A question from MVictors reader Tom K: What did Gerald Ford [do] for employment during his summer vacations while attending the University of Michigan? I know Gerald Ford had various ways of making money while attending school over his years at Michigan, including waiting tables at the medical school, selling his own blood, managing the fraternity house, etc.  But none of the sources (biographies and his own autobiography), and not the Bentley or the Ford Presidential Library have the answer to this question.  I’ve also tried with Betty Ford, but she wasn’t on the scene until much later. Anyone know? Related: * eBay Watch: Jesse Owens, Gerald Ford and 1934 * Harry Kipke and the Fall of 1934 * The Willis Ward Protests * eBay Watch: Yost’s Warning to you Drunks (1933)   Don’t be a square, follow MVictors on Twitter

Check out this great shot of Old 98, Tom Harmon, on the sideline grabbing a drink. No, it wasn’t from a water jug or even from a cup.  It’s 1939 and you got your drink from a ladle dipped from a trough LIKE A MAN: This was shot during the game against once great rival Chicago in 1939, a game in which Michigan won 85-0 in front of a sparse crowd of 5,000, no doubt mostly Michigan fans.  The hapless Maroons were pummeled all season, losing to Ohio State 61-0, Illinois 47-0, Harvard 61-0, Virginia 47-0, and were even shut out by tiny Beloit College 6-0. Those are the kind of beatdowns that force you to think about the direction of a program, and the Maroons did some hard, hard thinking after the 1939 season concluded.   In December it was announced the once-splendid Chicago would cease fielding a football team. This concluded a 15-year deemphasis on our beloved pigskin: Stagg was of course the first man to defeat a Fielding Yost-led Wolverine team at the conclusion of the Point-A-Minute era from 1901-1905. Chicago was Michigan’s first true rival and U-M’s 1898 victory in the Windy City inspired Louis Elbel to write The Victors, in turn inspiring a blogger to name his website MVictors. Complete withdrawal from the conference for the…

With the Masters upon us, it’s a great time to post this photo from 1931.  I found it thumbing through Michigan LInks magazine, which in turn published it courtesy of the great U-M Bentley Historical Library.  I’m guessing they are on the 18th tee box, with the camera pointed north toward campus. In the photo above, you have to love these guys with the middle pair (team captain J.R. Royston and John Howard) taking a break from enjoying their cigarettes for the photo.   The gent on the right is coach Thomas Trueblood, the man who organized U-M’s inaugural club team in 1901 and the first varsity squad in 1921. Here’s a clip from the Daily in 1919, where “Professor Trueblood” is quoted on the prospect of a varsity golf team: Trueblood also led Michigan to five Big Ten championships and two National titles (‘34 and ‘35).   Michigan was the first non-Ivy League team to win NCAA titles.  Trueblood hung up his argyle socks on top after the 1935 season and is a renowned golfing legend in Michigan and elsewhere. The Blue CourseGiven that this photo dates to 1931 it was likely shot on Michigan’s freshly built golf course that we all know and love today.   The land was purchased by the-Athletic Director Fielding Yost as part of the parcel bought…

Coach Rodriguez dialed up The Huge Show for a few minutes this afternoon.  Host Bill Simonson asked him some relatively tough questions (Huge “…the defense has been brutal”): Spring practice Demar Dorsey’s alternative plans Other freshman (Will Hagerup has the best shot to start) How the players are reacting to distractions (both positive (?) and negative) Dave Brandon and expectations The defensive struggles (and whether he had a heart-to-heart with Greg Robinson). I believe I caught this a minute or so into the interview, but grabbed the bulk of it: [display_podcast] .   Hey, follow MVictors on Twitter and be the first to “get it”

The media got a brief glimpse of practice late this afternoon.   It’s seriously about 15 minutes and it’s just drills.  I’m not knocking it (it’s nice to be out there for a few minutes) but it’s tough to learn much of anything.   A few notes: While Mike Martin isn’t participating in formal drills, he was seen today running inside the indoor facility and looked good.  And mean. I was trying to get a look at the kickers and punters, but each time we’ve been around practice they’ve been tucked away inside the indoor practice field as well. I watched about 5 minutes of the quarterbacks passing in a few different drills, Gardner struggled at times with accuracy but take that with a grain of salt that takes 5 (five) minutes to digest. more pics:   Ricky Leach:

I’ve been meaning to swap hosting companies for a while now, I’ve seen latency loading pages, got complaints from readers (one guy said he likes the site but couldn’t take it anymore) and this weekend the site pretty much died.  Anyway, I’ve moved to a new host aptly named Bluehost. I’m still working out a few kinks but I’d appreciate any feedback on site performance. Many thanks to those who posted or notified me directly of the problems this weekend.

For those (delightfully) scratching their head on how the story of the Michigan hockey run made it to Wall Street Journal, check this out.  WSJ writer Darren Everson penned that fine piece and hasn’t stopped dropping maize and blue nuggets as evidenced by this note in today’s column running down the Final Four coaches: Mr. Izzo’s sixth Final Four appearance in the past 12 years—a feat that only UCLA’s John Wooden and Duke’s Mr. Krzyzewski have ever accomplished—has triggered an outpouring of admiration for the Michigan State coach. One reporter this week quizzed him on whether he is the best coach in the history of the state. (Somewhere, Fielding Yost, Michigan’s football patriarch of the early 20th century, is wondering how six semifinal appearances trump the six national titles he is credited with.) Love it.   It looks like Mr. Everson was graduated from U-M in 1996 (B.A. English).  A few more M hockey and Fielding Yost references in the Journal and he’ll be coming back to pick up his honorary doctorate.

Maybe hit Carribou on Stadium then finish up with a cigar at Smokey’s? Support Michigan athletics and beat Cancer.   There are several auctions right now on my beloved eBay (HT: mgoblog), 100% of the proceeds of which go to fight cancer. The hottest?  How about a sit down with coach Lloyd Carr over coffee?   Get in there and bid.  The coffee with Carr auction is currently fetching north of $200 and it’ll certainly fetch more than that.  Maybe you can buy it and apologize to him. Other sweet stuff: Sideline passes for the Spring Game.  Hey, you might even meet your favorite bloggers?!  (Price drops suddenly). Jamie Morris signed football?  Nice.  Maybe James Walter will finally accept my Twitter follow? You can see all of the auctions here.