It sure got messed up, didn't it? I'm talking about the brief history of the Little Brown Jug. Here's a download of information to set you straight:
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The U.S.S. Michigan Sinks Penn (November 13, 1909)
The AMAZING story of the 1909 Michigan-Penn game, held in Philadelphia. Needing a boost after getting crushed by the Quakers the previous 3 seasons, Yost and Michigan got a big one. The navy men stationed on the U.S.S. Michigan came out to root Wolverines on in this HUGE historic win. You'll enjoy this one.
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Postcard Worthy (1909)
Despite the significance of this game it seems this one, and a lot during the post Point-A-Minute era is underappreciated in history. So here's a quick look at the wild season of 1909 and the signifcance of this postcard and its steep asking price!
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Gustave Ferbert’s Million Dollar Touchdown
Today, the head coach of the Michigan football team doesn’t have to look beyond campus to hit it big financially. Of course, this wasn’t always the case, especially in the early days of the program. While Fielding Yost’s contracts compensated him very competitively for his era, they definitely didn’t make him a wealthy man. In fact, Yost spent a good part of the year out of town pursuing private business interests just to supplement his income. But do you know the story of Gustave “Dutch” Ferbert? Ferbert suited up as a halfback for the Wolverines in the mid-1890s, but he is most notable for serving as the head coach of the famous 1898 squad. That team delivered Michigan its first conference title, sealing it with a victory over Chicago that famously inspired student Louis Elbel to compose “The Victors.” Ferbert coached one more season in Ann Arbor before packing his bags and heading north, hoping to strike it rich in the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1900, he traveled up to Nome and allegedly told folks he would “return rich or not at all.” Early on, however, there was serious question as to whether he would even survive the journey. Thanks to Brian at the Bentley Historical Library for forwarding this clipping over, which appears to be from 1902: “The many…
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The New Schembechler Hall Towsley Museum
The new Schembechler Hall museum is quite a sight – definitely check it out next time you have the means. A virtual tour from 2019 if you prefer it:
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Forgot to Register
From my inbox, thought I’d pass this along. Greg Kinney, the great curator at the wonderful U-M Bentley Historical Library forward this cartoon last week and I love it. It was stored in one of the athletic department scrapbooks: The gent on the left is disgraced Michigan football player James Joy Miller, who was dismissed after the 1909 season for failing to properly register and attend classes. The scandal made it all the way over to the New York Times and Michigan ended up apologizing to each of the teams they faced that year. Cook is explorer Frederick Cook, who reached or (claimed to reach) the North Pole in 1908, months ahead of the guy credited with it – Robert Peary. At one point he promised to the King of Denmark that he would submit all the detail of his reports and findings to the University of Copenhagen. He submitted a report, but not all of the detail the school was expecting and this happened: In late November, drawing on his diary, he completed his promised report to the University of Copenhagen. (He chose not to send his diary to Denmark for fear of losing it.) In December, the university—whose experts had been expecting original records—announced that Cook’s claim was “not proven.” Many U.S. newspapers and readers took that finding…
