments. He also selected Champions each week. Not only were the obvious categories (offense, defense, special teams) selected, but Bo also made it a point to recognize the not so obvious ones – Scout Team Champions and Team Hustlers – each week. OFFENSE JEREMY GALLON – While he only had three receptions for 33 yards, he seemed to always be there when Michigan needed a first down. Gallon is starting to emerge as Denard’s possession receiver. DEFENSE JORDAN KOVACS – Kovacs played another solid game, notching 5 solo tackles, 7 in total to lead the team in both categories as well as 1 tackle for loss. I wish this guy wasn’t a senior – I’d love to have him around for three more years. SPECIAL TEAMS MATT WILE – Boomed all three of his kickoffs with such efficiency that ND did not have the opportunity to return any of them – they all went for touchbacks. I’m sure Bo would have liked to have had Wile back…
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Where’s The Party? (Notre Dame 13, Michigan 6)
That’s how the 2007 Michigan-Notre Dame game was supposed to go, right? Damn that was so painful to watch. I give Denard a lot of credit for trotting out after the game and facing the mob—that’s not how it was supposed to go on his birthday and at the site of his greatest performance two years ago. Despite all the mistakes I’m certain the Notre Dame fans weren’t comfortable until the kneel down. Denard was horrible but had help. Sure, Dileo was open on the halfback pass but whhhy that play at that point after an excellent drive? (And was Vincent Smith wearing oven mitts (kind of) when he shot-putted that thing?) I get that Michigan’s plan was to try exploit the young Irish DBs but the question is how do you go about that. Dropping Denard straight back into the pocket seemed to be the answer and to that I say, “Oy”. Hats off to the defense for stepping up several times to limit the damage. Really, the defense was impressive all in all. Jake Ryan looked like he had a monster game. The Miscellanea: * It’s well known that the media is prohibited from cheering in the press box but it’s not just a collection of writers upstairs at Notre Dame. After Denard connected with Gardner on a…
