FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1966 THE micnIGAN DAILY PAGE ELEVEN. THE MICHIGAN DAILY PAGE ELEVEN insights and insults CHUCK VETZNER Oosterbaan: 7M' Gridiron Legend i "Why do Floggs pocket?" have a knife Hail to the Mighty Sport of Snow I've been accused of writing about some weird subjects from time to time, but I've always pledged to maintain a certain degree of sensibility. Like I wouldn't write about topics which don't at least vaguely pertain to sports. I had a taboo list-synthetic diamonds, Serbo-Croatian literature, bowling, the weather, Gregorian calendars, and the binomial theorem. The time has come to alter my thinking. From the first moment I opened the door two mornings ago and thought I was under attack from a sugar cane, I have nobly resisted the urge to write about snow. I can hold out no longer, but I can justify my smudge of human weakness. Snow is sport as sure as war is hell, knowledge is infinite, and life is a soapy dishrag. Now don't get the wrong idea. When I say sport, I don't mean snowball fights, shoveling the junk, or tobogganing. And I don't mean to get all aesthetic either. None of this comparison stuff about grace, beauty, and sparkling jewels. Some folks carry on about a snowfall the way Helena Rubenstein would describe a powder puff. I think a night time blizzard under a full moon looks like a flashlight shining on a roaster pan. The snow is sport unto itself. Anyone who ventured out of his dwelling during the last two days must understand. And if Duffy Daugherty thinks football is the only impact sport, his bottom side and icy cement have never had an informal intro- duction. The sport of snow requires a certain amount of talent. I lost my balance half a block from home and didn't land until I was at the door. Bubba Smith would need a 50 pound mallet to produce the same black and blue mark. It's even better with a car. Anyone who doesn't think driving under Ann Arbor snow flakes is a sport could probably joy through a puddle of mercury and walk a straight line from Montreal to Phoenix without paying tolls. My Buick and I set a new Olympic record in the giant slalom. Actually my car deserves most of the credit. Gale Sayers should have such moves. I was able to parallel park without turning the wheel. Then there's the wind. Admittedly wind isn't snow so put an asterisk beside my unofficial :03.3 timing in the 50-yard fly. The only trouble was the trip back. I must have looked like Cassius Clay practicing his bob and weave. If Mary Poppins were to glide into town she'd become the first air surfing championship. No- body else could handle the currents. Of course the sport of snow also earns its title by its effect on middle class bourgeoise athletic happenings such as college football. By CLARK NORTON Rome wasn't built in a day. Money doesn't grow on trees. You can't get something for nothing. Platitudes. Sometimes you just can't help it. Legends aren't built in a day. Fame doesn't grow, on trees. You don't become an institution for nothing. These are such stuff as mem- ories are made of. Bennie Oosterbaan. L e g e n d. Fame. Institution. Oosterbaan. Memories. Of yes- terday. And of today when it be-t comes yesterday. A living legend. "Benjamin G. Oosterbaan. Head football coach at the Universityof Michigan for eleven seasons. The only Michigan player ever to be named an All-America three times. Now in his 41st year of service to the University as an more than me ..." As part of his present position Osterbaan is in charge of ar- ranging speeches that the Michi- gan athletic staff delivers around the country constantly. "I don't really give too many speeches myself anymore. Most groups wouldsrather hear the cur- rent coaches speak than my- self ...." Speeches don't have to be made to remind everyone that Ooster- baan's "No. 47" is one of only six numbers to be retired in Wolver- ine football history. Never Really Forgotten Everyone goes to current coach- es for quotes about the next Sat- urday's game, But nobody really ever forgets the games of the past, in which Bennie Oosterbaan did as much as anyone to establish the tradition of Michigan foot- ball. all the hard stuff look too easy.' Until Bennie made two fantasticl touchdown catches from his end position to help defeat Michigan State in the first varsity game his sophomore year, even Yost thought he might be loafing. At the end of the year he was a football All-America. Similar' honors followed in 1926 and 1927. "Off-Season" In the "off-season" Oosterbaan didn't have time to practice his' pass patterns. He was too busy becoming a two-time All-America in basketball and "one of the two best baseball players I ever coach- ed," according to former Michigan baseball coach Ray Fisher, a legend himself. "I liked each sport in its sea- son," Oosterbaan relates. "I can'tl say that I liked one the best or that I was better in any one of them." Bennie played on nine Michigan teams, won nine letters. Six won Big Ten championships. Oosterbaan was named one of the two greatest ends of all time by the Associated Press in 1961. "Bennie to Bennie"-Michigan's Bennie Friedman to