Coach Simmons during our interview at Crisler in 2009 (MVictors photo) It was very sad for me to see the press release this morning. We lost a great man and incredible tie to the history of athletics in this area. Simmons ran track with Jesse Owens and Willis Ward and was a pioneer in weight training and in women’s athletics at Michigan. For football fans: I’m confident he’s was the last living person to see the inaugural game at the Big House in 1927. Here are a few videos I took of Simmons during our interview: Part 1: On his friend, track legend Jesse Owens Part 2: Police Department Part 3: Hired by Fritz Crisler Part 4: Working out at Crisler Arena Part 5: More Workout at Crisler And here’s a link to several quotes from our interview a few years back, a few of my favorites: On meeting Fielding Yost: I met him, I think it was 1927. He was at a high school meet at some point. It was so long ago. My impression was that he was a very sociable man. He’d walk around and talk to you. There was no feeling that he thought he was special. He was just a regular guy.” On his friendship with Jesse Owens: I became friends with Jesse Owns in…
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Sweet Ring Bro
HT to Brad for the RT, recently Michigan man Elliott Mealer tweeted out a look at his Sugar Bowl ring. Love how they did the helmet with the decals on the side and the team 132 below: Cheers to those who stayed. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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2012 Alumni Game Roster, Early Line
You can check out the roster for the 2012 Michigan Alumni Game, official called the Victors Classic online now on mgoblue.com. Last year the Blue defeated the Maize 38-30, and Alijah Bradley took home MVP honors and the bizarre 30 foot trophy. I’ve got the early line at Blue –1.5 thanks to the strength at quarterback, notably John Navarre who can still wing it. Toss in All-American Mark Messner, who I believe is making his Alumni game debut(?), you have to lean toward the lads in blue. One note: Recently I learned that ‘64 Rose Bowl champion and team captain Jim Conley (left, from 2011) would be a game time decision. If he can go for the Maize you have to move this game to a pick ‘em. I’ll be down on the field tomorrow morning taking pics, talking to some players and tweeting out the goods so tune in. Pics and Recap from the 2011 game here. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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Righteous Pigskin
One of the great things about talking about Michigan football history is that I find often the story tends to evolve after the initial post, tweet or article. The boys at Stunt3 Multimedia know this well, and here’s another example. They’ve been showing the latest cut of their fine documentary Black and Blue around the country and talking to many folks along the way. I recently interviewed director Brian Kruger from Stunt3 (check out the full interview in the next issue of GoBlueWolverine Mag) and he talked about a great discovery: “A few weeks ago a woman called me. She said her father was John Regeczi, who played on the teams with Gerald Ford and Willis Ward, those three years. She was very excited about that and she was telling me some stories. After about ten minutes I figured the conversation would wind down, but then she said, ‘Oh, and by the way, we have the game ball.’ [laughs] I was like, ‘What?!’.” Indeed it appears as thought the game ball to the controversial 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game exists. Brian told me the owner, who lives in California, was kind enough to take a few pics of the ball and send them over to Kruger, who in turn relayed a couple to me. Check it out: And I thought my…
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Kick It for Hail to the Victors 2012
Today Brian the plans on launching Hail to the Victors 2012, the next version of his excellent must-have annual preseason guide. I’ve been a part of it the part four years and plan getting in this edition. For history fans, Brian always includes plenty of pages on U-M lore including submissions from many of my pals. He’s asking for funds up front, basically buy the magazine now for $15 and/or give some additional support. – all the details here or read this snippet below. Hi. You may be aware that for the past four years I’ve edited a Michigan preview magazine called Hail To The Victors (usually, anyway). It’s 120-some pages of photos, previews, analysis, and history that we’ve been proud of. Unfortunately, if we’re going to make it to year five we’re going to need some help. Our publisher went under sometime around January. We have access virtually all of the things we need to continue—the writers, photos, publishing expertise—and plan on taking HTTV independent this summer. The main problem: the up-front costs are daunting. This is where Kickstarter comes in. If you haven’t heard of it, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site that operates under two simple rules: anything on it must be a defined creative project you either make it and get all the money or don’t and…
