al
SPORTS
The Michigan Daily
Thursday, January 29, 1981
Page 8
Wolverines launch
weekend road trip
against lowly 'Cats
EX-'M' QB ENJOYS NEW POST
Elliott heads NFL Hall
C
By JON MORELAND
Special to The Daily
EVANSTON-After surviving the fir-
st six games of the Big Ten season, the
Michigan basketball team will be
looking for a break when it takes the
McGaw Hall floor tonight against Nor-
thwestern.
Unfortunately for the cagers, the
Wildcats promise to provide anything
but a soft spot on the battle-worn
Wolverines' schedule.
"This team doesn't stay down long,"
warns Northwestern coach Rich Falk,
whose team is riding a four-game losing
streak and is 1-5 in the conference.
"We'll show up ready to play."
On the other hand, the Wolverines' 3-3
conference record is as good as anyone
could have expected at this point. In
thpt stretch, Michigan played each of
the teams expected to battle for the
conference title.
Despite being outplayed in its three
lesses, Michigan has managed to stay
at .500 with three overtime wins, two of
which were double'OT affairs.
Tonight's game kicks off a six game
stretch which appears to be at least a
little more enticing for the Wolverines.
Five of these games will be played
against the bottom three teams in the
league.
That's not to say, however, that
Michigan will win' just by showing up
tonight. "Tenth place in our league is
no disgrace," points out Michigan
coach Bill Frieder. "It's always tough
when you gointo Evanston."
To the untrained ear, it may sound
like Frieder has simply stolen the lines
that his football counterpart at
Michigan uses when the gridders go up
against the likes of Northwestern. But
most Big Ten followers know better.
Just about everyone can recall the
triple-overtime thriller a year'ago when
Michigan came out on the short end of
an 85-82 score in the same gym.
"Last year we were three and three
at this time, too," reminds Frieder..
"Then we lost to Michigan State and,
Northwestern. To contend in this
league, you've got to beat these
teams."
In order to beat Northwestern,
Michigan will have to tangle with a
couple of pretty decent Big Ten basket-
ball players. The most notable of these
are senior guard Rod Roberson and
junior forward Jim Stack. Roberson is
averaging 15.0 points per game while
Stack is hitting at a 12.6 clip.
The Wildcats suffered a jolt when
they learned that junior center Bob
Grady has been lost for the season with
a broken wrist. As Northwestern's
number one pivotman, Grady has been
the Wildcats' leading rebounder and
fourth leading scorer. Freshmen
Murray Colin and Paul Schultz will
share the task of filling in for Grady.
Despite the loss of its top center, the
Northwestern quintet could give the
Wolverines quite a battle. Frieder ex-
presses concern over the Wildcats. Af-'
. ter witnessing the rash of upsets last
weekend, the coach knows anything can
and will happen in the Big Ten race.
By MARK MIHANOVIC.
The Executive Director of the Profes-
sional Football Hall of Fame in Canton,
Ohio sits behind his desk in the most
relaxed of manners, feet planted atop
it, broad shoulders eased back, an
amiable smile creasing his face. He
revels in the discussion-because the
discussion is aboutfootball and his life
involved in it.
With the exception of a short stint in
business in the late 1960's, every full-
time job Pete Elliott has ever held has
had something to do with the gridiron.
Elliott won All-American honors in 1948
at Michigan, as he quarterbacked one
of Fritz Crisler's most powerful
Wolverine squads to the national title.
HE WAS DRAFTED by the Detroit
Lions of the National Football League
and the Los Angeles Dons of the
American Football Conference, but
declined both teams' offers. "At the
time when I graduated," Elliott ex-
plained, "it wasn't nearly as lucrative
as today, and a smaller percentage of
Roberson
... top Wildcat threat
Cagers' Corner
many consider it the finest, most com-,
plete of the professional halls.
"I don't think our plans right now are
for more expansion, because we can
overdo," Elliott said. "The, continued
upgrading of the Hall of Fame and the
representation of the NFL are the
major concerns.
"I've been fortunate to have a great
staff at the Hall of Fame, which means
that I can get involved in every aspect
of the organization," he continued.
"The great thing about it is that you can
be around football people all the way.
It's been my life, so I enjoy it.
ELLIOTT NONETHELESS LOOKS
Back on his college days with greatest
satisfaction. His greatest thrill?
"The 1947 Rose Bowl," is the answer.
"We played Southern Cal and won the
game, 49 to zip. The other time that was
right with it was the next year, 1948,
when we won the national champion-
ship. At that time, you couldn't go to the
Rose Bowl twice in a row..., in fact, you,
had to sit out two years.
As was so common in his day, Elliott
was a three-sport man at Michigan,
also competing in basketball and golf.
But his All-American status in football
U
MICHIGAN (12-3, 3-3)
40- Mike McGee, 6-5 Sr. (23.5)
45- Thad Garner, 6-7 Jr. (9.5)
15- Paul Heuerman, 6-8 Sr. (7.6)
24- Marty Bodnar, 6-3 Sr. (6.9) -
34- J. Johnson, 6-4 Sr. (15.3)
NORTHWESTERN (7-8, 1-5)
25- Jim Stack, 6-8 Jr. (12.6)
33- Gaddis Rathel, 6-5 So. (12.1)
54- Colin Murray, 6-11 Fr. (1.0)
21- Rod Roberson, 6-3 Sr. (15.0)
31- Michael Jenkins, 6-2 So. (8.4)
S
GAME TIME: 8:35 p.m. EST (McGaw Hall, Evanston)
TV/RADIO: No local television. Radio stations WUOM-FM(91.7 FM), WWJ(950), WPAG(1050), and
WAAM( 1600) will carry the game.
