r PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19,1961 PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1964 Buckeyes Get Snow Job in '50 'Blizzard Bowl' I *tuchdtdo By RICK STERN They kicked and fought their way through a raging blizzard and arrived in California, basking in unexpected glory. The Gold Rushers in 1850? No- Michigan's last Rose Bowl team one hundred years later. In the depths of third place as the final game of the 1950 Big Ten race began, the Wolverine eleven rose out of the snow to stun first-place Ohio State 9-3 and capture their last conference championship. Michigan had en- tered the contest with a 4-3-1 overall record, 3-1-1 in Big Ten play. Ohio State was 5-1 while Illinois was second with a 4-1 mark. *The Illini stood to make the trip to Pasedena because the previous year Michigan had tied OSU for first but the Bucks had gone to the Rose Bowl. 'Snow Bowl' To this date that game is known as the "Blizzard Bowl," although Bennie Osterbaan, who coached that 1950 squad, refers to it as the "Snow Bowl." "The worst playing conditions I've ever seen," reminisced Ooster- baan, Michigan's only three-time All-American. The facts support Oosterbaan's judgment. It was late November. The temperature in Columbus as the game began was 10 degrees above zero. Nine inches of snow lay on the field and much more was blowing around in a wind of gale force. Oosterbaan pointed out that so many people stayed home from the game that the gates were thrown open, and anyone was al- lowed to enter, ticket or no. Statistically the game was a football iconoclasm. Michigan won without the aid of so much as a single first down. The Wolverines garnered exactly 27 yards in the entire game, all of them on the ground. Michigan's longest gain of the day was a six-yard run by halfback Chuck Ortmann. Ohio State had three first downs, and picked up 41 yards total, throw- ing 18 passes and completing three. OSU's Heiseman trophy winner Vic Janowicz picked up -9 yards in 25 carries. 45 Punts Equally unbelievable was the punting in the game. It was foot- bail in the literal sense. No fewerI than 45 punts were made, 24 by Ortmann and 21 by Janowicz. Logically enough, both kickers wore gloves during the game. "One of our assistant coaches donated his gloves to Ortmann,' com- mented Oosterbaan. "Under pres- ent rules this would be illegal," he added. Janowicz wore fur lined mittens. Ortmann's average of 30 yards per kick for a total of 720 yards was termed "remarkable" by Oosterbaan. Many times the teams kicked on first or second down. The players could not see each other or the ball, and pass receivers were more often than not, tripped ip by masses of drifting snow. Thus the strategy was to keep the ball as far from your own goal as possible and punting was the only way to accomplish this. OSU Field Goal All of the scoring took place in the first half of the game. Ohio State tallied their three on a 40- yard field goal by Janowicz. "It Iwas fairly early in the ball game. I could still see the goal posts," said Janowicz recently. Michigan came back to make it a 3-2 game on a safety after a blocked punt. According to Ooster- baan, that it actually was a safety "couldn't be determined. The ball was lost in the snow." The key play of the game, in- B. Robinson Named MYP BOSTON (P) -- Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson, main driving force behind an Orioles' pennant bid which just missed, was named yesterday the 1964 American League Most Valuable Player. Robinson drew 269 out of a possible 280 points, with 18 first place ballots. Mickey Mantle, who sparked the late New York Yankee spurt to another flag on aching legs, re- ceivedathe other two first place, votes and 171 points. Yankee catcher Elston Howard, last year's winner, was third with 124 points, followed by rookie Tony Olive of Minnesota, the league batting champion, with 99 and Dean Chance of Los Angeles, the Cy Young Award winner as the deed of the season, came with 47 seconds left in the first half when OSU coach Wes Fesler de- cided to have Janowicz kick on third down. Junior Tony Momsen blocked the punt and fell on it inches across the goal line for the winning touchdown. "It's a stan- dard play," said Oosterbaan. "We drove their two blockers apart and Momsen dived through." Harry Ellis converted on the extra point to make it 9-3. Elated by the lead, and fortified with