I appreciate all the kind words (and hair jokes) for the appearance on the Tom Harmon Big Ten Icons piece that has been running this week. A few folks have fired over questions about the episode and I’d thought I’d summarize those here. I addressed some of this and more with Sam and Ira on Feb 3 so check that out as well. I was contacted by the producer about a month ago. They were pulling together the episode and felt they needed more “voices” to add to the documentary. Keep in mind most of the interviews/comments about Harmon and the other pieces were collected a while ago. Angelique, for instance, was interviewed during the Big Ten basketball tournament last year—they shot her in an old gym in Indianapolis. My read is that they had a lot about how great/dynamic Harmon was, but not a lot of detail in the Harmon story. So—the producer asked around for names & John Lofy of Michigan Today and the great John U. Bacon suggested they contact me. The BTN folks also contacted Greg Kinney, the curator at The Bentley Library. They interviewed Kinney and I on January 25th at the stadium on the east side. (Kinney went before me and he was gone before I arrived). I’m seated in the first row of…
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Viva Michigan Helmet Stickers!?
Near the end of Wojo’s extensive Q&A with Coach Hoke was this exchange: Q. Many fans crave a return to old Michigan ways. You’ve talked about being tough in the trenches, having a pounding defense. What about the little traditions, like helmet stickers again? A. I don’t know about the helmet stickers yet. I’m gonna get some counsel from ex-players, from coach (Gary) Moeller, coach (Jerry) Hanlon. We are going to have captains, I can promise you. It’s a tradition many believe started with Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes in the late 1960s but thanks to the piece in Hail to the Victors 2010 by John Kryk (with Steve Sapardanis), we know that the tradition was actually started by Bo. Kryk described the scene in 1969 when Schembechler announced that the Wolverines would be placed stickers on their helmets after games: “Oh, like Woody?” a reporter asked. “Uh-uh.” Schembechler grinned triumphantly. “Woody got the idea from me.” Kryk goes on to trace the start back of the “big-play” stickers to 1965, Bo’s third season at Miami, OH (then still nicknamed the Redskins). They used little red tomahawks. Thanks to Sapardanis, here’s a breakdown of the Michigan helmet decals used to date: Count Sapardanis as one who would like to see the tradition return in fact he’s made a bold suggestion…
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It Had to Happen
Nearly three years ago to the day I submitted a mgoblog guest post talking about the 100-year Michigan football anniversary event held in 1979. Former player Willis Ward attended the celebration held at Chrysler errr, Crisler Arena. I mentioned this: Willis Ward: The African-American end and U-M track star was Gerald Ford’s roommate for road games and a member of the ’32 and ’33 national championship squads. This man’s story deserves a full documentary or movie, not a blurb on a blog post, and it’s safe to assume he gave some interesting remarks to the banquet crowd. A hat tip to my boys at UGP/Moe’s and MGoShoe for simultaneously sending over this link. Pete Bigelow at AnnArbor.com writes that a local group is putting together a 10 part series covering Michigan football. It’ll debut with this: The series will debut with an episode on the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game, in which the Yellow Jackets threatened to pull out of the game if Michigan played Willis Ward, the school’s second black player. Ward’s teammate, future President Gerald Ford, contemplated quitting the team in protest of Ward’s exclusion. Here’s a trailer from the group producing the films, Stunt3 Multimedia: When can we expect this to come out? According to senior creative director Buddy Moorehouse: ..the first film in the series ("Black and…
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Rich Rod Didn’t make it to Zihuatanejo (Cowherd audio 02-09)
Rich Rodriguez joined Colin Cowherd this afternoon and talked about a few NFL draft prospects in the Big Ten. I pick up the audio where he’s discussing Steve Schilling (and he mentioned Perry Dorrestein). Then Cowherd asks about the final days at Michigan which he likens it to Shawshank – he tunneled through the foul crap/drama, but didn’t make it to the good stuff (fixing crappy old boats in Zihuatanejo). No surprise but RR clearly wants to coach again and is realistic about finding something in the next few weeks. Clip: [display_podcast]
