I hope you had a chance to check out the piece on Bennie Oosterbaan that I contributed to Saturday’s game program. If not, I’ll post that in full on these pages in days to come. I will also have a story on #87 Ron Kramer in this weekend’s UMASS program and I think you’ll like it. Several of his friends helped out including former Lions teammate Tom Nowatzke, longtime Detroit TV and radio broadcaster Bob Hynes, and the widow of legendary U-M athletic director Peg Canham-Keeley. Speaking of Mrs. Canham-Keeley, I met her a few years back while I was doing a segment on the official Michigan Football Tailgate Show. She was standing behind the set and I noticed her necklace—a 1970s-era M football ring (inset)—and had to learn more. I led to this MVictors post from back in 2009. Anyway, Canham-Keeley and I swapped a few emails & I couldn’t quite fit all of her thoughts on Ron Kramer into the program piece. So here are a few bonus memories and thoughts on the truly one-and-only Ron Kramer, #87: “The funny thing is though when I first met Ron back around 1975 I couldn’t stand him. My first impression was of him taking a can of beer, taking a bite out of it, drinking the beer in one gulp…
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TWIMFBH – Crushing The Cadets and “Kramer of Michigan” (1955 – audio)
This Week in Michigan Football takes a look back to Saturday October 8, 1955, when Michigan took on Army in front of 97,000 at the Big House. Michigan prevailed that day 26-2 for its first win over Army. I touch on the game but talk a bit about the legend Ron Kramer who passed away last fall. As always, you can listen to it out before the KeyBank Countdown to Kick-off on WTKA 1050AM tomorrow, or click play now: [display_podcast] You can hear all of the This Week… clips here. For more on Kramer’s life, check out his book, co-written with Dan Ewald, That’s Just Kramer!
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Should Michigan Men where Numbers on Jerseys? (1910)
Saturday Michigan players will wear a special ’87’ decal on their helmets in honor of the great athlete Ron Kramer who passed away last week. Here’s what it will look like on the winged headgear (HT: U-M Media Relations): Not every Michigan football great got the opportunity to wear a jersey number, including but not limited to Willie Heston, Germany Schulz, and Neil Snow. 1930 was the first year uniform numbers showed up in a Michigan team photo, but we know digits were worn on the gridiron sweaters starting in 1915. Trolling through the 1910 Michigan Daily archives, I found a brief discussion on whether Yost’s men should don digits on their numberless backs. Apparently eastern teams wore numbers and there was a legitimate question of whether Michigan should join them. Yost saw it as a counter to the team concept, telling the Daily, “..it brings the individuals into too much prominence. The team is a machine and should be considered as such and not their individual efforts.” Baseball captain Norman Hill comments echoed Yost’s sentiments but he also noted, “It looks queer to me.” (It’s unknown if the Daily reporter told Hill, “No, you are.”) Here’s the entire piece from the front page of the Tuesday, October 11, 1910 edition of the Michigan Daily:
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Michigan to Honor Ron Kramer Saturday, Full Press Release
Via U-M Media Relations: Michigan Football Team to Honor Kramer ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan football program will honor the memory of one of its all-time great players, Ron Kramer, when it takes the field this Saturday, Sept. 18, against Massachusetts at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines will wear a sticker with the number ‘87’ on the back of the famed winged helmet to recognize the icon. Kramer died prior to Michigan’s game last Saturday (Sept. 11) at Notre Dame. The ‘87’ represents the retired jersey number of two-time All-American Ron Kramer. Kramer earned consensus All-American honors in 1955 and 1956 and was a three-time All-Big Ten selection (1954-56). He played offensive and defensive end, running back, quarterback, kicker and receiver, often in the same game. He was a nine-time letterman in three sports at Michigan: football, basketball and track. He led the Wolverines in scoring for two seasons on the football field, and did the same in basketball. He scored 1,119 points during his hoops career and was the team’s Most Valuable Player as a junior. In addition, Michigan will have a video tribute to the career of Ron Kramer and will hold a moment of silence prior to the playing of the national anthem. There will also be a story chronicling his career in the Michigan…
