Two of the most iconic numbers in Detroit Red Wings hockey history were determined by bunk bed assignments on the team train in the 1940s. Ted Lindsay & Gordie Howe were awarded the #7 and #9 jerseys respectively not because someone in the organization thought they’d be great, but because bunk beds #7 and #9 became available for Lindsay & Howe when they were just beginning their Hall of Fame NHL careers.
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Case Opened (Michigan 42, Gophers 13)
Straight to the miscellanea: Honoring Falk > Postgame: Q. For the last 40 years your equipment manager Jon Falk has been the keeper of the jug. Any last words about Mr. Falk and knowing he’s got the job one more time that concludes his tenure here? Hoke: “Well, we gave it to him when we got in the locker room. I just hope he doesn’t take it home. But no, very emotional, very happy. Jon, his loyalty to Michigan and Michigan football is special.” I caught up with Falk after the game as he was heading out of the stadium. He told me when he got the jug he told the players, “There’s no coach & there’s no player bigger than Michigan football.” Uniform notes > Team wore LHS decal in honor of Lucas, son of former All-B1G tackle Adam Stenavich. As Sap pointed out, that’s the first non-player or coach to be honored in such a way (POTUS Ford, Bo, Ron Kramer). Timeline updated. Mood > Slight uptick, but that was way closer than the score of course and..well…meh: Jug History slaughtered but forgiven > At the conclusion of the broadcast Mike Patrick absolutely butchered the history of the jug, talking some nonsense about Minnesota taking the jug to Michigan and the crock being made of clay from the…
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Big Night for Big Jon
Falk with artist Jil Gordon and the replica jug she created. Jon makes the jug actually look “little” What a cool event for Jon Falk held at MGoPatio last night! Props to Wolverine Beer for running the tap and for Slow’s BBQ for delivering the food. I dialed up WTKA this morning to talk about the night (and a little jug business) with Ira and Sam: [display_podcast] While I can’t recap everything, I captured a few of the quotes delivered by Jon’s longtime colleagues Coach Jerry Hanlon and longtime trainer Paul Schmidt. Coach Hanlon started by joking about how stingy things were at Miami, OH when Falk worked there, but because of that Jon brought a certain attitude to Ann Arbor: “He put in our kids into a mode that not everything in this life is free, not everything that’s going to happen to you is going to be great. He kept them on a straight and narrow program. He brought a realistic attitude on how to handle the kids, and I really believe he’s done as well as any coach here in developing young men and having them understand that this isn’t a free ride, you have to work for what you want to get. I have a great deal of respect for him.” Hanlon, in his vintage M…
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Maize Flakes
While I was with Dr. Sap visiting Capitol Varsity Sports last month we stubbed our collective toe on something. After we witnessed Russ Hawkins execute the helmet painting process A to Z, our hosts mentioned a unique twist to the U-M helmet they made in 2012. As prescribed by the athletic department, they added gold flakes into the maize paint…and showed us an example: Say what? So then there was the question: Did the team wear helmets with gold flakes nestled in the maize last season? Before checking with #1000SSS, I asked around and couldn’t find anyone aware of the change or a release talking about the flakes.* I checked out some close-ups of photos and didn’t really notice anything. Sap found one U-M collector, Dan Oles, who got his hands on a 2012 helmet that indeed had the flakes. Oles wrote to Sap, “I contacted a few players via twitter asking if the regular season helmets had maize glitter paint. They all confirmed that they did.” Oles even shot a note to Jon Falk who confirmed the change. Fast forward to today. I verified with media relations & with Falk that indeed the team had the bedazzled headgear in 2012. The change to the paint was announced as part of the Cowboy Classic uniform reveal…but the news release didn’t…
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The Winged Wizard: Russ Hawkins and Capitol Varsity Sports
