On Wednesday fans and media will get a good look inside the nearly completed renovation of Michigan Stadium. While there’s seemingly been an overwhelming positive reaction to the new digs by fans, you may recall that the project had its opponents. The most vocal was a group named Save The Big House, led by longtime U-M fan and Ann Arbor native John Pollack. The group received much attention in the media including this piece in the New York Times. Pollack, 44, formerly a speechwriter for President Clinton and Rep. David Bonior, suggested that the needs of the athletic department could be met via an alternate design. His team proposed a less costly plan that would expand seating, add bathrooms and the upgrade the press box without adding premium seating or suites: savethebighouse.com Pollack is the author of the book Cork Boat and resides in New York these days. He was kind enough to answer a few questions about the (nearly) finished project. For the record, a couple things here. I told Pollack right off that I disagree with much of his stance about the renovation. And if I count as a U-M historian, I’m firmly with Bacs, John Kryk and the others who argue Fielding Yost would support this project based on what I know about the man. This said,…
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Michigan captain Whitey Wistert’s ID (1931)
Here’s an auction of the U-M student identification card for the 1931-32 school year for the first of the legendary Wistert brothers: Francis Michael ‘Whitey’ Wistert: As the card indicates, Francis was a Chicago native and after graduating from high school worked in a factory building radios. A decision to tag along with a classmate on a visit to Ann Arbor effectively kicked off the Michigan-Wistert tradition. Several online references claim Whitey had no football background before coming to Michigan, but he is enshrined into his high school Hall of Fame for “Baseball and Football”. Oh and yes, he could also play some baseball—he was named Big Ten MVP his senior season. Whitey anchored the line for Harry Kipke’s back-to-back national championship squads in 1932-1933, and the 6-2, 210-pound stapping lad was named All-American in ‘33: I’ve written on the Wistert Trio before but in a nutshell, each played football for Michigan of course, each played tackle, each wore 11, all three made it into the college football Hall of Fame and they are the reason you won’t ever see another U-M football player wear jersey number eleven. Also included is an ID from 1938 when Wistert returned to assist Harry Kipke and his staff:
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Fielding Yost’s New Packard (1927)
Check out this wonderful signed photo of Fielding H. Yost posing next to a vintage car in front of the original Michigan Stadium press box (photo above).
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The Dark Side…of Sports Memorabilia
I’ve run the eBay Watch series for a couple years and occasionally I uncover some unsettling personal details related the memorabilia involved. In June 2008, the auction of an 1986-87 championship ring resulted in a saga ending with a former teammate contacting the player who sold the ring to make sure everything was cool. In January of ‘08, I featured the auction of a U-M football ring that was alleged to be a salesman’s sample with the name “McCartney” adorning the side of the band. After posting a photo I was contacted by the wife of former coach Bill McCartney who claimed that ring was no sample: it belonged to her husband and yes, he wanted it back. Recently a seller posted a bunch of photos from the turn of the last century including one featuring an old favorite of mine, hero and captain of Fielding Yost’s wonderful 1909 Wolverine team, Dave “Pig” Allerdice sitting criss-cross applesauce: I wrote extensively on the 1909 season in Brian Cook’s epic Hail to the Victors 2009 & I hope you had a chance to read it. Allerdice’s 1909 crew suffered an early setback to Notre Dame but recovered, smoking fools for the rest of the season including powerful Minnesota (and for the first time, U-M walked off with a prestigious piece of pottery)…
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Fielding H. Yost’s Signature Helmet (1926)
Fielding Yost dedicated the good years of his life to University of Michigan athletics but his influence and business interests stretched beyond Ann Arbor. He wrote books, appeared in movies, spoke all over the country and even added his name to certain products.
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Vintage Rose Bowl Cheer (1902)
Here’s a pic currently for sale from the turn of the last century at the inaugural Rose Bowl and more specifically, from the actual “Floral” Parade prior to the game. Funny, it looks like Willie Heston and crew are decked in their game uniforms and presumably taking the wagon directly from the parade route to the game!:
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Chicken Choked
I sit across from the heart of the Yost student section and it wasn’t hard to make out one particular young mind on Friday night: the dude dressed as a chicken screaming into a megaphone. Turns out that crazy chicken was Andy Reid, sports editor of the Daily. He made an encore appearance Saturday night but things didn’t go as planned: Saturday night, I got kicked out. Not cool, dude. Amidst an entire student section doing the same thing [the vulgar C-YA chant], an usher grabbed my elbow and told me it was time to leave, unless I wanted to be led out of the stadium in handcuffs. I will admit that I stood out from the other Children of Yost. I may or may not have had a megaphone. And I may or may not have been, ahem, dressed up — if you went to the game, you might have seen a six-foot chicken standing against the glass in section 18. But that’s even more reason to not kick me out. How is the team supposed to focus and be motivated without a yellow, fuzzy chicken standing behind the glass? Reid suggests other things could be done to curb the nasty chant (which is delivered when opposing players are sent to the penalty box) including a message from Red…
