Recently I had a chance to visit the incredible personal U-M memorabilia collection at the home of Kenn Domerese. In Part I we start with a brief interview followed-up by a look at a few items from his collection. This episode includies Michigan helmets from the 1910s and 1930s, a vintage cane that once belonged to Irving Pond (the man who scored the first touchdown in U-M history), original sheet music from The Victors, a 1930s "Schedule Bot", a 1901 cloth item dedicated to Fielding H. Yost's first team, and much more:
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The Union and Michigan Athletics
Open those doors! The 20 month renovation is complete so let's discuss the origins of the Michigan Union. I also highlight several ties to U-M athletics history including Tommy Roberts and Irving Pond.
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Team One, Game One
[Ed. In honor of the anniversary of Team One Game One – a repost from last year.] Happy May 30th, the day Michigan football was born. The month of May you say? Indeed. Team 1 took the field on this day 133 ago against Racine in game played at White Stockings Park in Chicago. Fittingly May 30, 1879 is also marks the birth of, depending on your perspective, Wolverine fans getting SCREWED BY or whining about the officials. From a recap of the game as published in the Michigan Chronicle the following day: Despite the blind referee, by all accepted accounts Michigan prevailed 1-0 over Racine. To this day sources differ, however, on who scored the first touchdown and how it was scored. The feat is commonly attributed to Irving K. Pond and that will probably never change. In his autobiography Pond describes his heroic dash to the end zone and you’ve gotta love it: My touchdown was made towards the end of the first half and involved a long distance run to where the ball must be grounded directly behind and between the goal posts … To Avoid being tackled I was forced to mount the bleachers and run eastward along them until I was opposite the goal when I stopped suddenly and — fearing that a touchdown…
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This Week in 19th Century Michigan Football!
Here’s the last entry* in ‘This Week in Michigan Football History’ to be played Saturday on WTKA 1050AM’s Key Bank Countdown to Kick-off pregame show before The Game. It’s probably the most unique segment in the series as we go back — ALL the way back – to the 1800s and talk about the game played on this day in 1883 against Stevens Institute, the first game ever played against Racine College and a few key facts from the underappreciated 19th century. I hope you enjoy it: [display_podcast] Thanks to reader Scott B. for pointing out to me the tie to George Jewett, the first black player in Michigan (and conference) history, and the current team. Believe it – according to U-M Media Relations, freshman DB Courtney Avery is a descendant of Jewett. I’m digging for some better details on this. The sponsor of This Week…is Wolverine Beer so here’s where you can find it and you can hear all of the This Week… clips here. * Exclusive: We might to special hockey history segment for the Big Chill so look out for that.
