ThE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY SEPT
OOSTERBAAN HEADS GROUP:
Former Wolverines Handle 'lW Coaching CI
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By GARY GUSSIN
This year's Wolverines have no
further to look for symbols of
Michigan grid tradition than their
own coaching staff.
All but one of Michigan's grid
coaches played on Big Ten cham-
pionship teams, and four played
with Rose Bowl champions.
Moreover, the contribution of
these men to Michigan athletics
is not limited to football. Four
of the coaches excelled in other
sports, and two, head coach Bennie
Oosterbaan and line coach Jack
Blott, are considered all-time
greats in baseball as well as foot-
ball.
Keen Aids Team
Cliff Keen, an assistant-coach,
is the one man who never played
football at Michigan, but as wrestl-
ing coach for 33 years 1* has be-
come a Wolverine legend in him-
self.
Any listing'of the coaches' indi-
vidual achievements would have
to begin with those of Oosterbaan.
He could safely be ranked among
the greatest collegiate athletes of
all time.
A nine-letter man at Michigan,
Oosterbaan is the only Wolverine
to be chosen All-American three
years in a row. In addition, he was
an All-American basketball player,
and a standout on the diamond.
Coach Ranked High
Former baseball coach Ray
Fisher .called Oosterbaan one of
the, two greatest players he ever
coached, while former track coach,
the late Steve Farrell, rated him
as a top Olympic prospect in the
discus.
Oosterbaan was born in Muske-
gon, Mich., where as a high school
athlete he earned All-America
honors in basketball and was an
All-State gridder and track man.
At Michigan in 1925, 1926, and
1927, he earned further honors,
in the first two years as receiver
in the famed "Benny to Bennie"
(Friedman to Oosterbaan) passing
combination. In 1927 he captained
the Wolverines.
When Oosterbaan graduated, he
turned down pro football and base-
ball offers to become a coach at
Michigan. In 1948, he took over
head coaching duties from 'Fritz
Crisler, Michigan Athletic Director,
and guided the Wolverines through
an undefeatedseason.
This feat earned him the honor
of "Coach of the Year," a title
Crisler had won the previous year.
During his ten years a head coach,
Oosterbaan's teams have won or
tied for the Conference champion-
ship three times, have won one
Rose ;Bowl championship, and
boast an overall percentage of .704.
All-American.Pick
During his tenure as Michigan's
head coach, Oosterbaan's won, lost
and tied record produces a .600
plus average which gives him a
ranking in the top 20 coaches in
the country.
In 1951, sportswriters and sports-
casters throughout the nation
selected Oosterbaan for the all-
time All-American team, another
honor in a great college career.
Line coach Blott, an All-Ameri-
can center on the 1923 Big Ten
championship squad, is the other
of the two greatest baseball play-
ers coached by Fisher.
Blotthwas catcher and captain
of Michigan's diamond squad and
caught briefly for the Cincinnati
Redlegs before returning to Michi-
gan in 1925 as an assistant coach.
He left Michigan the next year
only, to return-again-in 1930.
'M' MASTERMINDS--Backfield coach Bump Elliott (left), and head coach Bennie Oosterb
(talking to players at right) will provide the techniques and training for this year's Michigan fo
ball team. Both are former All-American gridders from Wolverine championship teams.
For the next four years he helped
develop conference championship
teams, but he left to become head
coach at Wesleyan University.
In 1946, he returned to coach
under Crisler and is now entering
his 14th consecutive year as Wol-
verine line' coach. Some of the
great linemen he has coached
include Maynard 'Morrison, Chuck
Bernard, and Francis and Alvin.
Wistert.
Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, back-
field coach, is another member of
the staff who competed in more
than one sport. In 1946 and 1947,
after serving in the Marines, Elliott
played on Wolverine basball and
football teams. In 1947, he led the
Conference in scoring with nine
touchdowns and was named to the
coaches' All-American, squad.
His brother Pete, now head
coach at California, was a 12-letter
man at Michigan, and was an All-
America choice in 1948. "Bump's"
own coaching experience includes
six years under Forest Evashevski
at Iowa, and one year here at
Michigan.
Versatile Mentor
End Coach Matt Patanelli is no
less versatile than any of his
colleagues. An all-conference end
in 1935 and 1936, Patanelli also
played basketball for three years
and baseball for two.
He was named Michigan's most
valuable gridder in 1936, and re-;
ceived honorable mention on
Grantland Rice's All-America that
year.
In addition to coaching football,
he is assistant basketball coach
and freshman baseball coach.
Since coming to Michigan, he has
coach such top ends as Ron Kra-
mer, To Maentz, Lowell Perry
and Dick ifenburg'
End Star Returned
Bob Hollway, an outstanding
defensive end, played on the Wol-
verine Conference championship
teams of 1947, 1948 and 1949, be-
fore joining the Wolverine coach-
ing staff in 1953 as assistant line'
coach.
Previously, he had helped coach
the Michigan -freshman squad, and
had been line coach at the Univer-
sity of Maine and at Eastern Mich-
igan College.
Don Dufek did not go out for
football as a sophomore, but as
Wolverine fullback for the next
two seasons he was noted for his
driving play. In the 1951 Rose Bowl
game, his two touchdowns helped
bring victory to an underdog Wol-
verine squad.
In 1954, Dufek returned to
Michigan as assistant backfield
'coach after an earlier stint at
Ann Arbor high school.
Freshman coach Wally Weber
has been on the Wolverine coach-
ing staff since 1931. A fullback on
Wolverine championship squads of
1925 and 1926, Weber was 'a highly
successful high school coa'ch before
coming back to Michigan.
He is noted for his geniality -and
has addressed more than 1,200,
after-dinner gatherings.
Keen, as already mentiored 'is
Top Mat Coach
better known as a wrestling coach
than as a grid mentor, but he has
assisted the Wolverine coaching.
staff for 33 years. As an under-
graduate, he played football' at
Oklahoma A&M and was also in-
tercollegiate middleweight wrestl-
ing champion. His wrestling teams
at Michigan have won nine con-
ference championships' and have
finished second 12 times.
In 1948 he managed the Olympic
wrestling team, and he is a past
president of the Collegiate Wrestl-
ing Coaches and Officials Associa-
tion. Last winter, he was named
to the College Wrestling Hall .of
Fame.
Keen holds a law degree from
Michigan in addition to his under-
graduate degree from Oklahoma
A&M.
Henry Hatch and Jim Hunt are
not members of the coaching staff,
but their value as equipment man
and trainer, respectively, is just as
great.
Hatch has been with the Wol-
verines for 39 years and is one of
the few honorary "M" men in
Michigan athletic history.
Hunt, one of the top trainers in
the country, has been a Michigan
since 1947, and -also trained Min-
nesota teams from 1942 to 1946.
Iate.rr
MATT PATANELLI
Instructs ends
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