[10/21/2023 – Bumped, just because.]
Amazing but true, Michigan head coach Fritz Crisler actually had 2 men seated above the stadium press box for an important job. One used binoculars to try to identify a “sleeper” – an opponent’s 11th offensive player hiding near the sideline. The other guy? A bugle player. His job was to blast away on the horn if the spotter found a sleeper.
WATCH: Here’s the full story plus the Cleveland Browns running “the sleeper” in recent years:
Here’s the full quote from the 1960s Sports Illustrated interview with Fritz Crisler, and wow, this is classic:
In a moment [Crisler] went on: “I remember the old plays. The hurry-up huddle, the sideline and talking plays. The sleeper.” He smiled. “Our defense against the sleeper was rather celebrated. The sleeper was banned by the Rules Committee, but when the play was legal a man could hide out over where there were substitutes standing or where there was a crowd on the sidelines. You would tell your halfbacks, ‘Scan your sides of the field after every play to look for that sleeper.’ You would say to your safety, ‘You scan both sides.’ Despite their vigilance, the boys would frequently miss a sleeper hiding out. Finally we thought of adding a bugler to our defense.”
A bugler? The kind of bugler who blows a horn?
“That kind of bugler. We would put a bugler up on top of the press box with instructions to watch for that sleeper, and when he spotted one to blast out reveille with all the fervor and wind that was in him. It worked, but we could only use him at home games. There was a limit on the number of men we could take on a trip. One time we went to Illinois, and Zup [Coach Bob Zuppke] laid a sleeper out there and beat us with the play. If we had had our bugler I don’t think Zup would have beat us.”
I scanned the Bentley photo archives and found this shot from the 1946 Army game, where it appears that there is certainly a “spotter” atop the press box!:
I’ll bet one of those gents has a bugle in his hands ready to blow. I love it!
