A special edition of the MVictors History Show, recorded in the mancave of author, super collector and historian Jon Stevens. Items include Yost Field House doors, a 1905 Ohio State-Michigan program, the vintage U-M scrapbook owned by Michigan superstar Neil Snow, and much more. Also, check out the piece of history from 1898 that made my jaw drop!
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Fritz Crisler Demonstrates the Dropkick & 1922 Ohio State Buckeye Smacktalk
It’s hard to beat this awesome shot of Fritz Crisler: Is that Fritz Crisler dropping the ball? No way man – he’s demonstrating the dropkick. Back in 1958, Crisler was chairman of the NCAA rules committee and a major change for that year was the introduction of the 2 point conversion. Coaches weren’t sure what the impact would be—many thought teams would go for 2 after TDs early in the game and then see how things played out. But it was quickly figured out that hitting paydirt with one play from the three-yard line was far from a 50/50 proposition (one source had the success rate in 1958 was around 35%), and most coaches defaulted to kicking the extra point. Bringing us back to the photo, it was also suggested that having the option of the two point conversion might result end up in more teams trying the old dropkick. I think the scenario was that you’d see teams effectively lining up in a triple threat position where the offense could try to run or pass for 2, or execute the drop kick for 1…but that really didn’t happen. (Heck, it hadn’t even happened in pro football since 1941 and until Doug Flutie’s epic dropkick in 2007). From a June 1923 athletic department publication, that’s a shot of one of the…
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Wire Photo Wednesday : Illini Stew & a Trashed Yost
Edition number 3 of #WPW gets emotional: Maybe this is why Illini fans really hate us? From 1948, a homecoming display on campus featuring the recipe for a little Illinois Stew. Well done. Bennie Oosterbaan’s #1 ranked Wolverines got a battle from the unranked Illini on October 30, 1948 but prevailed 28-20. Above you’ve got Michigan head hoops coach Bill Perigo checking out the damage in Yost Field House from the storm that ripped through the athletic campus back in 1959. The damage amounted to $100,000 according to the wire caption which, coincidentally, is exactly the revenue from Twizzler sales at the Wisconsin game on Friday night. 2412 Below, from a 2010 post, a great shot above Yost from the same storm: That’s head hoops coach Dave Strack, who succeeded Perigo, a bit distraught on the sidelines. Strack, the man who coached the great hoops teams of the mid-1960s, passed away in January at age 90. Previous editions: Wire Photo Wednesday : Smooth Swing, Smooth Ride Wire Photo Wednesday – The inaugural
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Let There Be Light
Caught the crews working on the east side of Yost along State Street: We are in the early stages of what will be the return those the original Yost Field House windows that were part of the original design and I can’t wait to see how it looks. I’m not sure how much adding east and west side windows will affect the feel on the interior (seats and boxes will occupy the sightlines) but we’ll see. Certainly windows in ends will have quite an impact. Here’s a great shot from the dedication of the Field House back in 1923, when apparently Yost commanded God to check in on the proceedings: Here’s a rendering of the completed renovation: Follow MVictors on Twitter and you would have seen that photo hours ago
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Bring Back the Old Man!
You might know that Yost Ice Arena, the current home of your beloved Frozen Four bound hockey squad, was once the home of the Michigan basketball team. Up on eBay right now is a wire pic of hoops star Cazzie Russell and notice the gent who’s featured on the wall with his familiar grin: I’d like to see that giant photo hanging somewhere inside Yost–AD Dave Brandon, you must bring it back. Extend the Yost brand! Bring back the Old Man! What better place than here? What better time than now? Beat Irish! Update March 9: Yes, I was up to something. Indeed the Children of Yost will unveil their new flags tonight at Yost for the ND-Michigan hockey tilt… including…the old man!!:
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Leathernecks Help Dedicate Yost Field House (1923)
When people hear “Michigan played the Marines,” they assume it was a casual intramural base squad. It wasn’t. The Quantico Marines were a national powerhouse, essentially functioning as an elite, semi-professional traveling team of grown men, many of whom were rugged World War I veterans. This bulletin is signed by Commandant John A. Lejeune himself. Lejeune used the football team as a massive public relations weapon to keep the Marine Corps relevant and well-funded in the peaceful 1920s. Sending 1,500 armed, uniformed Marines and their legendary band into Ann Arbor via a dedicated train was a calculated show of military pageantry. The article mentions Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby (the former Michigan center from 1895). What it doesn’t mention is that at the exact moment he was sitting in the stands watching his alma mater play the Leathernecks, Denby was secretly drowning in the biggest political scandal of the century: The Teapot Dome Scandal. Denby had recently signed over control of emergency naval oil reserves to the Department of the Interior, which secretly leased them to private oil companies for bribes. Within a few months of this game, Denby would be forced to resign in disgrace under threat of Senate impeachment. And he wasn’t the only big name in the crowd. Look closely at who else showed up to…
