THE MICHIGAN DAILY TH*USAY, JA On Target ... A-A Polls Bypass'M' Specialists ,, By BUD WEIDENTHALr Michigan's specialists found the going rough when it came to the All-American selections for the 1947 football season. Not yet aware that the age of "iron man football" had passed, many of the nation's leading sel- ectors persisted in naming first teams of all-around performers instead of asquad of specialists. Able to withstand the effects of the Crisler two team system, however was spectacular Wol- verine Bob Chappuis who had received a tremendous amount of publicity during the course of the season. Although Bob performed only on offense, his fine aerial artistry and elusive running gained him enough support to be selected on the first team of every major All- American squad. The big surprise of the year was the naming of Chalmers (Bump) Elliot to the number one halfback spot along with Chappuis on the football coaches All - American which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Many experts had felt that El- liot was grossly underrated and that his-great defensive play plus his brilliant running and pass re- ceiving certainly rated him an All-American spot. Elliot was one of two Wol- Michigan's 1947 All-Americans BOB CHAPPUIS-FIRST TEAM, Grantland Rice, Associated Press, Look, Saturday Evening Post, United Press, Frank Leahy. BUMP ELLIOTT-FIRST TEAM, Saturday Evening Post, SECOND TEAM, Look, Associated Press. BOB MANN-SECOND TEAM, Associated Press, THIRD TEAM, Look, Sturday Evening Post. LEN FORD-THIRD TEAM, Associated Press. BRUCE HILKENE-Frank Leahy. J. T. WHITE-SECOND TEAM, Look. DAN DWORSKY-THIRD TEAM, Saturday Evening Post. Wee, 'he dean of American p'rtswri ,,rs said in naming 'happuis to a backfield posi- ti?,'Ciippuis made th, grade brc-ause he hadl more experience tha:n (Pak) Walker and great- er versatitity than (Bobb"} Layne." In s, 1 ting Elliot to the coach team, Tad Wiman who head. :he group said, "Teamed as he vwas with Bob Chappuis . . . El- - perniimEd so well in his own 1 ,ht that he. like Chappuis, qual- iled a: an All-American." Bruce Hilkene, Michigan's cap- tain and offensive tackle was nr t r !. T~nnk TPa vq firs f- verines to play on both offense and defense. Victim of the antiquated selec- tion system was the Wolverine's great pass catching end, Bob Mann. Bob was termed by Coach Fritz Crisler as "the greatest pass receiver he has ever coached." Mann placed on the second team of the Associated Press and the Football Writers Association, and the third team of the coaches All-American. The Associated Press selec- tions accorded the Wolverines the unusual distinction of nam- ing 13 members of the team to All-America honors. Chappuis was named on the first team, Mann and Elliot on the second and Len Ford, another special- ist, to the third. Eight Wolverines were named to honorable mention: anumir, - axv a - a3 A- V -LJt\ 111C21:ean y sJr () far exceeding any other team ia fensive tem. Leahy was unique the country. in that instead of selecting three Michigan was unusually strong teams he named an entire squad at center this season having two :f 33 men. All-Americans at that position. Jim Brieske, the Wolverines' Dan Dworsky, rugged line- g' eat place-kicker, was men- backer, was recognized for his tioxied on Leahy s All-American great defensive play by the squad. Football Coaches As oiation Michigan s opponents at the who placed him on thlir third Pos" Bowl, southern California, team. can boast of at least two All- Outstanding at offensive ccner j Anericavis. Paul Cleary, widely was J.T. White who was named to !cclaimed Trojan end was placed the football writers second team.j on the first team of nine of the Of the entire group of Michigand thirteen major All-American ele- gridders only Bob Chappuis was vens. Cleary was recognized for officially named by the Univer- his fine all-around play. sity as an All-American for 1947, In placing on six first teams, since it ony recognizes the selec- tackle John Ferrero qualified as tions of Grantland Rice in Col- a mother Southern California All- Tiers Magazine. American. TROJANS BEWARE!--Pictured here and in the opposite corner is-the deadly Michigan pass aerial combo which ranks with Missi- ssiPpi's Charley Conerly and Barney Poole as the top duet in the country. The gent above is one Mr. Robert Chappuis who is throwing to . . . FOUR HORSEMEN: Complete Michigan Backfield Given All-Conference Berths Michigan Boasts 30, All-American Gridders Over Span of Fifty Years A' , t 5 p ,P One has to go back to the days when Grantland Rice and other sportswriters were singing the praises of the "four horsemen" of Notre Dame to find a backfield tombination that is as smoothly blended -into a point producing machine as is this year's Wolver- ine backfield group of Chappuis, Elllott; Yerges and Weisenburger. Almost without exception, the great teams of the past few years have relied on individual per- formers to make up the differ- ence between a national cham- pionship and an average season'. No Individual Stars- SThe Cadets of West Point dur- ing the Academy's domination of the nation's grid scene centered their power around the plunging of Doc Blanchard and long runs of Glenn Davis. Ohio State se- cured the national title on the work of Les Horvath and Ollie Cline. The fighting Irish of Notre Dame have come up with two out- standing quarterbacks in Johnny Lujack and Angello Bertelli to produce their last two top teams. Coach "Fritz" Crisler, on the other hand, can justly claim that it would be very hard to single out one player in the Wolverine's 1948 backfield as the star of the squad. All Named to All-Big Nine In support of this, you have only to look at the results of this year's All-Big Nine squads. While Bob Chappuis was awarded recognition on all but one of the dream team listings, "Bump" Elliott, Howard Yerges, and Jack Weisenburger followed closely in attention re- ceived from the selectors. On two of the press service all Western Conference squads three of the four Michigan aces were nominated. On various Big Nine all-opponent teams the Wolverine{ backs were again the top