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The Michigan football team hasn't heaten rival Michigan State
in tsar years; could this he the game that turns the tide hack
in Michigan's favor? The Spartans come to town nursing their 2 0 1 2 S
wounds after losing to Iowa last weekend to drop to 4-3 on theA
season. Michigan is atop the Big Ten Legends Division and has its Alabama (Sept.1): Michgan's memory needs to
sights set on a Big Ten title at the year's end. be short after this one. It should be anyway with
some of the hits the Crimson Tide dealt out.
Ben Estes, Zach Helfand, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Luke Pasch
Air Force (Sept. 8): Air Force ran all over
TABLE OF CONT ENT SMichigan, but Denard Robinson returned the
favor to squeak out the 31-25 victory.
Dueling Columns: Football beat writ- Massachusetts(Sept.15): Michigan thoroughly
ers from the Daily and The State News dominated its weakest opponent, trouncing
square off in an annual write-off. Massachusetts, 63-13.
Notre Dame (Sept. 22): Robinson threw four
The Forgotten Man: Unearthing the long- interceptions and Vincent Smith added another,
lost legacy of former Michigan football star as the Fighting Irish barely scraped out a 13-6 win.
Willis Ward.
Purdue (Oct. 6): Kirk Herbstreit picked Purdue
Advance: Michigan is on a quest to retain to win the game and the Big Ten before the
8 the Paul Bunyan Trophy and return it to its game. He went tail-between-the-legs quickly.
display case in Schembechler Hall. Illinois (Oct. 13): Ouch! Michigan knocked out
IL IS Nathan Scheelhaase and burst past the Fighting
cover illustration by Marissa McClain// Photo courtesy of Bentley Historical Library Ilini, 45-0.

schedule

S

Michigan State (Oct. 20): Wolverines could
snap a four-game losing streak to Sparty. If it
happens, avoid fans' (or players.') raging fists at
all costs.
Nebraska (Oct. 27): Michigan handed the
Huskers a rude welcome to the Big Ten in 2011.
Prime time in Lincoln could be different, though.
Minnesota (Nov.3):This game wasa confidence
booster last year - a 58-0 drubbing. The Little
Brown Jug will stay in Ann Arbor again.
Northwestern (Nov. 10): In a late season
matchup, we'll find out who scraps harder: A
wildcat or a wolverine.
Iowa (Nov. 17): It's not heaven. It's Iowa - the
utterly mediocre squad that handed Michigan
one of its two losses in 2011.
Ohio State (Nov. 24): The reincarnation of the
Bo-Woody dynamic, Hoke and Meyer will com-
pete in 'The Game' for the first time at the Shoe.

STAFF PICKS
The Daily football writers pick
against the spread to predict
scores for the top-25 and Big
Ten in the 2012 football season.
No 23 Michigan (-95)vs. MichiganState
No.1 Alabarna (-20) at Tennessee
No. 2 Oregon(-8) at Arizona State
No.3 Florida(-3.5) vs.No.9South Caroina
No 4 K-State aNo .17 W. Virginia (-3)
No. 5 Notre Dame (-13.5) vs. BYU
No6LSU(-3.5)atNo.20TexasA&M"
No.7Ohio State(-18.5)vs. Purdue
No 8 Oregon State10)evs.Utah
No.10 Oklahoma(-35)vs. Kansas
No.T1 USC (-40.5) vsColorado
No.12 Forida Sta(-2)atMiami
Noe. 13 Georgia (-27.5) at Kentuaky
No. 14 Clems(-a) s . Virginia Tech
No. 15 Mis. State -00evs. Mid. Ten. State
No6 isvile-6.5)v..South Florida
N.'t5 Texas Techi-t5)vs. caU
No. 19 Rutg s(-5) at Terple
No 21Cicinniaati (-6.51 at Tledo
No. 22 Staford (-2.5) at Califoria
No. 24 Boise Stt -28)vs.5UNiLV
Neraska(-6.5)atNrthe strn
Wisconsin (-17) vs. Minnesota
Ioa (-3s av. Penn Slate
I rdiaaat Nav(-25)
Overaii

