i'1
THROUGH THE
BULL's EYE
by Bill Bullard
Alumni Fire Up
For Football Season,
Detwiler
L
"I
good
And,
By JIM LaSOVAGE prep football in Toledo where he
think Jim certainly did a gained all-city, all-state, and All-
American honors. Besides his grid
o lausit k was pls aed. work at DeVilbiss. High School,
Def)twiler nal o Pned PthrP b b hnll
As University administrators are foild of observing, alumni today
are not just interested in football. This is true. Alumni are also in-
terested in basketball.
When alumni gathered in Detroit Wednesday night for a football
"Kick-Off" dinner, interest was concentrated on Michigan's resurg-
ing football team. But basketball came in for its share of attention.
And drinking was up on the list also. Those of the 250 old grads that
were drinking beer and not the hard stuff consumed eight half-kegs,.
the program chairman proudly announced.
One main feature of the outing was a panel consisting of two
sportscasters asking questions of football defensive coach Bob Holl-
way and basketball coach Dave Strack. The audience was allowed to
join in with questions after a short while' .
Strack gave his opinion that his team this season will be "as
good as any in the nation and better than most." This is a rather
innocuous statement but what else can a coach say that had the No. 3
team in the country last year and has four of five starters returning?
The fact is that Michigan will almost certainly be rated No. 1 in
the country on the pre-season polls, an embarrassing situation for
any coach due to the constant possibility of unfulfilled expectations.
Not wanting to put himself into this awkward situation, Strack had
to sidestep an alumni question that asked about the prediction made
by Cazzie Russell last fall in a national magazine that the Wolverines
would win two NCAA championships while he was playing for them.
Misquoted by Press..
Implying that perhaps Cazzie has more problems about being
misquoted by the press than Barry Goldwater, Strack clarified what
he "thought" Cazzie actually said. It seems that Cazzie didn't make a
definite prediction but merely "hoped" that Michigan would win two
NCAA titles. Strack drew a big round of applause for so deftly getting
himself off the hot spot.
This get-together is quite a -personal triumph for Strack. A few
years ago not many Detroit alumni knew who he was, although most
of them had heard that Michigan did'have a basketball team..
As Strack's teams improved, his part in the annual program im-
proved also. He started out by just being introduced as one of the
personalities in the crowd and gradually earned the right to say a
few words. Last year he had reached the point where he could give
a full length preview of the team and actually have some informed
questions directed his way.
And if this doesn't indicate that alumni have a great interest in
winning athletic teams but not so much interest in losing teams I
don't know what will.
Bowl Fever Epidemic. ..
However, this is football season and some of the alumni are al-
ready getting Rose Bowl fever. This is a psychological malady that
can be defined as thinking "your" football team will be going to
California for Christmas vacation after it' has won its first game,,
giving up 230 yards through the 'air.
But this is not a rational disease. Persons who catch this malady,
can listen to Bump Elliott all day making cautious statements but
there is no hope for them. Deluding themselves into thinking that
they have an excuse for taking a vacation in California, these suf-
ferers are beyond salvation. I can look at this affliction with great
objectivity now because I probably won't catch it until after this
weekend.
Hollway handled these distressed individuals with just the right
kind of cautious optimism. He pointed with pride to the positive signs
such as the group of sophomore backs he called the best to come to
Ann Arbor in many years. On the other hand, he laid it on the line
that such problems as the Wolverine pass defense will have to be
solved if Michigan is to have a successful season.
As Hollway told of Rick Sygar standing on a bench in the locker
room leading the team in singing "The Victors" after last Saturday's
victory or as J. Fred Lawton, '11, autographed copies of his book of
poems, Roses, which includes the immortal "Roses That Bloomed in
the Snow," only the most insensitive could feel that the Michigan
spirit won't have some effect on this season's campaigns. As one old
alumnus was heard to remark as he lurched across the floor, "If we
don't beat Michigan State this year we never will."
Masses at Alumni Meeting
game, too."
So commented head football
Coach Bump Elliott when asked#
about Jim Detwiler, who was the
last player to nail down a start-
ing position for last Saturday's
opener against Air Force.
"I didn't really know until Sat-
urday morning that I was going
to start," said the 212-pound half-
back. "I kind of had a feeling
because (John) Rowser hadn't
been practicing, but I wasn't sure
until the morning of the game."
