This Week In Michigan Football History, as played during the WTKA 1050AM ‘Countdown to Kickoff’ held November 28, 2020 before the Michigan-Penn State game.
Topics: Michigan has three Heisman Trophy Winners (Tom Harmon, Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson). We consider former Michigan players that probably WOULD have won the Heisman has it been awarded prior to 1935 – including Willie Heston, Bennie Oosterbaan, and Harry Newman. (And not mentioned, but Harry Kipke and Benny Friedman would have been right up there.)
The bulk of the segment looks over Tom Harmon’s brilliant 1940 season, including the Cal game and the Drunk fan, and finally his dominant performance against Ohio State.
This post is brought to you by my friend Nick Hopwood, CFP at Peak Wealth Management.
Full script:
Good morning! Michigan has the distinguished honor to have three Heisman Trophy winners, but this actually could have had a handful more if the prestigious postseason aware was handed out BEFORE 1935.
Fielding Yost’s superstar back Willie Heston would have certainly won the prize, maybe twice in 1903 and 1904, and All-American athlete-slash-receiver Bennie Oosterbaan in 1927. Just a couple years before the award was created quarterback Harry Newman, who led the Wolverine to the (1933) national championship certainly would have won the honor.
But back to actual winners, did you know it was on this day exactly 80 years in 1940 that Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy? He was the first Michigan man to be claim the honor, but the announcement wasn’t a major surprise. The big prize capped a brilliant career in Ann Arbor as Michigan Terrible Tommy did a little bit of everything – He rushed for over 2,000 yards, completed 100 passes for 1,300 yards yards, starred on defense and handled kicking duties. He had led the nation in scoring 2 years in a row, a feat that has yet to be repeated.
The 1940 season was particularly epic for Old 98 – start to finish. It began on the road at Cal, where Tom took the opened kick back 94 yards to the house, and accounted for 5 TDs. On one run eluded 12, yes 12, Cal defenders, as after weaving his way through the Bear defense he had to juke out a drunk Cal fan to get into the endzone.
In his final game at Michigan, Harmon achieved arguably the greatest gridiron feat in history in the 40-0 victory at Ohio State. Old 98 tallied three rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, four extra points, three interceptions and three punts that averaged 50 yards. At the end of the game he received a standing ovation from the crowd in Columbus.
Of course ever the Michigan man, after college Harmon, ahem, married a Hollywood starlet, was the #1 pick in the NFL draft, served as a decorated fighter pilot in World War II, played in the NFL, became a legendary sportscaster, and fathered the handsomest man in the world.
Go Blue! Beat Penn State! and if you need more, go to MVictors.com and WTKA.com – for the KeyBank Countdown to Kickoff this is Greg Dooley.
