Wednesday, September 2, 1970
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Wolverine Sports--Page Three
Wednesda~', September 2, 1970 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Wolverine Sports-Page Three
FROM ROOKIE TO LEGEND
Bo's
upsur ge
rests
on
/
personality
on this and that
Schembechler-'The Man'
FEBRUARY 28, 1970 started out as a rather uneventful day
in Michigan sports. The Wolverine cagers were playing out
the tail end of their season against the Badgers of Wisconsin,
in a game in which the main concern of the 7,000 Michigan
partisans was not whether or not the Wolverines won, but how
many points and how many rebounds superstar Rudy Tom-
janovich (now playing for the San Diego Rockets) would collect.
About mid-way through the first half, however, the fans
were shaken out of their relative state of lethargy. At that point,
during a Michigan time-out, the announcer at the scorer's table
calmy clicked on his microphone and said:
"We have a very special guest at today's game, seated in
back of the Michigan bench. Michigan head football coach
Bo Schembechler.
The Michigan coach, stood up, smiled and waved his hand.
Seven thousand fans stood up and gave him a warm and ex-
4 tended ovation. Everybody from the Crisler Arena security guards
to the Madison sportswriters joined in the raucous, welcome.
Several dozen small fans ran up to where Bo was. sitting and
had him autograph everything from ticket stubs to chewing.
gum wrappers.
To the hard-boiled cynic, the above description probably
doesn't mean too much. But to anyone who follows sports (es-
pecially Michigan sports) with at least an occasional glance at
the personalities involved, the description means a great deal.
It means that in one short year, Bo Schembechler has moved
from the status of a newly hired Big Ten football coach to be-
come something of a legend.
Schembechler's iaccomplishments are common knowlefige by
now. An 8-2 record in his first year as head coach of the Wol-
verines. A share of the Big Ten title, achieved by a climactic,
emotional win over the then top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
A trip to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena last January. Coach-of-the-
Year honors in every major poll in the country.
Bo's heart attack on the morning of the Rose Bowl game
against USC is also fairly commhon knowledge by now, too.
Less well known is the character and personality of the
men who resides behind the indefatigable smile and under
the tilted baseball cap. What is this legend really like?
Above everything else, what Bo Schembechler is about is
football. One day last fall, I was talking to him about a student
strike on campus over the issue of a student-owned, student-
controlled bookstore (yes, Virginia, he's interested in that, too)
when he turned to me and said:'
"I guess I should know more about that. But during the
football season, all I think about is football."'
Football is also about all he ever has time for during the
season. He has been known to put in 18 and sometimes 20 hours
a day thinking and planning football strategy. He looks at
game films over and over again, and his constant watching of
last week's re-runs brings results.
"It's amazing how much he knows about the game," Dick
Caldarazzo, one of the starting guards on last year's team, said
once. "You go in there thinking you know a lot, but then he'll
point out something he saw in the game films you never would
have thought of."
Former manager Rick Kohn says pretty much the same
thing. "He's incredible the way he'll pick things up from watch-
ing the films," relates Kohn. "Like he'll watch a receiver pull
up his shirt sleeve and say, 'There, he's the primary receiver
every time he lifts his sleeve."
eric siegel I
typical comment about the Wolverine coach that almost all his
players will attest to.
A comment made last year by Henry Hill, the Wolverines'
senior middle guard, is also! telling. When protests by black
athletes were occurring at a number of schools last fall, an As-
sociated Press writer, trying to determine if there was any latent
antagonism at schools which had. been affected by the protests,
asked Hill about the way players are treated at Michigan.
"Bo treats everyone equally around here," Hill was quoted
as saying. "Equally rough."
That toughness was clearly in evidence at the Schein-
bechler-run practices last fall. To put it mildly, Bo's prac-
tices are a far cry from a grade school playground at recess.
Still, you don't hear many complaints about Bo's toughness
and his emphasis on discipline. One reason is that the players
want to win, and if toughness and hard work helps them win,
they're all for it.
Another reason was summed up last fall by former captain
and All-American Jim Mandich. "When you see Bo out there
working the way he does," Mandich commented, "it makesyou
want to work a little harder, too."