alcohol, Michigan's marching band performed at halftime, in defiance of the elements. Four'h Straight The second half, a scoreless battle of snowmen, was highlight- ed when, with 2:47 to go in the game, it was announced that Northwestern had come from be- hind to upset Illinois 14-7. Michi- gan, with only four conference BY GARY WYNER victories all season, had taken an unprecedented fourth straight championship. The seniors on that A pep rally on the Diag here and the alumni chant "We're with 1950 team, including All American you Woody, win or draw" at Columbus mark the fervor prior to Al Wahl and present Michigani Saturday's encounter between Michigan and Ohio State, which marks defensive'backfield coach Dan Du- the seventh time since the 1920's that the victor of this game emerges fek as well as Ortmann and six as the Big Ten champion. other boys, never played on less Michigan and Ohio State will be meeting for the 61st time with than a first place team. From the Wolverines holding a series edge of 35 wins, 21 losses and four ties. Columbus, the Wolverine trail led Traditionally these have been the hardest fought games for both to Pasedena and a 14-6 win over teams in the course.of the season-this year it's no different as each the University of California, the last appearance by a Michgan squad boasts strong defensive units and explosive offensive attacks. team in the Rose Bowl. That's been the formula for all Michigan-Ohio State en- Coach Oosterbaan summed up the reaction to the historic "Snow Bowl" game: "I wasn't surprised . . . under those conditions, any- thing can happen." Again this Saturday, a Rose Bowl bid will be decided in Columbus. Anythingj can happen. The weather forecast 'calls for snow. Sam's Store-Has Levi s Galore for gals and guys Levi's Corduroy .ev Levi, Never $5.98 * Levi's S-T-R-E-T-C-H $6.98 ij's Slim Fits-all colors . . . $4.40 's Sta-Prest $fi9 Needs Ironing Cotton Turtle Neck "T" Shirts 15 Most Wanted Colors . . . . . Open Monday and Friday Nights SAMS STOR 122 E. Washington majors' top pitcher, with 97. Mantle and Howard each were left off one ballot as Robinson broke a four-year Yankee monop- oly on the award.k Bill Freehan, Detroit and for- mer Michigan catcher, finished in a tie for seventh place in the balloting with 44 points. Scores NHL Chicago 3, Detroit 1 Toronto 3, Montreal 1 NBAj Detroit 124, Philadelphia 111 Boston 104, St. Louis 97 Cincinnati at Los Angeles (inc) Special Today thru Sat. 49c & 99c Suits, Trousers Dresses Skirts 1 .r service 9 am.-4 p.m. KLEEN KING 'The Roses That Bloomed in the Snow' The place was Columbus, Ohio, the time, 1950 A.D. With Michigan playing the Buckeyes, O bring back that, memory to me! Right there, in a wild swirling ice storm, with temperatures hovering low A miracle happened . . . we saw it ... the Roses That Bloomed in the Snow. The Rose Bowl depended on this one, this game on the ice rink out there. Our hopes for a victory seemed shattered, then happened a punt and a prayer. Ohio's Vic Janowicz punted, with less than a 'minute to go, The prayer-a blocked kick for a touchdown-and Roses That Bloomed in the Snow. All credit to our Tony Momsen, who fell on that snow-covered ball. All hail to our sleet-covered warriors, to Bennie and Crisler and all. But don't forget freezing alumni, whose wild shivering voices we know Were joined in the prayer that planted the Roses That Bloomed in the Snow. -J. Fred Lawton '11 Copyright, 1959, by J. Fred Lawton ass imassaas g counters. In recent years, the 1955 and 1961 contests stand out as being examples of real Wolverine-Buckeye clashes. It had snowed quite a bit the Friday evening prior to the Ohio State game at Ann Arbor in November, 1955. The forecast mentioned rain, wind, and low temperatures for the next afternoon, but the 97,000 plus fans who were to jam Michigan Stadium the next day had begun to stream into Ann Arbor, almost completely oblivious of the cold. The Maize and Blue were nationally ranked with a 7-1 record while Ohio State was 6-2 overall. The tragic difference however was that the Wolverines' lone loss had been to conference foe Illinois, 2-5-6, while Ohio State had absorbed two unimportant losses at the hands of Stanford and Duke Whichever team won that afternoon would gain the Big Ten crown or at least a share of it. Ohio State had gone to the Rose Bowl jthe previous year, so they were ineligible for the Pasadena trip, but