This morning 1964 championship team captain Jim Conley joined John U. Bacon on WTKA as part of the Fantastic Friday lineup. Captain Conley covered a lot of ground – from leadership to his unique set of teammates, to coach Bump Elliott – and of course, shared a bunch of stories from that amazing season: Conley also noted that the ‘64 team will be honored during the Minnesota game this year – which is great news. Hopefully Bump (who is 89 and lives in Iowa) will be there.
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And I’ve Been Working Like a Dog
A Hard Night’s Day – via Hail to the Victors 2014. Yo! I’ve been wrapped up for a while with all kinds of stuff, including working on some interviews and pieces that you coming up soon or this fall. Things will being to ramp up on these pages soon heading up the season. Things to look for: Hail to the Victors 2014 – Within the pages of mgoblog’s annual epic preseason book, this time I dropped in a piece on the widely ignored 1964 Big Ten/Rose Bowl championship team. It takes you through the season primarily through the eyes of team captain Jim Conley, along with some help from his coach Bump Elliott and teammate Barry Dehlin. Earmuffs! It’s harsh – it’s spicy – and after you read it you won’t have a problem remembering the ‘64 team. GoBlueWolverine Mag – Coming out before the season, I dropped in my interview with Bump Elliott that you’ll dig – it talks about the ‘64 team of course, but also gets into Woody, Bo, Bump feeling on his own legacy and much more. 2014 Game Program – Still working on some stuff for the program (a few things in the works) and I interviewed both Dan Dierdorf and Jim Brandstatter. You’ll get the full interviews on these pages later on. A sneak…
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Model Athletes | Wire Photo Wednesday
WPW returns after a brief hiatus with a trip back to Ann Arbor in 1965, a few months following Michigan’s 34-7 Rose Bowl beatdown of Oregon State. The folks at Esquire Magazine visited Ann Arbor and came to the Sigma Chi house looking for a few good men to model summer clothes. This shot included a few of Bump Elliott’s champions strolling in the Arb: [Left to right above you’ve got Captain Jim Conley (Sr – End) in his prime, joined by Rick Sygar (Jr. – fullback), the lovely Jane Horsfall (class of ‘65), Jane’s boyfriend Bill Laskey (Sr. – End), and student Norm Legacki.] I recently caught up with Captain Conley recently who explained how it went down: MVictors: How did this shoot come about? Capt. Conley: “It started at the Sigma Chi house. It wasn’t about the athletes because, of course, because they can’t do that, but they could do it about the student athletes. Since our house was totally filled with athletes, it was pretty easy for them to round up the right amount of guys and put this whole spring fashion thing together. The guy that was doing it apparently was a U-M grad. He came to campus and he went and went to Sigma Chi house and said, ‘Hey guys, you want to get some…
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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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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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Conley Won’t Trade This Award
I had the chance to take in the Bob Ufer Quarterback Club dinner last night at Barton Hills. The highlight of the evening was the speech by 1964 captain Jim Conley, who gave a passionate speech in receiving the 2011 Bennie Oosterbaan Award for service, dedication and leadership. Ever the captain, Conley thanked his teammates for the award and added, “it’s on behalf of them that I accept it.” He also thanked the the Ufer Club for honoring him while he’s still alive noting, “Red Simmons got this award at 99. I don’t think I’ll see 99 [laughs].” He was about to step down from the podium, but grabbed the mic back from MC Jim Brandstatter, held up the plaque and added this: [display_podcast] Conley: “I just want to say one more thing…I will not trade this for a tattoo”
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Bill Yearby, Michigan All-American, Passes Away
Bill Yearby, an All-American defensive tackle for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team from 1963-1965, died on Dec. 20th after a long illness.
