On eBay right now, a series of football ticket applications from the early 1930s, with one including this message from #1000SSS from The Grand Old Man himself: This wasn’t the only time that Yost spearheaded a message on the ills of drinking at games during this era. Back in 2008, I noted this cartoon that appears in the 1934 yearbook: While we know folks found a way to drink during Prohibition, the law ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. That said, Michigan state law approved the sale of 3.2 percent alcohol earlier that year and I’m sure more than a few bottles of the good stuff found their way to and through the gates of Michigan Stadium.
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The Willis Ward Protests (1934)
A breakdown of the campus-chaos leading up to and following the infamous 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game. U-M benched Ward and succumbed to Tech's demand to not play against a black player. Read on:
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Living Legacy: Interview with U-M Senior Melanie Ward
If you read this site you know that Saturday is officially Willis Ward Day in the state of Michigan. It is also not-so coincidentally the 78th anniversary of the infamous 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game. I bet you didn’t know this: there’s a descendant of Willis Ward currently studying on campus in Ann Arbor. I met Melanie Ward, the grand niece of Ward (Willis is her grandfather’s brother), at a screening of Black and Blue at the U-M Alumni Center on campus earlier this year. Ward (left) is currently a U-M senior and was kind enough to chat with me this weekend as we approach the day that will honor her great uncle. MVictors: What did you know about your great uncle before coming to U-M? Melanie Ward: I knew that I had a great uncle who played football for the University of Michigan in the 1930s. I also knew a little later that Gerald Ford also played on his team. But I did not know anything about the Georgia Tech football game. MVictors: Do you have any other family members who attended Michigan? Ward: Just Willis and his sister-law, who is my dad’s mother. MVictors: So when did you learn about the controversy about the 1934 Georgia Tech game and Willis Ward’s involvement? Ward: At the screening of the documentary…
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The Willis Ward Petition– 78 Years Later
Seventy eight years ago this fall the U-M campus was set ablaze. Students and teachers held heated (heated as in objects and insults being hurled) debates/protests over the proper way to handle the Georgia Tech game. You know the story by now: The Jackets visited Ann Arbor but made it known well before the game that they would only play if Michigan’s African American end, Willis Ward, didn’t participate. The saga, including background and the aftermath is documented in the documentary Black and Blue which you should own in your collection. The largest group, the United Ward Front, was a group of students and professors with a simple demand: Ward plays against Tech or the game should be cancelled. They gathered over 1,500 signatures in support and led many of the protests (clip from the 1934 Michigan Daily to the left). Fast forward nearly 78 years. The guys behind Black and Blue have a new petition —one urging U-M to honor Willis Ward on October 20, 2012. You can sign on here: http://www.change.org/petitions/honor-willis-ward The are asking U-M to honor Ward on Saturday October 20, 2012 because this will be the 78th anniversary of the Georgia Tech game. On top of that, Ward would have been 100 this year and the Michigan state legislature is already expected to declare that Saturday…
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Black and Blue – New Trailer For Gerald Ford-Willis Ward Documentary
Check out the updated trailer for the Willis Ward-Gerald Ford documentary – looks to be outstanding (despite the gent at 1:51): I understand from Buddy and Brian down at Stunt3 that it will be released in the September-October timeframe and like Bart Scott, I “Can’t Wait”. Look for more updates here of course and I hope you will check it out. For much more read my post on The Willis Ward Protests.
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What I’m Wearing October 1
Antique Little Brown Jug pin from 1934.
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It Had to Happen
Nearly three years ago to the day I submitted a mgoblog guest post talking about the 100-year Michigan football anniversary event held in 1979. Former player Willis Ward attended the celebration held at Chrysler errr, Crisler Arena. I mentioned this: Willis Ward: The African-American end and U-M track star was Gerald Ford’s roommate for road games and a member of the ’32 and ’33 national championship squads. This man’s story deserves a full documentary or movie, not a blurb on a blog post, and it’s safe to assume he gave some interesting remarks to the banquet crowd. A hat tip to my boys at UGP/Moe’s and MGoShoe for simultaneously sending over this link. Pete Bigelow at AnnArbor.com writes that a local group is putting together a 10 part series covering Michigan football. It’ll debut with this: The series will debut with an episode on the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech game, in which the Yellow Jackets threatened to pull out of the game if Michigan played Willis Ward, the school’s second black player. Ward’s teammate, future President Gerald Ford, contemplated quitting the team in protest of Ward’s exclusion. Here’s a trailer from the group producing the films, Stunt3 Multimedia: When can we expect this to come out? According to senior creative director Buddy Moorehouse: ..the first film in the series ("Black and…
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Jesse Owens, Gerald Ford and 1934
Regular readers of this site know one of my favorite decades of Michigan football is the 1930s, having covered different seasons and events in eBay Watch and in the Little Brown Jug Lore series from those years. If I had to pick one year as my favorite during the stretch it’s definitely 1934 which is ironic, as it’s arguably the worst season in Michigan football history. I argued this point here and here, but in a nutshell consider that Harry Kipke’s team, coming off back-to-back national championships, finished 1-7, was shut out in five of the eight games and scored a mere 21 points. Fugly. Despite the futility on the gridiron, the season is packed with historical treasures of major significance both on and off the field. Check out this program from the Ohio State-Michigan held on November 17, 1934: The program features several photos of players, including a collage of the Michigan team including team MVP Gerald Ford: The top of the photo features Willis Ward, the African American end who was at the center of a fierce controversy that played out before the Georgia Tech game a few weeks earlier that season. For those not familiar, The Jackets made it known well before the game that they wouldn’t take the field in Ann Arbor if Ward played, spawning…
