This morning the BTN revealed that Old 98 Tom Harmon will be the next athlete featured in their Icons series. The Harmon segment will appear on Super Bowl Sunday at a special time: 2:30PM (and will re-air again at 9pm). The BTN cameras were on campus last week interviews for the feature. This week I’ll run a few posts on interesting things you might not know about Harmon. You know he’s #98 and the Heisman winner and of course he’s actor Mark Harmon’s dad. (Mark did consider coming to Michigan FWIW—his pops stayed out of it.) For starters, here’s a little about Harmon’s exploits before he even strapped on Crisler’s new-fangled winged helmet: High School Days Harmon was beyond a standout athlete in high school—he was off the charts. It was in his blood, demonstrated by his athletic family. Two of Harmon’s brothers ended up at Purdue, another at Tulane. In addition to being named all-state quarterback twice, Harmon earned 14 varsity letters at Horace Mann High in Gary, IN. He captained the 1936 basketball team and won the state title in the 100-yard dash & the 200-yard low hurdles. He tossed three no-hitters in AAU summer baseball. Fielding Yost called him the scholastic athlete of the year. It was in high school that Harmon also settled on the famous…
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Happy Days Are Here Again (Radio, Print, Mag)
A dash of MVictors-elsewhere: 1. Radio: Last night I spent a few minutes discussing the wonderful victory over the Spartans at Breslin with Hondo Carpenter of Spartan Nation on SN Radio. If you missed it, here’s the audio: [display_podcast] 2. Observer: Check me out ‘Up Front’ in the current Ann Arbor Observer. I wrote the short piece on the frat booze raids of 1931. You might recall this eBay Watch feature from December that has much more on the police action that nabbed football captain James Simrall. 3. GoBlueWolverine Mag: In the current issue I talk a little on the early days of Michigan hockey–much of it extracted from John U. Bacon’s wonderful Blue Ice. In the next issue check out a little more depth on those Michigan clans! Unite the Clans!
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Moving the Fence
If you don’t know what this means, you don’t know @bacari34 – HALOL! Blanket coverage of the game with sound, video and analysis by Dylan and Joe (damn, Joe’s voice kinda of sounds like mine) over at UMHoops where Beilein talks about moving the fence. Check out AnnArbor.com as well. So what were you doing/saying/feeling as this shot went up? Me: I let out a “COME. ON.” But it wasn’t a jubilant “Come On!” and it certainly wasn’t a “Come On” that you give when the punt returner fumbles or someone takes a bad shot. It was more like “COME…ON.” like you are trying to lift a heavy weight (like a gorilla off your back) or open a brutally tight lid on a jar. Or open a heavy jar with a tight lid. Whatever. P.S. Lucas was unbelievable. I was in Breslin back in the day when Steve Smith absolutely KILLED Michigan and Kalin’s second half run reminded me of that performance. Dang this win is sweet and Disco Stu’s shot was absolutely perfect. Props to Novak, Stu and the whole crew for a unexpected great night.
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What Would You Do? Here’s What Bo Would Do (1932)
Check this out from the 1932 Youngstown Vindicator newspaper. It’s a feature called ‘Football for the Fan’ by coach Howard H. Jones. Coach Jones was a legendary coach at USC with many other stints including Ohio State in 1910 (3-3 tie in Columbus vs. Yost if you need it—the Buckeye fans went wild.) In the FFTF feature, Jones lays out an in-game scenario and asks readers, ‘What Would You Do?’: It appears as Jones had different coaches suggest a play to “answer” the question, and this one was addressed by then-Kansas State coach Bo McMillin. And don’t knock McMillin—after leaving Kansas he went onto Indiana where he bested Crisler in Ann Arbor & led the Hoosiers to the 1945 conference title! A football title in Bloomington is a one way ticket to the college football HOF, yes sir. After that McMillin went on to coach the Lions and the Eagles before dying prematurely of stomach cancer. Update: Here’s McMillin’s answer:
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And This is Where it all Happens
A peek inside the Big House from today: Yes, Michigan has folks who clear the block M at midfield on occasion for special visitors including recruits and their families. Looks like Coach Hoke has some special visitors recently.
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Butch Woolfolk Speaks His Mind (1981)
Through Tate’s twitter goodbye we got a little reminder of when Troy Woolfolk’s criticized Forcier’s workout habits this summer. You might recall that later on media day Tate said all the right things about Woolfolk’s words, and he added that, “seniors are the leaders of this team. Whatever they say, they can say—it’s up to them.” So I thought this was interesting. My pal Steve Sap sent over a clipping from a September 1981 Detroit News a few weeks back. In it, T-Woolf’s dad Butch Woolfolk (B-Woolf?) spoke to the media about his concerns about the team a few weeks into the season. Preseason #1 Michigan was upset by Wisconsin the opener but then smoked Notre Dame 25-7 in Ann Arbor. After a disappointing five point win over Navy many were scratching their heads–and the elder Woolfolk made it known he wasn’t happy with the flaky start: “I have a tendency to speak my mind, and maybe I shouldn’t say this…but this team is just not mentally ready…It’s a mess.” He added, “I don’t like this team right now. I don’t like it at all.” While Butch didn’t target a particular player, he did call out his fellow senior teammates saying, “The sad part of it is there are a lot of seniors on this team. And seniors are supposed…
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Rich Eisen interviews Coach Hoke (audio)
From M alumnus Rich Eisen and his ‘Get Rich Quick’ NFL podcast, the segment where he interviews Brady Hoke: [display_podcast] Eisen = Cotton Pickin’ Blue
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DC Greg Mattison returns (U-M Official Release)
Official release via U-M Media Relations Hoke Hires Ravens Coordinator Greg Mattison to Run Wolverines Defense ANN ARBOR – University of Michigan football coach Brady Hoke hired one of the NFL’s top defensive coordinators to run the Wolverines defense, naming Greg Mattison to the same position that he previously held in Ann Arbor during the 1995 and 1996 seasons. Mattison served as the defensive line coach for the Wolverines from 1992-96.
