I appreciate all the kind words (and hair jokes) for the appearance on the Tom Harmon Big Ten Icons piece that has been running this week. A few folks have fired over questions about the episode and I’d thought I’d summarize those here. I addressed some of this and more with Sam and Ira on Feb 3 so check that out as well. I was contacted by the producer about a month ago. They were pulling together the episode and felt they needed more “voices” to add to the documentary. Keep in mind most of the interviews/comments about Harmon and the other pieces were collected a while ago. Angelique, for instance, was interviewed during the Big Ten basketball tournament last year—they shot her in an old gym in Indianapolis. My read is that they had a lot about how great/dynamic Harmon was, but not a lot of detail in the Harmon story. So—the producer asked around for names & John Lofy of Michigan Today and the great John U. Bacon suggested they contact me. The BTN folks also contacted Greg Kinney, the curator at The Bentley Library. They interviewed Kinney and I on January 25th at the stadium on the east side. (Kinney went before me and he was gone before I arrived). I’m seated in the first row of…
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Tom Harmon Radio (Feb-3 – WTKA audio)
photo via this site I swung by WTKA 1050AM this morning to chat with Ira and Sam about the great Tom Harmon, the Big Ten Network’s #5 Icon. The show will air Sunday at 2:30PM (and re-air at 9pm, if the Super Bowl is a dud.) [display_podcast] – More Harmon stuff: Why Tom Harmon Went to Michigan Tom Harmon – Big Ten Icon #5 The Drunk and Old 98 Tommy’s the BMOC Harmon and Old Number..Six? Tom Harmon says ‘Vote Heston’ Harmon Jitterbugs with Joan & Jinx Harmon Goes for the Gusto
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Tom Harmon – Big Ten Icon #5
This morning the BTN revealed that Old 98 Tom Harmon will be the next athlete featured in their Icons series. The Harmon segment will appear on Super Bowl Sunday at a special time: 2:30PM (and will re-air again at 9pm). The BTN cameras were on campus last week interviews for the feature. This week I’ll run a few posts on interesting things you might not know about Harmon. You know he’s #98 and the Heisman winner and of course he’s actor Mark Harmon’s dad. (Mark did consider coming to Michigan FWIW—his pops stayed out of it.) For starters, here’s a little about Harmon’s exploits before he even strapped on Crisler’s new-fangled winged helmet: High School Days Harmon was beyond a standout athlete in high school—he was off the charts. It was in his blood, demonstrated by his athletic family. Two of Harmon’s brothers ended up at Purdue, another at Tulane. In addition to being named all-state quarterback twice, Harmon earned 14 varsity letters at Horace Mann High in Gary, IN. He captained the 1936 basketball team and won the state title in the 100-yard dash & the 200-yard low hurdles. He tossed three no-hitters in AAU summer baseball. Fielding Yost called him the scholastic athlete of the year. It was in high school that Harmon also settled on the famous…