Ben
Estes

Mihigan State
Tennessee
Oregon
South Carolina
West Virginia
BYU
LSU
Ohio State
Oregon State
Oklahoma
USc
Georgia
Mississippi State
Louisvlle
TcU
alra
9e-as
cisonsin
Intdianaa

Zach
Helfand
Michigan
Tennessee
Oregon
Florida
Kansas State
Notre Darne
LSU
Ohio State
Oregon State
Oklahoma
Colorado
Msispp tate
Loui silie
Rutges
l iciaati
Northw eter
Indiaa

StephenJ.
Nesbitt
Michigan
Alabama
Oregon
Florida
Kansas State
Notre Dame
LSU
Ohio State
Oregon State
Oklahoma
Colorado.
iaii
Kentucky
Caleson
Miesipitate
Louis il
Ruters
BoiseeSta
ibraska
97-73-5

Luke
Pasch
Michigan State
Tennessee
Oregon
Florida
West Virginia
Notre Dame
LSU
Ohio Statei
Oregon State
Oklahoma
usc
Flotida State
eoreia
Cemson
Mississippi State
Loiville
TexasTech
Rutgr
ert a
Cincinnati
Staniard
Boise State
wNebrasia
Wisconsin
India74
100T-70-

Joseph
Lichterman
Editor in Chief
Michigan State
Alabama
Oregon
South caroina
West Virginia
Notre Dame
LSU
Ohio State
Oregon State
Kansas
USC
Florida State
Georgtaa
Mississippi State
Louivaie
Teape
Ciniati
Buise State
Nebraska
wsa
Navy

said. "But in many ways, the
exception proves the rule. The
students stood up. The faculty
stood up. Many of the alums, pow-
erful alums, the clergy, almost
everyone but Alexander Ruthven,
the president, stood up.
"If you see the University of
Michigan as a family, 95 percent
of the family got it and responded
accordingly. I think it made Mich-
igan a better place afterwards. But
you cannot take these values for
granted - you'll have to fight for
them, you'll have to stand up for
them and you'll have to pay aprice
for them."
It was April 13, 1934: Michigan
vs. California.
Bing Crosby was betting against
Willis Ward.
Rumbling up the West Coast
by train from Los Angeles to
Berkeley, Calif., two of Ward's
teammates - Dave Hunn and
Bill Kositchek - met Crosby and
struck up a conversation. Before
walking away, there was a bet on
the table.
For $10, who would win the
100-yard dash later that day
between Ward and California's
George Anderson? Crosby took
Anderson, the Michigan track-
sters took Ward.
Anderson edged Ward by a
hair at the finish line, and Hunn
and Kositchek paid up their half
of the bargain by taking out an
ad in the corner of the Daily later
that week congratulating the
crooner.
Ward didn't lose often. For all
Ward's prowess on the gridiron, it
was nothing compared to his skill
on the track. He was referred to
again and again as "the one-man
track team."
During the spring of his senior
year, the track and field commu-
nity was building to a fever pitch
in preparation for the 1936 Berlin
Olympics. Ward, who regularly
participated in the dash, high
hurdles, low hurdles, high jump
and shot put for Michigan, was
eyeing a berth for Team USA in
the decathlon.
Anderson wasn't Ward's only
competition. The main billing
that spring pitted Ward against
Ohio State's Jesse Owens. The
duo traded blows in the 100-yard
dash and the 220-yard low hur-
dles, passing new world records
between them each time they
met.
In the final meet of the year,
the Big Ten Championship at

Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Ward
and Michigan took the confer-
ence crown, but Owens shattered
three world records.
Owens punched his ticket to
the Olympics. But Ward, ham-
pered slightly by injuries, decid-
ed to give up his dream of an
Olympic berth.
The simple explanation? He
didn't want to get shut out by
Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Berlin
Olympics like he did by Georgia
Tech - and his own school - at
Michigan Stadium.
"He would have without ques-
tion been an Olympian in 1936
had he not been so turned off
about what he'd gone through
in 1934 that he couldn't stomach
any more," Bacon said.
Owens won four gold medals
in Berlin, but his return home
was a crude juxtaposition.
He arrived to a ticker-tape
parade down Fifth Avenue in
New York. That night, Bacon and
Kruger both explained, there was
a reception held in Owens' honor
at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. But
Owens, the honored guest, was
forced to take the freight elevator
up to the reception.
Ward, meanwhile, took a job
at Ford's River Rouge' plant.
According to Kruger, once Ward
rose to become the highest-rank-
ing African-American executive
officer in the country, he turned
back and hired Jesse Owens to
join him at Ford.
The story of Willis Ward is as
old as the cracked, worn leather
ball that sits in Susan Marino's
kitchen in southern California. It's
the game ball from the Michigan-
Georgia Tech game 78 years ago
Saturday. given to Marino by her
father, John Regezci, Michigan's
fullback that day.
There aredsignatures etched
into the leather, butthey're impos-
sible to make out. rnger and
Dooley have scoured Marino's
images, but every indication is
that Ward didn't sign it.
Ward and Ford went on to
leadsomewhat parallel careers,
both graduated from law school,
served in the armed forces and
entered politics. When Ford was
campaigning for Congress in 1956,
he drove from Grand Rapids to
Detroit to help Ward campaign for
a seat as probate judge in Wayne
County.
They both got the jobs.
When Ford took assumed the
presidency in 1974, he remem-

bered his friend Ward, inviting
him to Washington D.C. for a visit.
And the seed planted at Michi-
gan spread nationwide. In 1976,
he pushed to create Black History
Month, which is now celebrated
every February.
"You can say (Ford's) first true
stand as a man in the public eye
was in 1934 and Georgia Tech,"
Bacon said. "His life of public ser-
vice honored that the rest of his
life. And if you're a Michigan alum
or Michigan student, that's a guy
you can say is a Michigan Man."
Ward, to his credit, though he
never ran at the Olympics, was a
pioneer every step of the way.
"You might argue that his life
after Michigan was at least as
impressive as his life at Michi-
gan, which is in his case a hell of a
statement," Bacon said.
It just took some time for
Ward's legacy to come to the fore.
Melanie Ward was caught com-
pletely by surprise. She knew that
her great-uncle - her grandfa-
ther's brother - played football at
Michigan and befriended Gerald
Ford but that was all she knew.
It wasn't until Kruger reached
out to Melanie, now an LSA senior,
while Kruger and Moorehouse
were creating the Ward documen-
tary that she finally understood
the significance of Ward's legacy
at Michigan.
Kruger didn't even hear Ward's
story until then-President George
W. Bush mentioned Ford and
Ward's relationship and the Geor-
gia Tech game during a nationally
televised eulogy at Ford's funeral
in 2006.
Somewhere along the line,
Ward's story got lost in the mix.
But thanks to Genna Urbain, an
8-year-old 3rd-grader from How-
ell, Mich., the state legislature
passed a resolution to make Satur-
day, Oct. 20, 2012 - the 78th anni-
versary of the Michigan-Georgia
Tech game - Willis Ward Day
across the state. Urbain watched
the documentary and then came
to petition the Board of Regents to
get his achievements recognized
by the University..
The Michigan football team
included the Ford-Wardconnec-
tion in a tribute video last week-
end when Ford's No. 48 jersey
was put back into circulation,
and the program plans to "have
an acknowledgement" of Willis
Ward Day on Saturday, according
to Athletic Department spokes-
man Dave Ablauf.
It's Oct. 20, 2012: Michigan vs.
Michigan State.
Finally, Ward will have his day.

"FINALLY,
WARD WILL
HAVE
HISDAY"

_. . i

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