While rarely discussed these days, the Chicago game in 1898 is without a doubt one of the most memorable match-ups in Wolverine lore. It also had the most far-reaching impact as it was this win that inspired 'The Victors'. Today our undisputed rival is clearly the Buckeyes. But back in 1898 it was was AA Stagg and his Chicago Maroons.
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The Brilliance of 1901, Michigan Football
Friends, fans, or mere passers-by of this site. Read this excerpt. Buy Stagg vs. Yost. This is a masterpiece that will be read and taught through the ages, and Kryk has offered up an exclusive morsel to you – the readers of MVictors. A huge thanks to John and his publisher and the U-M Bentley Historical Library for this exclusive including several of the photos – I know you will love it: – – – – Yost’s 1901 Wolverines: perfection and roses Fielding H. Yost’s first Michigan team in 1901 smacked Amos Alonzo Stagg’s Chicago Maroons by the largest score so far in the 10-year series, 22-0 — the Wolverines’ eighth win in eight tries, all by shutout. Afterward, Stagg acted as he usually did after a team clobbered him on the field: he counter-punched as hard as he could off it. Days after the Nov. 16 game, Stagg filed a protest to UM authorities, charging that starting Wolverine left end Curtis Redden was a professional, for evidently pocketing an $11 prize as a youth after having won sprint races at a town sports meet. UM authorities mulled the matter while Redden on the following Saturday played in Michigan’s 15-touchdown, 89-0 destruction of Beloit in 30-minute halves — a near repeat of the 128-0 University of Buffalo slaughter. Upon launching…
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The Righteous Red Ribbon (Michigan vs. Chicago 1898)
Spotted this on eBay and had to pass it along: it’s what appears to be an official’s ribbon to the epic Michigan-Chicago game of 1898, the game that inspired U-M student Louis Elbel to compose The Victors (see above). Bidding is justifiably up over $400 right now – get some. While we’re on the topic of the famous 12-11 victory, a resurrected postscript: Michigan was undoubtedly the Champions of the West in 1898, but looking back do our beloved Wolverines have a claim to the national championship that season? It seems silly discussing this so many decades years later but there is a recent precedent for such action. In 2004 Southern Cal looked back at its history and claimed the 1939 national championship. And in August of 2012, our Little Brown Jug-toting buddies Minnesota announced that it claimed a share of the 1904 national championship. While Harvard and Princeton each take credit for the 1898 crown based on different measurements – Does Michigan, who went undefeated and outscored opponents 205 to 26, have an argument to join them?
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Wire Photo Wednesday | Fritz Watches Harry Wrestle
Good Wednesday to you, friends. WPW leads off with a classic shot of the B1G football coaches meeting prior to the 1931 season (see above). This photo, from the Big Ten meetings prior to the 1931 season, is probably worth its $44 auction price. On the floor you’ve got M headman Harry Kipke with Purdue coach (and former player under Rockne) Noble Kizer demonstrating life in the trenches. Minnesota’s Fritz Crisler, who would replace Kipke later that decade, watches from the back. Amongst the men seated is Illinois legend Bob Zuppke sitting next to the one & only Amos Alonzo Stagg. Great shot. Dress code in ‘31? White shirt, tie, Brylcreem in the hair (except for Stagg). I don’t know when wire photos started to be distributed to newspapers, but this has to be a fairly early one (from 1926) featuring the great Michigan quarterback and NFL HOF’er Benny Friedman. The seller claims it is an original and wants a mere $30. If it’s truly the original it’s worth over $100 easy IMO.
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Marooons In Memoriam
From the front page of September 24, 1940 edition of the Michigan Daily, announcing the demise of the once-great University of Chicago football program: So why did one of the original members of the Big Ten, who brought us the heralded Coach Amos Alonzo Stagg (and Fritz Crisler, for that matter), ditch football? This issue of Sports Illustrated from 1954 put it nicely: The University of Chicago abandoned intercollegiate football in 1939 because the game hampered the university’s efforts to become the kind of institution it aspired to be. The university believed that it should devote itself to education, research and scholarship. Intercollegiate football has little to-do with any of these things and an institution that is to do well in them will have to concentrate upon them and rid itself of irrelevancies, no matter how attractive or profitable. Football has no place in the kind of institution Chicago aspires to be. It has been argued that Chicago is different. Perhaps it is and maybe it is just that difference that enabled the university to separate football from education. That’s sweet and all, but methinks the 85-0 beating at the hands of Tom Harmon’s Wolverines in 1939 had a hand in it as well. Here’s one of my favorite all-time photos featuring Tom Harmon cooling off on the sidelines during…
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TWIMFbH: Beat Chicago (1898)
Stub via ticketmuseum.com and Ken Magee of Ann Arbor Sports Memorabilia This week we go back to Thanksgiving Day, 1898 as Michigan head coach Gustave Ferbert and his undefeated Wolverines traveled to Chicago to face Amos Alonzo Stagg and his powerful University of Chicago Maroons. While rarely discussed these days, the game is without a doubt one of the most notable match-ups in Wolverine lore. While today’s our undisputed rival is clearly The Buckeyes, back in 1898, the coach and the team that really got maize and blue blood boiling was Stagg and his Chicago teams. Have a listen: [display_podcast] You can catch all of the This Week in Michigan Football History clips here. Listen to it live tomorrow on the KeyBank Countdown to kick-off on WTKA 1050AM.
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Fritz Gives Reader’s Digest the Gas Face
I always like to check out the old letters that pop up on eBay for stuff just like this. Back in 1962 athletic director Fritz Crisler submitted a story to Reader’s Digest on his college coach and mentor, Chicago legend Amos Alonzo Stagg. [As an aside, there’s a copy of the story at the Bentley Library in Crisler’s archives and I plan to check it out.] Fritz clearly had a deep admiration for his former coach. Heck, Sports Illustrated, in its wonderful 1964 piece on Crisler ‘The Man Who Changed Football’ even suggested the ‘1’ in the Michigan Stadium attendance might actually be reserved for Stagg!: It was his secret. But anyone is entitled to guess, and one guess might be that somewhere in that vast stadium there is this one seat, and perhaps it is never sold. Perhaps it is reserved, now and forever, for someone who taught Fritz Crisler a way of coaching football and a way of life. For the Old Man, Amos Alonzo Stagg. So coupling Crisler’s demeanor, his air-tight professionalism, and his admiration for his mentor I’m guessing Fritz put a lot of thought into the words he chose for this story for Reader’s Digest. So what could go wrong? Well thanks to Mr. Myron Green of Worcester, Mass, we know that Crisler was none-too-happy…
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Climate Controlled Conditions in Chicago (1896) | This Week In Michigan Football History
For this week in Michigan football History, we take a trip to the finale of the 1896 season in a game played indoors…yes, INDOORS at the Chicago Coliseum complex. They even turned on the lights when a storm outdoors made it dark inside the facility. As always, you can listen to it out before the KeyBank Countdown to Kick-off on WTKA 1050AM tomorrow, or click play now: You can hear all of the This Week… clips here. BEAT OHIO! Follow MVictors on Twitter