As a gridiron taskmaster, Bo has sometimes been compared
to his former mentor, the demon of the Buckeye State, Woodrow.
F. Hayes. But there are strong indications that Schembechler
relies a lot more on feeling and understanding and a lot less on'
fear and coercion than OSU's Woody Walrus.
"Bo is definitely well-respected," Kohn told me once. "But
he's also well-liked."'
Nowhere was the sense of personal affection and rapport
between Bo and his players more obvious than in California on
the day of the Rose Bowl game. The Michigan grid mentor had
suffered a heart attack a few hours before the game and was
unable to be on hand to coach the Wolverines.
After the game, everyone in the Michigan lockerroom was
talking about how much the loss of Bo for the game meant to
the team. Not strategically. Not technically. But personally and
emotionally/Senior defensive end Cecil Pryor summed it up best,
saying, "It really affected us as a whole. Especially the younger
players. They draw on Bo's domineering personality. When Bo.
was there we really had a great coach at all times; he was really
behind you."
In an indirect sort of way, perhaps the greatest testimonial
to Schembechler's ability to get along with people is the success
he had in attracting new recruits to Michigan this spring.
Confined to his house for two months after his heart attack
and uable to devote as much time to recruiting as he would have
liked to, Bo quietly talked to players from all over the country,
on the phone, in his house, in hotel lobbies in Ann Arbor. He
wound up signing 36 of his top 36 players.-You can't help but be-
lieve that his personality, as well as record, probably had a great
deal to do with his recruiting success.
There are a couple of other incidents-that are revealing,
too. At the beginning of last September, when everyone was
talking about the long year that Michigan had in front of it
and some were even talking about a fourth place Big Ten
finish for the Wolverines, Bo took a quite different view.
"This is not a rebuilding year," he kept insisting. "We have
as
as
Schembechler also has a reputation for toughness as well
knowledge, and the former reputation seems as well deserved
the latter. "He's tough-there's no question about it," is a
1970 M' Football Schedule
No grade school recess for Bo
a lot of proving to do, but we'll have a good ball club." This view
showed he had a lot of faith and enthusiasm to go along with
his gridiron savoir-faire.
It was a faith and enthusiasm he never lost all all year.
After the Wolverines dropped a 40-17 decision to the Missouri
Tigers that knocked them clear out of the national ratings, you
^ould hear him yelling clear to Ypsilanti. But he also kept in-
listing, "This is a good ball club. They're working hard and
they'll get back on the winning track." He said basically the
same thing after the Wolverines lost to Michigan State in
East Lansing.
There is .a much less serious side to Bo Schembechler, too,
a side that comes across quite often. Last October, I was talking
to Bo after practice and said something about how a lot of people
were expected in the Stadium later on for a big anti-war rally.
Bo thought a minute and then smiled and said he wouldn't be
there. "We're planning to wage a war, not end one," he said.
A few weeks later, after Michigan had walloped Wisconsin,
one of the Detroit writers asked Bo about his team's chances
of going to the Rose Bowl. "I really haven't thought about it," he
said. "The only one who's talking about the Rose Bowl is Ohio
State, and they can't go."
Then there is the story about the Michigan player who was
being recruited by Schembechler when he was coaching at Miami
of Ohio as well as by the Wolverines.! According to the story,
Schembechler told the player, "What do you watt to go to
Michigan for? There's nothing up there." The player came to
Michigan anyway.
When Schembechler came to Michigan, so the story goes,
the player saw him and said, "Hey coach, what did you come
to Michigan for? There's nothing up here."
Schembechler reportedly said nothing. He just smiled
and then laughed.
-Daily-Sara K'rulwich
Spring football's quieter Bo
Sept. 19-ARIZONA
Sept. 26-at Washington
Oct. 3-TEXAS A&M
Oct. 10-at Purdue
Oct. 17-MICHIGAN STATE
Oct. 24-MINNESOTA
Oct. 31-at Wisconsin
Nov. 7--ILLINOIS
Nov. 14-IOWA
Nov. 21-at Ohio State
GROUND RULES:
S Student football tickets go, on sale
Students this year may charge
their football tickets on their
Student Account. The charge
for the Home Season is $14.
