Ugh. For the record: This day in history – I mentioned to the fellas on air in the Victors Lounge that I’m actually getting crap on Twitter for citing history and historical events. Umm…that’s what I do and almost all I do. It this site’s raison d’être. Needless to say, I march on. So while sadly Saturday was a low point of sorts, November 22 will remain an epic anniversary for Michigan football for decades to come, if for no other reason these two games: Two Hundred. Holy fandom endurance awards, props to uber-fan Mike Khomutin for attending this 200th straight U-M game (yes, that’s home AND away). I believe that dates back to 1998. See Sap’s Decals for your decal. Jake No Patch – Some of you noticed that Jake Ryan didn’t wear his Bennie Oosterbaan Legends patch during the Northwestern game. I’m efforting some details from media relations on why. To my knowledge this hasn’t been addressed by anyone…and if you think this little detail is silly, I’d offer that it’s no sillier than anything else people are writing about this team at this moment. Willie Heston – Yo! My piece short bio piece on Willie Heston appeared in the game program on Saturday (page 4). I’ll repost it here soon and note that historian/pal John Kryk helped…
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How It Started: Minnesota Madmen 6, Michigan Machine 6
One headline in the November 1, 1903 Sunday edition of the Minneapolis Tribune declared, “VICTORY, THOUGH THE SCORE IS TIED." Further down toward the fold it blared, “YOST AND MICHIGAN PRACTICALLY BEATEN.” Here's what happened in the famous 6-6 tie between Michigan and Minnesota in 1903
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Michigan Records Within Reach
The 2012 football media guide is available for perusal so I perused. Here are a few notable records that could be reached this season. As usual, I don’t think any of the records go much past the mid-1940s, although they list a few of Harmon’s stats in the late 1930s and occasionally offer “pre-modern” data. Some of the defensive records only date to the 1960s. Roy Roundtree has caught a ball in 19 straight games. Braylon has the career record with an impressive 38. Obviously Treezy won’t catch him, but if he runs the season out including the B1G title game and a bowl, he could up 3rd all-time with 33 straight, just ahead up Marquise Walker with 32. U-M tracks plays which I assume are downs in which someone touches the ball. Naturally it’s all quarterbacks. Denard (1126) trails Chad Henne (1567) by 441 but participated in 479 last season and 547 in 2012. If he’s healthy it should happen. Did you know that Will Hagerup’s 2010 effort was second all-time for season punting average? I didn’t. Now, I’d like to see Harry Kipke’s stats in here but nonetheless, assuming Hagerup earns the job back from Matt Wile, you’d have to think that Zoltan Mesko’s season standard of 44.46 yards/punt (left) is obtainable with a good bounce or two. …
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The S.S. Schembechler Sails!
Arrrr, she can sail around your man cave: Nicely done. And it comes tricked out with nautical flags in what appears to be a personal hall of fame that the builder pulled together: Not to nitpick, but where’s Leach? (The 7 is for Henne). Benny Friedman? Harry Newman? Willie Heston should be honored in some manner. Rob Lytle? Germany Schulz? Someone needs to build an M pirate ship, the S.S. Yost, with the names of the forgotten Wolverine greats. <deep breath> Many would consider this a no-no, but he did leave a spot for a current player: You gotta love it.
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On Honoring Michigan Legends
I’ve had a few days to think about the newly unveiled ‘Michigan Football Legend’ program. Bottom line–I really like it. My whole thing about the history of U-M is whatever gets people talking about former players, coaches, seasons, or games is a 99% of the time a good thing. (Glen Rice). The BTN Icons series, for example, had everyone talking about Harmon and of course this was a big couple weeks for Desmond. Another thing we learned is that it’s clear Michigan will not be retiring any new numbers and on Sunday, Angelique caught up with Dave Brandon who told her this: Brandon intends to offer the families of the players whose numbers have been retired — Tom Harmon, Bennie Oosterbaan, the Wistert brothers, Ron Kramer and Gerald Ford — to have those numbers re-established but with the "Michigan Football Legend" patch associated with those players. I’m hoping the families of the guys who have already have had their numbers retired agree to join this program. The fact is no one really talks a whole lot about Kramer, the Wisterts and even Oosterbaan (unless of course we’re talking about retiring a jersey). And I’m with Brian, it’d be cool to see someone wearing #98 on the field and have a tricked out Harmon locker. Someone get Mr. Shoop on the…
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Can you Spot the Ringer? (1899)
Listed on eBay as a 1936 wire pic featuring the great Point-A-Minute back Willie Heston, it’s actually an 1899 team photo of the team from San Jose State: Someone went through a little process of elimination to identify Heston: It’s the first time I’ve seen Heston photographed in his pre-Wolverine days. Arguably the finest back in Michigan history, it’s true that he didn’t start his collegiate days as a Wolverine. He played two seasons in San Jose before following Yost to Ann Arbor. Yost discovered Heston on his short coaching stint in California 1899, where apparently he coached anyone with a pigskin in the gym. As I understand it, Yost not only coached the collegians at Stanford but also helped out on Heston’s San Jose squad, at local Lowell High school and taught the Stanford freshman team as well. Heston wasn’t the only fellow that seemed to have caught Yost’s eye out on the west coast. He also convinced San Jose prep star George Gregory to come to Ann Arbor and some claimed Yost offered Gregory cash, as much as $1500, to come to Michigan. His old boss, Stanford President David Jordan, was the primary accuser and it apparently played out for nearly a decade. Check out this entertaining news clipping from many years later, January 3, 1908, in fact,…
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The House that Jack Built: The Ultimate Wolverine Den
There are a few places in Ann Arbor where you can view some of the finest Michigan football memorabilia in the land. If you can get inside, the museum at Schembechler Hall features helmets, jerseys and other relics from the early days of the program. Up on North Campus the wonderful archives at the U-M Bentley Historical Library contain an extensive array of documents, photos and news clippings covering the history of Michigan athletics. Neither collection is quite like what lifelong Ann Arbor resident Jack Briegel has at his home.
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Signed WWJ Michigan Pigskin (1958)
Check out this vintage football signed by the 1958 University of Michigan football squad (see above) Above ‘UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’ it is stamped ‘WWJ 1958’. The WWJ stands for longtime radio station WWJ in Detroit which aired Wolverine games for many years, including, according to the Bentley Library, what is believed to be the first live broadcast from a football stadium in 1924. The auction’s limited description doesn’t indicate why it says WWJ or when the ball was signed, but perhaps it was passed around during the annual bust held in December of that year after the rough season. How rough? Well, the Wolverines finished 2-6-1, losing their final four games, and prior to the finale against Ohio State coach Bennie Oosterbaan resigned. This probably didn’t help matters: There was no drama or transition period after Oosterbaan handed in his resignation. He stayed at the university and former star player and then assistant coach Bump Elliott took over effective January 1, 1959. Back to the ball, while it doesn’t appear to be loaded down with superstars, it does include Oosterbaan’s predecessor and current athletic director Fritz Crisler: And historians might recognize the name Harry Newman, the great quarterback from the early 1930s, but.. ..you might also notice the “Jr.” tagged on the end. That’s Harry Newman’s son who didn’t leave…