It was a road trip years in the making. Finally last month Dr. Sap and I headed down to Capitol Varsity Sports in Oxford, OH to visit shop owner Bob Fawley and winged helmet artist Russ Hawkins. Uniform gurus probably know that it is Capitol Varsity that has done the bulk of Michigan helmet reconditioning over the past four decades, and it is Hawkins who’s personally created the winged design that you see on many of the helmets each Saturday. Of course, Bo and equipment manager Jon Falk came from Oxford-based Miami, OH and that’s how the bond between the company and U-M was formed & maintained over the years. The Wolverine tie is clearly important to the Ohio company–winged helmets, schedule posters and photos of U-M dignitaries are found around the facility. (And no, despite being an hour from Columbus they don’t do any work for the Buckeyes. Without saying as much, you can tell there’s some bitterness in the air about that.) They even have a shrine to U-M and Jon Falk in their offices: A couple of notes: As implied above Capitol Varsity isn’t the only firm that handles the reconditioning of the helmets for Michigan as the Riddell helmets are handled by Riddell in Elyria, OH. On a disappointing note for me, Capitol Varsity did not…
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Big Jon Falk to Retire following Season
Bummer. A guy who has always been great to me personally and a critical part of my Little Brown Jug research. One of my favorite photos, here’s Falk smiling as he’s grabbing the key for the case holding the jug at Minnesota last year: Via U-M Media Relations: Equipment Manager Jon Falk Announces Retirement Following 2013 Football Season ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Longtime University of Michigan equipment manager Jon Falk announced Monday (July 22) his retirement effective at the conclusion of the 2013 football season. Falk will complete 40 years of service to Michigan Athletics and the U-M football program. “I remember the day that Bo Schembechler interviewed me and said that working at the University of Michigan would present great opportunities for my career,” said Falk. “He offered me the position but I decided that staying home to care for my mom and grandmother was more important. My mom woke up at 4 a.m. and came to me with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Jon, you are going to Michigan. Bo and the University of Michigan are going to take care of you and this will be a great career move.’ As I reflect on my nearly 40 years at Michigan, I have been fortunate to work with some great coaches, administrators and thousands of players. After talking…
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Gopher Game Photos
Check out more postgame jug photos here, and of course pregame shots here. Slash! Gardner heading here: Gardner and Capt. Robinson comparing notes Gopher drumline adding some pageantry Gang tackle. There are few extra legs and feet in there somehow like the Iwo Jima Memorial Deep sigh. Guys, it’s hard to take the ‘No More Minnesota Nice’ thing seriously when you flash the hearty double thumbs up next to Mandy Pepperidge – who herself looks like she just found a box of puppies. And memo to the guy below: I know Gangnam Style is irresistible but you made a commitment when you put on that shirt and the eye black. I haven’t seen the reply yet but this is the play where Roundtree wrestled the catch down near the goal line to set up the score. Would love to see a little more of Wrestlin’ Roy the rest of the way. Here he is telling the back judge what was up: Until just now, I thought there were merely cute little helmet cozies on the back of the bench, certainly worthy of a post here for many reasons. Upon further review- they are actually hooked up to a propane-fueled heating (or cooling?) system. Gophers know how to deal with the elements, that’s for certain.…
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Jil Gordon & Painting The Little Brown Jug
Most people know the basics (or if you read this site, about everything you’d ever want to know) about the story of the Little Brown Jug. To recap, back in 1903, Michigan and Minnesota’s powerful teams played in Minneapolis to a fiercely fought 6-6 tie. After the game, the Wolverines left behind a five-gallon stoneware water jug, purchased at a local store before the game. Minnesota equipment manager Oscar Munson found it the following day or two and brought it to Director of Athletics L.J. Cooke. In remembrance of their mighty tie they decided to give the jug its first paint job, scribing, “Michigan Jug – ‘Captured’ by Oscar, October 31, 1903,” on one side. On the opposite face they spelled out, SCORE, “Minnesota 6, Michigan 6,” making the Minnesota “6” three times larger than the Wolverines’ score. Six years later Cooke and Michigan coach Fielding Yost agreed to play for the righteous crockery, something they’ve done 92 times now (if you count that 1903 game). While playing for the jug is of course one of the deepest and most replicated college football traditions, painting the jug actually is a practice that started before the teams even agreed to play for the pottery. After Cooke and Munson’s initial handicraft, the scores of the game have been painted on sometime after…