Bennie Oost- erbaan-became one of football's most outstandig passing combina- tion. Follows "Hurry-Up" Pro offers abounded, but Oost- erbaan, inspired by his coach, Fielding Yost, decided to remain at Michigan after graduation a coaching capacity. In 1948, after coaching basketball and serving at various assistant coaching posi- tions since 1927, Oosterbaan be- came head football coach at Mich- igan. "We won three Big Ten cham- ,pionships the first three years I was coaching. In 1948 I was "Coach of the Year, and in 1951 we won a Rose Bowl champion- ship," Oosterbaan explains. "But the quality of the individuals I coached is more important and gratifying to me than the actual quality of any team. "Many of my players have gone on to be great successes in many professions, and this is a great source of pride for me. I have wonderful memories from every year I coached." Another Akron Enough memories to render his office a veritable miniature foot- ball "Hall of Fame." Autographed footballs, p i c t u r e s, trophies, plaques . . Memories. Building blocks in a legend. Today, besides doing the "color" portion of Michigan football games for WWJ radio, Oosterbaan is "Supervisor of Athletic Public Relations" for Michigan. Ban- quets, the press, alumni, alumni clubs .. speeches to be arranged, bills to sign. People to meet. Not a bad guy to help sell Michigan athletics. I enjoy every minute of my service to Michigan. The feeling is mutual, thank you. "All doors open to him who can spread peanut butter." Another public service dialogue from FLOGGS by J P Direct further questions to GREGG HAYWARD, SAE House EUROPEAN MOTOR SERVICE By LEONARD A. BEECHAM, A.M.I. Mech.E. 25 Years of Experience on All Foreign Cars ALL BRITISH MECHANICS t Ports for all foreign cars 24-hr. service for {anything not in stock EUROPEAN MOTOR SERVICE Complete Auto Repairing & Pointing Specialist Foreign Car Service 1946 PACKARD RD. - ANN ARBOR, MICH. Phone 663-5403 . The most walked about slacks on Campus are HUBBARD with 'DACRON" The action is fashioned by Hubbard . . . DACRON* polyester in the blend means total neatness. Try a pair of BREECHES by HUBBARD for the tapered look you'll want! HUBBARD SLACKS Open Daily 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. Except Sundays Next to the Party Store Bennie Oosterbaan: Devoted to Wolverine Sports athlete, coach, and builder of the The "This I Remember" series Maize and Blue tradition." in the programs sold at Michigan SEE THE WORLD From 5,000 Feet ... LEARN TO FLY Less Than $10.00 a Week ! Ann Arbor Municipal Airport AVIATION. INC. Phone 663-931 Just Won't Work Press releases can't sum up a legend. If you try to put the life of Bennie Oosterbaan in a nice little box, the lids will keep flap- ping open. It just won't work. Memories can't be wrapped up and stored in one corner of the attic. Michigan fans, old and new, won't let them be. And most of all, Bennie Oosterbaan won't let them be. Fielding H. Yost? "I could talk about him for hours," claims Oost- erbaan. Coaching career? "That's a real subject," laughs Bennie. Playing highlights? "A lot of 'em." You wish he, had the time to just talk, and talk, and talk. You get the idea that he really wants to. "But people would really rather hear about the current coaches football games was an idea orig- inated and today brought into ef- fect each week by Oosterbaan himself. He conpiles all the sto- ries and the pictures. The cover of each program portrays a Mich- igan star of the past, and inside is his story. A Yost Decision 1925. Fielding H. Yost had come out of retirement to guide Michi- gan back to a championship. Oosterbaan, kicked off the scrub team for "a lazy attitude" a few days earlier, had been told Yost "wanted to see him." "I mean to find out your atti- tude," Yost told Oosterbaan. "No fellow who earned twelve letters in high school could afford to be lazy. Now report to the equipment room." It seemed Oosterbaan was "jinxed" by the same problem that plagues a Willie Mays. He made P I Daily-Michael Badamo Bert Katzenmeyer Shovels Snowu Snow turns the blue blood of athletics into something respectable as a game of poker down at Sam's Place. There 8.9 inches above the Michigan Stadium turf stand mighty athletic director Fritz Crisler and his second in command, golf coach Bert Katzenmeyer. Or rather there they shovel snow. No one can doubt that they will efficiently complete their task but the danger of injuries will be great. Somebody is bound to incur a knee injury wadding through the slush on the way to the locker room. Need anyone point out what Dave Fisher will look like when his uniform becomes covered with snow? And unless Crisler hires enough workers to sweep out the bleachers, this will be the first crowd to give a standing ovation for three hours. Naturally Crisler, Sonny Eliot's heir apparent, promises balmy weather at kickoff. But I have to hope he's wrong. No true sports fan likes to see a sport melt from the scene. sa COO lovig Starting Nov. 8 WAR AND PEACE in the Michigan DAILY CLASSIFIED PAGE ''P O in s n B chaed n noEnadtth .. 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