During Registration, Aug. 31,
Sept. 1, and Sept. 2, they should
go to the Student Football Tick-
et windows in Barbour Gym-
nasium and have their Football
* Coupon validated.
If this is not done, it will be
necessary for the Student to
come to the I.M. (Sports Build-
inag) during their regular prior-
ity day, pay $14 and have their
Football Coupon validated and
then get in line for their tickets.
The seating preferences for
students are determined by the
number of years in attendance
at the University. Your proper
priority group will be indicated
by your I.D. Card as follows:
Group No. 4 - I.D. shows
imprints F, G, P, A, J, K and
J or the number 6 or less to
the right of your name.
Group No. 3 - I.D. shows,
imprints P, A, J, K and Q.
Group No.- 2 - I.D. shows
imprints J, K and Q.
Group No. 1 - shows a Q
Imprint
If the I.D. does not indicate
proper priority please bring
transcript at time to correct dis-
tribution day.
Group No. 4 - tickets be-
gin: at the fifty yard line.
Group No. 3 - begins at
the end of No. 4.
Group No. 2 - begins at
the end of No. 3, etc."
Exchange or distribution will
be at the I.M. (Sports) Build-
ing as follows from 8:30 a.m.
take them to a special group
window and the sbats will be
assigned in the estimated mid-
dle of their Priority Area. Pri-
ority No. 4 groups will be issued
in Sections 25 and 26. The pri-
ority assigned to a group will
be determined by the lowest
priority of the group. All stu-
dents should pick up on their
regular day of priority distribu-
tion to obtain proper seating.
The Athletic Department will
not be responsible for lost cou-
pons or tickets.
4.sAthletic Cards for Student's
Spouse may be purchased at
designated w ind o ws in the
Sports Building. Students pur-
chasing tickets for their spouse
will receive both tickets in the
next lower priority area. He
should, however, pick up the
tickets on the regular distribu-
tion day of his priority. The
price is $18 and please make
checks payable to the Michigan
Ticket Department.
,_.__ ... _ __.. . . _.__.. . l
after this date. Hours will be
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
2. A Student may present his
validated Football coupon with
I.D. and three other validated
Football coupons with I.D.'s to
receive tickets at the regular dis-
tribution windows. No more
than four tickets may be picked'
up at the regular distribution
windows.'
3. Grouping of more than
four will be permitted. A Stu-
dent may bring as many vali-
dated Football coupons and
I.D.'ss as he wishes. He should
1 I
I~~
...~
Student Headquarters
for
MICHIGAN CAMPUS WEAR.
SWEAT SHIRTS
(including special orders for fraternities,
sororities, dorms and clubs)
JACKETS
'M' BLANKETS
FOR SMALL FRY-Sweat shirts, Suits, Sweaters
Ii. _~
tgan
WOMEN'S GYM ATTIRE
tK
SHORTS
BLOUSES
SHOES
ARROWS
34aitp
BADMINTON BIRDS
SWIM APPAREL
:MS
FIELD HOCKEY SHOES
PHYSICAL EDUCATION MAJORS' UNIFOR
ALL GOLF and TENNIS SUPPLIES.
4:30 p.m.
Group No..
Sept. 3.
Group No.
4 - Thursday,
3, Friday, Sep,.
4.
Group No. 2 - Tuesday,
Sept. 8.
Group No. 1 - Wednesday,
Sept. 9.
The following rules will be
strictly adhered to:
1. Students in all four priori-
ties should pick up their tickets
on the day of their priority
group -distribution, if not, they
will be issued tickets in the area
being distributed on the day of
pick-up. After Sept. 9, tickets
will be. distributed at the Foot-
ball Ticket Office, corner of
Hoover and South State rSt.,
IS INTER VIEWING ON CAMPUS
SEPTEMBER 3-10
1-4 P.M.
WE NEED SALESMEN
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The growth of the city of Ann Arbor offers us an unlimited oppor-
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MEN'S ATHLETIC SUPPLIES
SHORTS, REVERSIBLE T-SHIRTS, WARM-UP SUITS
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