While most Michigan fans know that the Wolverines played in the first Rose Bowl in 1902, one detail that's misunderstood is that U-M actually had scheduled the trip out west BEFORE the season. Here's how it all played out - it's pretty cool stuff:
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Tommy Harmon makes the Funny Papers (1941)
Check out of few frames from a comic book featuring Michigan’s Heisman winner Tom Harmon and a few of the preseason college stars heading into the 1941 season. A true beauty.
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A Retroverted Michigan Block M (1920)
At glance, the design on this vintage Michigan fob/pendant seem too out of ordinary. On its face you’ve got a thick maize Block M, flanked by blue enamel sitting above the U-M seal:
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The Michigan ‘Mad Magicians’ Travel Budget (1947)
Check out this letter including the estimated budget for the trip then-Coach Crisler and his Mad Magicians Magicians would take to Pasadena to pummel USC in the Rose Bowl. It includes the logistics of the nearly two-day trek to the west coast involving stops in Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico.
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Inspecting Canham’s Carpet (1969)
Glenn “Bo” Schembechler wasn’t the only major change to hit Ann Arbor in 1969. New athletic director Don Canham decided to introduce artificial turf inside the Big House. Here’s a great photo of Dan Dierdorf and Bo inspecting a sample of the righteous carpet up on eBay now: Apparently Dierdorf was skeptical of the safety of natural grass, having suffered a knee injury in 1968 (from the notes on the wire photo): I’m not sure what they hoped to accomplish with their little empty shoe test, but oh well. It’s pretty clear that Canham was not only dead set on the innovation, but he was also pretty proud of it. The new coach would seemingly be the obvious choice to don the cover of the game program, but Bo was present. In fact, no person is present at the front of the program for Bo’s first game at the helm—here’s a look at the Vanderbilt game program (also on eBay now), showing off Canham’s carpet: The bid on the Bo/Dierdorf photo is currently at $27.28. The Vandy program is going for $59.99.
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That’s No Happy Meal Cup (1972)
Scanning through the recent eBay auctions, this caught my eye. It’s a 1972 Burger King cup featuring then-San Francisco 49ers linebacker Frank Nunley. Nunley patrolled the middle for Bump Elliott’s Wolverines from 1964-1966, earning all-Conference his senior season. I was able to connect with Nunley who explained why his face ended up on BK cup. “Len Rhode, 49er offensive tackle, owned a few Burger Kings around here. Still does,” Nunley wrote me. “He featured a different 49er each week. I think that is where this came from.” It was during his stint in SF that Nunley earned his nickname, “Fudge Hammer”. According to Matt Maiocco’s book, San Francisco 49ers, Nunley owes the nickname to his NFL teammate Stan Hindman. Apparently Nunley didn’t possess an intimidating physique but could drill opposing players with the best of them, as in, “he looked like fudge but hit like a hammer.” Naturally I needed to get a few memories on Nunley from 1964 team captain Jim Conley, who once again did not disappoint. Enjoy: Frank Nunley was a freshman when I was a senior. I remember his first significant contribution to our 1964 team occurred when Dr. Barry Dehlin got a knee injury. He came running into the defensive huddle and asked, “What do I do?”. I told him that Bill Yearby and I…
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College Football’s Centennial (1969)
The back recognizes Bo’s 1969 team highlighted by the great 24-12 victory of Ohio State. At first glance, it looks like a major screw-up as the centennial of Michigan football would be in 1979, a decade later (when they would really screw things up.)
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eBay Watch: Hand Him the Hustler Award (1990+)
While Wolverine fans tend to toss any great individual performance that occurred during a loss in the circular file, there are a few that stand out. One of those is tailback Jon Vaughn’s 201-yard rushing performance in Gary Moeller’s coaching debut, a thrilling 28-24 loss in South Bend in 1990. Thanks to eBay, we now also know that Vaughn had a little more than game film and the occasional ache/pain to remember that great effort. Evidently Vaughn was the game’s ‘Offensive Hustler’: Yes, apparently Coach Mo not only dealt out helmet stickers, he also handed out Little League second place trophies for individual efforts. Per the auction description: Very rare one of a kind John [sic] Vaughn offensive hustler award for the game on sep 15 1990 vs the notre dame fighting irish. The trophy stand approx 14 inches high. The trophy does have some wear in areas. Please note that this trophy does not specifically mention his name. However i just recently purchased a memoribilia [sic] grouping from John [sic] Vaughn. Vaughn earned more prestigious honors at the end of the season, particular co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. Against Moeller’s advice, Vaughn bolted to the NFL after the season and had a short career in the bigs. Other Hustlers eBay Here’s a couple other guys who deserved…