EXPECTED CROWD: 4,000
THE WILDCATS ... come off a devastating 93-56 loss to Indiana, in which center Bob Grady was lost
for the season with a fractured left wrist. Guard Michael Jenkins is coming off a sprained ankle he suf-
fered a week ago. Northwestern is once again in a familiar place, the Big Ten cellar at 1-5.
STRENGTHS: Smart, aggressive defense, particularly from guards Jenkins and Rod Roberson.
Team is usually solid on the defensive end.
WEAKNESSES: Shooting. Northwestern is hitting on slightly more than 42 percent of its shots from
the floor. Wildcats are also lacking a reliable scorer.
IM SCORES
MOTORCOACH TRIP FROM ANN ARBOR TO TORONTO FOR
THE VINCENT VAN GOGH EXHIBITION
ONLY NORTH AMERICA SHOWING OF 120 PAINTINGS OF
VAN GOGH, GAUGUIN, TOULOUSE-LATREC,;BERNARD, AN-
QUETIN.
TUESDAY
Paddleball
Fraternity
Sigma Alpha Mu 2. Theta Delta Chi i
Phi Delta Theta 3, Kappa Sigma 0 (forfeit)
Table Tennis
Fraternity
Chi Phi 3, Zeta Psi 0
Fiji 3.Sigma Nu 0
Basketball
Independent
Raging Phlegmon 77, Chews 64
Excaliber 52, Wildcats 40
ASCE Basketeers 47,NROTC Blue 23
Fraternity
A'
Evans Scholars 41, Sigma Phi Epsilon 39
Omega Psi Phi 42,Psi Upsilon 38
Theta Chi 38, Kappa Sigma 18
Sigma Phi 34, Alpha Tau Omega 24
'B'
Lambda Chi Alpha 2i, Phi Delta Theta 15
Phi Beta Sigma 63, Sigma Chi 36
Sigma Phi Epsilon 23. Beta Theta Pi 15
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 2, Psi Upsilon 0 (forfeit.
Graduate
Blast 52, Grateful Dead 42
9-0 Silk 45, Biochem 40
Law Dogs 50, DSD 'C' 25
Legal Ease 45, DSD 'E' 43
Co-Rec
Oxford Plus 73, Wasps 30
Amoebas 69, Blue Bombers 13
Women's
Stockwell 52, Happy Hookers 37
C.W. 38, Barbour'A' 22
Breaks 24, Derelicts 22
Andi's Bar and Grill 27. Bursley PlayerettesI
Residence Hall
'A.
Huber Challengers 29, Wenley 28
Elliott 43, MoJo Risers 30
Couzens Gold 35, Fletcher 1 32
Butler 28, Gomberg BAMF 26 '
players went to the pros."
Instead, after graduating with his
B.A. degree in Liberal Arts in June of
1949, he entered the exhilarating, albeit
insecure, world of coaching.
He began as an assistant at Oregon
State before hooking on with the staff of
the legendary Bud Wilkinson at
Oklahoma in 1951. He stayed in Norman
through 1955, with two national cham-
pionships serving as the highlights, and
the two men's mutual respect increased
with each campaign. So when Wilkin-
son asked Elliott to come along with
him as he attempted to make his
coaching comeback with the NFL's St.
Louis Cardinals in 1977, the latter ac-
cepted. Within two years, though, they
both were gone.
ELLIOTT ISN'T ABOUT to admit
that the Cardinals made a mistake in
) hiring the old college mentor, however.
"Bud did a very commendable job, and
I think, had he stayed on there, he
would have been a great professional
coach, as well," he said. "He was a
great, great coach."
In the intervening 26 years between
his stints as an assistant to Wilkinson,
Elliott gave head coaching a shot. One
year at Nebraska, three at California,
seven at Illinois, and three more at
Miami (Florida) provided him the op-
portunity to do what he liked to do best
and see much of the country in the
meantime. Another place his travels
took him to included Pasadena,
California, where his Pacific Coast
champion Cal Golden Bears lost to Iowa
in the 1959 Rose Bowl and his Big Ten
titleholding Fighting Illini took the 1964
classic with a 17-7 defeat of
Washington.
There you have it, a lifetime of foot-
ball: playing, coaching, and even an
administrative post as Athletic Direc-
tor (added to his coaching duties) at
Miami. It's the association with football
people that Elliott loves-which is why
he jumped at the opportunity to assume
direction of the Hall of Fame when its
Board of Trustees offered the post of
Executive Director to him.
FOOTBALL'S HALL IS a con-
tinuously expanding edifice housing
tributes to the greats of the game;
A
FEB. 21-23 and FEB. 27-29
$118.00
MOTORCOACH, WESTBURY HOTEL, ADMISSION TICKETS
TEMPLE TRAVEL 584-6160
.13349 Michigan Ave., Dearborn, MI.
Elliot
HOF director
was an early indicataion of wheeie tA s
heart really lay.
ELLIOTT DOES NOT expect t
return to his alma mater in any
capacity. "I coul'd not forsee anything
like that happening, but I've never had
anything -but great respect, for Don
Canham ever since Ifirst knew him.
And obviously that respect has grown,
as he's done a great job up there."
In fact, Elliott isn't sure just what to
expect in his future. "I've enjoyed
coaching all my life, but I have no idea
what the future may bring, and I plan
on working at the Hall of Fame. It's
great. I've been in football all my life,
and I love it."
It's the people.
Join
News Staff
Catch the thrill of the moment!
Be there when news happens
in your University Community
Find out how at:
MASS MEETINGS:
Bursley-Wed., Jan. 28
7:30 p.m., East Lounge
0
0
0
k l& w~E'~~i 1~t ~t ~ E~ t'*"i !d" #'1:##4! k rsxri '~T . llAT.J...