for Michigan, a victory would send them West for the first time since 1950. Another small record was at stake, too. Ohio State had last beaten Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1937, 21-0. There were many partisan Buckeye fans in the crowd and a huge banner reading BEAT ANN ARBOR TECH was prominent in the north end-zone stands. It never did rain, but it was cold for the Michigan fans and hot for the Michigan players as Ohio State completely and efficiently end- ed Michigan's Rose Bowl hopes with a 17-0 Victory. Labelled as the "greatest back Ohio State has ever had" All- America and Heisman Trophy winner halfback Howard (Hopalong) Cassady closed out his collegiate career with 146 yards rushing in 28 carries and one touchdown. The fleet halfback was unstoppable and some of his more ardent rooters were supporting him for governor of Ohio as the game culminated. The talents of Michigan notables Ron Kramer, Terry Barr, and Lou Baldacci fell short of expectations in the hard fought encounter. The Buckeyes held a slim 3-0 lead at halftime on a second period field goal, but in the fourth quarter Cassady smashed off right guard, for one yard and the first touchdown of the afternoon for either side. But did he really score? That was the big question as the Wolver- ine players protested vehemently and fans like myself sitting in the end zone stands tended to note that the halfback never had quite made it to the goal line. The referees ruled it as a tally, though. The game continued to get rougher. Finally, with only a few minutes remaining, Michigan was penalized for a personal foul. The Wolverines objected, the referee marked off another 15 yards, Kramer protested (to put it mildly), the referee gave Ohio State another 15- yard advance, and Coach Bennie Oosterbaan removed Kramer from the contest. The Buckeyes then continued play with the ball on the Michigan 18-inch line from where they smashed in for another touch- down. By now the partisan Buckeyes in the crowd were swarming the field. The fact that there were two minutes remaining to be played 'made little difference, and the game finally ended with Michigan attempting to run a few plays through the crowd, hails of snowballs, and fists flying from both teams. Finishing touches were added as the north-end goal posts were torn down and carted off, and some Ohio State fans re- ported that the Buckeye line had been singing "Good Bye Roses" throughout part of the contest. And as reporters filed from the Ohio State locker room, the strains of "We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan" could vividly be heard. But how can I ever forget the humiliating 50-20 downing here of the Wolverines in 1961. Ohio State had to win that game to claim the Big Ten title again. It had a 7-0-1 record while Michigan was 6-2 and out of the con- ference race. The Buckeyes caught Michigan with some key injuries and simply overpowered the hosts in the later stages of the encounter. The OSU hero of the day was All-America Bob Ferguson who ground out 152 yards and four touchdowns. The Bucks had a total offenseof 512 yards. Ohio State held a 21-12 halftime lead and from there just pulled away. It was obvious later in the game that Hayes was out for one thing-the biggest score he could accumulate. Michigan was tired physically and mentally in that final quarter but it fought as best it could. With the score 42-20 and only a few minutes left in the game, Hayes pulled out Ferguson, who received a tremendous ovation from the fans. Buckeye quarterback Joe Sparma on the next play calmly stepped back and tossed a sideline pass to halfback Paul Warfield, who went 70 yards to the Michigan 10-yard line where he was tackled. Ferguson apparently had been removed for good, but Hayes decided he wanted another tally, so the big fullback re-entered the game and smashed through the Michigan line some more. On a fourth down play, Sparma tossed for the score and then tossed again for the insulting two-point conversion. There were only 34 seconds remaining on the clock when Hayes "clinched" the win. It's a different year with different players, but the Michigan- Ohio State game this Saturday will be a typical encounter between these schools-rough. qt Gant flannel checks: asi Want something that's just out of reach? See us for a personal loan, as bold, a kids... 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