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Smotrycz, Christian, Brundidge Decide to Leave Program (Official Release)
Wow, just out via U-M media relations March 21, 2012 ANN ARBOR, Mich. — University of Michigan men’s basketball head coach John Beilein announced today (Wednesday, March 21) that sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz (Reading, Mass./New Hampton Prep [N.H.]),sophomore forward Colton Christian (Bellevue, Wash./Hargrave Military Academy) and freshman guard Carlton Brundidge (Southfield, Mich./Southfield HS) each decided to leave the Wolverine basketball program and transfer to another school. "We never like to see players leave the program, however, Evan, Colton and Carlton have made the decision to transfer and continue their careers elsewhere," said Beilein. "All three are fine young men with bright futures. We wish them and their families nothing but success going forward." Smotrycz played in all 69 games over his two seasons in Ann Arbor, averaging 7.0 points, 3.6 rebounds while playing in 19.4 minutes per game. Christian came off the bench in 45 games, averaging 3.8 minutes, and posted a career-best two points on five different occasions while pulling down a career-best six rebounds against Gardner-Webb (Nov. 29, 2011). Brundidge played in 15 games in his first season, averaging 2.9 minutes. He saw his most significant game action against Alabama A&M (Dec. 17, 2011), playing 13 minutes and scoring a career-best three points. Follow MVictors on Twitter
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eBay “Watch”– How Much is Shuttlesworth’s Watch Worth?
Check out this fine piece of U-M football memorabilia* up on eBay right now. It’s a ‘72 Rose Bowl watch apparently once belonging to Wolverine back “Easy Ed” Shuttlesworth: The 1971 Wolverines were certainly one of Bo’s finest, rolling through the regular season 10-0 before dropping a 13-12 heartbreaker to Stanford in Pasadena. Shuttlesworth had a fine U-M career as the Cincinnati native ran for over 2300 career yards and scored 26 touchdowns, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. After his U-M career Easy Ed played a couple years in the CFL for the Toronto Argonauts. Shuttlesworth isn’t the only former U-M player to have some jewelry up on eBay. There’s also another watch and a ring, these said to have belonged to former LB Scott McClintock*. Here’s the watch, something given in honor of his “2nd Year Letter” ?: McClintock’s ring is from the 2003 Outback Bowl: Ahh, I still have fond memories of the old 2003 Outback Bowl. Ron Zook’s decision to have freshman Vernell Brown toss a pass on the reserve as Rex Grossman was driving the Gators down the field was an all-time classic turd call. U-M’s Victor Hobson picked off the “pass” to seal the win for the Blue and avoid a once-horrifying four-loss season. Here’s how it looked, thanks to WH. *Disclaimer: I don’t…
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U-M to Honor Willis Ward?
Maybe. I recently posted that a at screening of Black and Blue it was suggested that it’s high time for the university to formally honor Willis Ward: Near the conclusion of the Q&A session following the screening at the Alumni center, Moorehouse suggested that it’s time for the university to honor Ward in some way, and I agree. And after all, as Moorehouse pointed out, the only memorial on campus (if you don’t count buildings or roads in parking lots) for former athletes is this plaque dedicated to Owens…a Buckeye! Well, there seems to be some momentum. At last week’s monthly meeting of the U-M Regents, the idea of honoring was presented to the regents. As I understand it, an informal motion was approved to discuss the matter with the athletic department, with the hope of finding an “appropriate way” to honor Ward. Memo to Dave Brandon: Do the right thing. This is long overdue! [Ed. Update March 18]. Mary Morgan of the Ann Arbor Chronicle recapped the meeting including the activities around honoring Ward: Public Commentary: Willis Ward Three people spoke about Willis Ward, an African-American who played football for UM in the early 1930s. [For background on Ward, see John U. Bacon’s Chronicle column: "When Ward, Ford Played Ball for UM"] Buddy Moorehouse introduced himself as a 1982…