Detwiler piled up an impressive
wad of statistics for anyone play-
ing in his first college game. He
gained 72 yards rushing in 11 at-
tempts, latched onto a pass good
for five yards, and one one of his
runs he bulled his way into the
end zone for Michigan's second
touchdown, when it had looked
to the fans as if three Air Force
pursuers had trapped him at the
four-yard line.
Long Carries
Scoring on one of the 12 plays
in which he handled the pigskin
left 11 times when the Cadets
managed to bring him down after
an average gain of about six and
a half yards per carry. How does
it feel to be jumped on by two or
three Cadets? "It hurts," admits
(Detwiler. "But if you're going
hard, you don't notice it too
much."
Compared to his high school
days he says that "it's a lot rough-
er, but you've got a lot better
boys on your side, too. The hit-
ting is a lot harder, because there
is always a swarm of guys around
you."
The change from high school
to college football, Jim says, was
made during freshman football
and spring practice, "where you
gradually work up to better com-
petition."
The 6'3" sophomore played his
tlCwi~i ~sU ear~i( l~iee a~septa
letters and two in basketball.
Although he had, among many
scholarship offers, bids from five
other Big Ten schools (includ-
ing OSU, Illinois, and MSU), Jim
decided to accept Michigan's of-
fer because "it's a good school ed-
ucation-wise, and it's close to
home. I also liked the coaches."
Dets, as his fraternity brothers
call him, is taking business ad-
ministration courses.
Detwiler has been taking a cer-
tain amount of razzing, from his
teammates sincerhisnhome town
paper came out with the headline
"Detwiler, Michigan Down Air
Force 24-7." "Who are you play-
ing next Saturday?" the boys ask
him':
The answer is that Detwiler will
start the second game of his col-
lege career against the Midship-
men from Annapolis. "I think i
we hold them defensively we can
score on them offensively," Jim
said, and added that although no
one is over-confident, the team
feels that it can top sixth ranked
Navy.
It is well known that many
things (such as wine and cheese)
improve with age, and that experi-
ence is another important factor
in improvement. Perhaps Jim Det-
wiler, Michigan's unnamed half-
back until last Saturday morning;
along with the entire Michigan
squad, will improve as the season
progresses. After all, as Elliott
said, it was his first game.
* * *
Practice Notes
In practice yesterday, Michigan
concentrated mainly on methods
to stop Navy's expected passing
attack. Says Coach Bump Elliott,
though, "Frankly, I don't care how
many passes they complete if the
score comes out the way it did last
week."
PROMISE SURPRISES:
Spartans Up for USC
After Loss to Carolina '
EAST LANSING ()- Michigan
State Coach Duffy Daugherty
flew down smiling and telling jokes
on his plane trip to Chapel Hill.
He came back complaining about
calls by officials after his Spar-
tans were thoroughly thumped by
the Tar Heels of North Carolina,
21-15.
MSU, the heavy favorite, stag-
ed a brilliant fourth period come-
back, but it was too little and
too late.
This Saturday the Spartans will
play Southern California at East
Lansing. Led by a dazzling quar-
terback performance by Craig Fer-
tig, the Trojans overwhelmed Ok..
lahoma, the nations No. 2 rated
team, by 40-14.
"Don't be surprised if Southerr
Cal will be rated No. 1 after that
show," Daugherty commented. "
saw a little bit of the movies of
that game, and this is one of the
fastest teams I've seen in years."
Next after Southern Cal on'
MSU's list is Michigan-the tra-
ditional rival.
Duffy is still hopeful that he
can pull a few surprises in these
next two games.
"We started the season on a
dismal note," he admitted. "We
waited much too long before we
got organized. But any team that
can come back as we did after a
21-point deficit can't be all bad.'
Daugherty and his aides were
running and re-running game mo-
vies Sunday night in an effort
to spot mistakes.
"Everything went wrong," ex-
pkhined Daugherty after one show-
ing.
"North Carolina had a great!"/I '
third-down effort, and we didn't
come to on key plays."
Daugherty said he was encour- T
aged by the role played by soph- 1 p rie
omores in the fourth-period spurt. 613 E. William St. 665-3763
Halfback Clint Jones, who rip- -- ---- - -
ped up the middle for a 42-yard
touchdown run, will have more
chances to run, Daugherty prom-
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