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Tom Harmon Radio (Feb-3 – WTKA audio)
photo via this site I swung by WTKA 1050AM this morning to chat with Ira and Sam about the great Tom Harmon, the Big Ten Network’s #5 Icon. The show will air Sunday at 2:30PM (and re-air at 9pm, if the Super Bowl is a dud.) [display_podcast] – More Harmon stuff: Why Tom Harmon Went to Michigan Tom Harmon – Big Ten Icon #5 The Drunk and Old 98 Tommy’s the BMOC Harmon and Old Number..Six? Tom Harmon says ‘Vote Heston’ Harmon Jitterbugs with Joan & Jinx Harmon Goes for the Gusto
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Phil Simms Wants a Piece of Desmond
If you missed this little piece of Twitter drama this afternoon…apparently Phil Simms confronted Desmond at ‘The NFL Experience’ Event in Dallas over something Howard said about his son, Tennessee Vols QB Matt Simms. Via Twitter, Magic described what went down: desmond_howard 1:20pm via ÜberTwitter At NFL-Xperience and Phil Simms just threatened 2 hit me b/c I said his son was 1 of the worse QBs in the SEC. I told him "LET’S GO!" desmond_howard 1:39pm via ÜberTwitter I am DEAD serious about the Phil Simms thing. We all thought he was joking, but he kept going and said he wanted 2 take a swing at me!! desmond_howard 1:55pm via ÜberTwitter During the season we talked about the Tenn v LSU game and I said "u will see 3 of the worse QBs in the SEC" That’s what Phil did not like. desmond_howard 3:13pm via ÜberTwitter It ended w/police stepping in between so I could continue my appearance w/fans. Hey old man Simms, that’s weird! Congrats, you are now highest profile odd and overbearing athlete dad, surpassing Craig James. Maybe they could settle this with a Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Super Bowl MVP Trophy fight later. Related: Ace Discusses Simms vs. Desmond as well Follow MVictors on Twitter or I’ll fight you
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Michael Taylor Wants His Cornflakes (WTKA audio)
Turns out the WTKA afternoon show on Thursday was just as exciting as the morning show. Michael Taylor dialed up Jeff DeFran and went off on a spittle-filled rant, furious about the hiring of Curt Mallory over Taylor’s preference Corwin Brown. Clip: [display_podcast] . Obviously Taylor knows something about the matter and has been in touch with Brown, who Taylor says is “hurt”. The former M quarterback more than implies race was a factor in the hire and he’s pissed. One point – Taylor goes on and on about supporting Michigan letterman and how there’s a recent history of the administration spitting in the face of letterman. Of course Mallory is a letterman. And did you know that Brown, Taylor and Mallory were teammates on the 1989 squad, Bo’s last season? I like Taylor’s contributions to WTKA – on Sunday (where has he been?) and with the occasional phone call. One thing I always struggle with is Michael’s oft-repeated stance that his status as a letterman/former football player provides him the trump card over anyone’s opinion in all matters pertaining to U-M football. Come on. Speaking of qualifications [nice segue] I’m disqualified from commenting on Mallory vs. Brown since I joined a band of ten merry, pickled students who spelled C-O-R-N-F-L-A-K-E-S on our chests back at a game in 1992. …
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Why Tom Harmon Went to Michigan
Continuing the discussion of items you might not know about Harmon. In the last post, I mentioned his high school athletic prowess at Horace Mann High in Gary, Indiana. An interesting question is why he ended up at Michigan. Three factors would suggest that Harmon might consider a different destination during his senior year of 1936-37: Harmon had brothers who were athletes at relatively nearby Purdue & another who landed at Tulane. Michigan football was in the middle of a horrible stretch, coming off the worst 3-year span in school history from 1934-1936. (And still the worst three year stretch, thanks Brian for having my back.) He was walking into a serious rough patch and head coach Harry Kipke was under fire. The powerhouse at the time was jug rival Minnesota, with Bernie Bierman’s Gophers rolling up a string of 3 straight national championships. Nearby Notre Dame and coach Elmer Layden had some decent teams in the mid-1930s as well. One disclaimer: I’m not a Harmon biographer of course. These thoughts draw upon what I’ve read over the years (which isn’t everything). The non-cynical view: THIS IS MICHIGAN! Despite the tough stretch, U-M was still a great football power with two national titles in the decade under Kipke. On top of this and perhaps more importantly, Harmon’s high school coach…
