On the brink of one of the biggest games in a generation, here’s a look back at the trip out to California for the 1965 Rose Bowl with recollections from coach Bump Elliott, back Barry Dehlin, and particularly, team Captain Jim Conley.
Business Time
The trip to the 1965 Rose Bowl was conducted in two distinct phases – party time and business time. The first portion started off with the usual tours, some time to hang out, and a bit of partying. OK, maybe a lot of partying.
“Chrysler gave us a car for every 4 guys,” junior fullback Barry Dehlin recalled. “For the first week, you had a bunch of 20-year-old guys out there and we were partying.”
As young men tend to do, they took advantage of their celebrity status with the California coeds.
“We went to Disneyland. The next thing you know we’re in our hotel room and there are eight or ten of the Disneyland tour guides,” Conley recalled. “We also went to the Whisky a’ Go Go. The girls are dancing and all that, and let’s just say we had some guys that were good at what they do, do you know what I mean?”
“I’ll never forget, we’re walking back into the hotel at night. [Senior end] Bill Laskey is with me along with a couple of other guys. We’ve got these girls with us with those frilly skirts shaking around. As we’re walking down the hall [assistant coach] Jocko Nelson walks by, looks at me, and just says, “Captain Conley.” And I go, “Coach Nelson.” And we just kept going right on by. [laughs]”
If you think Bump wasn’t aware of all of this, think again. He understood that the players were susceptible to being caught up in the off-the-field distractions and warned them as such. But he let them slide a bit in the beginning. “We were a little bit more lenient about some of the places we let them go and how late they stayed out,” Coach Elliott recalled.
Eventually, the team got down to the business at hand and Conley gathered up the seniors for a chat. “I told them we have to get back on track. We have to focus. And I added, ‘I’m probably the worst!” And everybody goes, ‘Yeah, you’re the worst!’ So I told them, ‘Well you know, I’m a natural-born leader!’”
After that first week Bump addressed the team as well and told them to get their heads back into it. But as Dehlin recalled, what truly registered were the simple words uttered by Coach Tony Mason. “Talk about a master of psychology. Mason told us, ‘I’ll tell you something, you are a bunch of good guys. And you used to be good football players.’”
“It just hit everybody. For the last week, everybody was in bed on time and focused.”
Gameday in Pasadena always seems to bring perfect weather and January 1, 1965, was no different. After a scoreless first quarter, Oregon broke through and tallied the game’s first touchdown. Down 7-0, Conley had enough. “I gathered everybody together and said, ‘This game is over. We didn’t come this far to lose!’”
“That was it. We demolished them.”
And it was pretty much over right here, down 7-0, Conley and the defense got a stop and gave the ball to Mel Anthony. Deep in Michigan territory, he did this:
There’s no other way to put it. All told Anthony dashed for three TDs and for 123 of U-M’s 332 rushing yards in the 34-7 beatdown.
Oregon State’s coach Tommy Prothro later called the 1964 Wolverines the best team he’d ever seen, adding, “There were times when our players blasted Michigan players at full speed and only wound up flat on their backs.” He admitted he’d never seen such hitting.
The complete story of the 1964 Wolverines, as told by Captain Jim Conley:
Part I: Starting from Nothing
Part II: The Season
Part III: Party Time turns to Business Time and Aftermath
One Comment
Michael Altese
Any post with Doctor/Cousin Barry Dehlin requires a comment! The Flushing Flash!