Part I: Starting from NothingPart II: The Season Business TimeThe trip to the 1965 Rose Bowl was conducted in two distinct phases – party time and business time. The first portion started off with the usual tours, some time to hang out, and a bit of partying. OK, maybe a lot of partying. “Chrysler gave us a car for every 4 guys,” junior fullback Barry Dehlin recalled. “For the first week, you had a bunch of 20-year-old guys out there and we were partying.” As young men tend to do, they took advantage of their celebrity status with the California coeds. “We went to Disneyland. The next thing you know we’re in our hotel room and there are eight or ten of the Disneyland tour guides,” Conley recalled. “We also went to the Whisky a Go Go. The girls are dancing and all that, and let’s just say we had some guys that were good at what they do, do you know what I mean?” “I’ll never forget, we’re walking back into the hotel at night. [Senior end] Bill Laskey is with me along with a couple of other guys. We’ve got these girls with us with those frilly skirts shaking around. As we’re walking down the hall [assistant coach] Jocko Nelson walks by, looks at me, and just says,…
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Captain Conley and the 1964 Wolverines | The Season (Part II)
Continuing the interview with 1964 Michigan football captain Jim Conley. Conley breaks down the season - the triumph (and personal tragedy) of the MSU game to the conference-clinching shutout of Woody Hayes in Columbus.
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1964 Michigan Football Captain Jim Conley on WTKA
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.