choices. One of Biggest Point Totals Operating behind two different lines, one used on offense and the other on defense, Chappuis, Elliott and Weisenburger combined with the signal calling of Howard Yer- ges to run up one of the highest season point totals in Michigan football history and at the same time keep the offensive results of the Wolverine opposition to 53 points in nine games. Bob Chap- puis once again paced the Big Nine offensive leaders and "Bump" Elliott was not too far behind. Howard Yerges was outstanding as the field general behind this year's conference champions. He was capable of leading a sustained drive from deep within Wolverine territory, while Jack Weisenburg- er's line plunging ability was ef- fectively utilized in securing those all important first downs that enabled the Michigan drive to continue when it appeared almost certain to bog down. Compare with Horsemen All three backs were high in Western Conference yardage gain- ed statistics and combined with Yerges' ability to pick the right play at the right time, they proved to their conference foes and fol- lowers what perfect teamwork can do in modern football. The comparison of Chappuis, Elliott, Weisenburger and Yerges, to the four horsemen is a good one, for like their predecessors, these four Wolverine players rely on speed, variety, deception and competitive ability to enable them to outclass their bigger opponents. They are capable of scoring on either passes or ground plays. When Bob Chappuis was chosen by Grantland Rice the only selec- tor recognized by Michigan in his selection of the 1947 All-Ameri- cans, he became the thirtieth Wolverine to be honored in the fifty years that Wolverines have been considered for this honor. Back in 1898 when Casper Whitney of "Harper's Weekly" was selecting the mythical teams it came to this Dean of Sports- writers that the "West was no longer the insignificant pupil of Eastern football," and Whitney obliged by choosing Michigan's great center of that year, Cun- ningham, on his All-American eleven. Then in 1903, with the begin- ning of Walter Camp's reign as King of the All-Amt ic'-, Michigan began a domination of Midwestern selection that has never been equalled. Willie Heston, great halfback of Fielding Yost's "point-a-minute" teams was Camp's nominee that year, and Heston further insured his fame by being chosen on the 1904 squad, as well. Next came Adolph "German" Schultz, who was heralded as the greatest center Michigan has ever produced. Schultz was chosen to the 1907 team, thus becoming Michigan's third all-American. He was followed by the huge guard Albert Benbrook, who stood 6'6" and who was selected on both the 1909 and the 1910 teams. Another man on that 1910 team was Stanfield Wells, who played end in the same line with Ben- brook. Wells became the first Wol- verine flanker to make Camp's All-America. Then in 1913 after a lapse of three years, James Craig be- came the sixth Michigan man to become an All-American and the second halfback to be thus honored. Craig was succeeded by halfback John Maulbetsch, who was named on the 1914 team. Michigan's great 1917 team, which won eight and lost two, placed two more men on the ros- ter of the All-Americans. They were Cedric Smith, a fullback, and OLD '98' . . . One of Michi- gan's most famous All-Amerl- cans, Tom Harmon, shown here strutting the kind of stuff that made him an all time great. Crisder...41 fer from Michigan in 1938. When Fielding H. Yost retired as head of the Department of Physical Ed- ucation, Crisler assumed the ath- letic directorship. Because hs was trained in it, Fritz prefers the single wing at- tack, but does not hesitate to put in T variations. In one game a few years back, he employed the following formations; Stationary T, T-in-motion. T-spinner, T with fullback under center; single wing pure, single wing with man in mo- tion, short punt and deep punt. Crisler's over-all mark as a head coach is impressive-114 games won, 32 lost, nine tied. At Michigan he has won 70, lost 16, tied 3. Ernest Allmendinger, a guard. rison, who played center, and in Then in 1918 Smith relinquislifed 1932, it was the memorable quar- his post to another Michigan man, terback, Harry Newman, who Frank Steketee. brought the honor to Michigan. The Wolverines, after another Newman guided the Wolverines to three year lapse, again took up the an undefeated season and helped role of All-American producer. annex another Big Ten crown. For, in 1921 Ernie Vick began a In 1933, the las undefeated, un- Michigan domination of the ecn- tied season Michigan had before ter slot that was to produce some 1947, the Wolverines added two of the best pivot men in history. more All-Americans to their grow- In 1922 Harry Kipke, later Michi- ing list. Another center, Charles gan gridiron coach, and another Bernard, this time, was the sixth halfback, was named. pivot man to be honored. His run- Jack Blott, present line coach niog mate, tackle Francis Wistert. of the Wolverines and center on also was chosen, and in a succeed- the undefeated and untied Con- ing year the name of Wistert was ference Champions of 1923, was to be continually in the sports the next Maize and lyue per- hadlines. former to be chosen as an All- Fllnwing the 1933 selections American. And in 1924 he was ilchigan's football fared badly followed by the steady guard of and with these lean years the the Wolverines of that year, E. name of Michigan was not in- R. Slaughter. cuded in the All-Americas. But In the succeeding years Michi- in 1938, Michigan began anoth- gan football was dominated by er iog string of All-Americans. one of the greatest passing com- In 1938, it was Ralph Heik- binations ever produced in col- kenen, who starred at the guard lege football. The great Benny to slot, who was chosen. Then in 1939 Bennie combination also added to and 1t40 came the greatest back the list of Michigan men on the ever produced by Michigan and mythical elevens, Bennie Ooster- uammd by some as one of the baan, one cf the few men ever to greatest backs that ever lived. He be chosen on three All-American was, of course, Thomas Harmon teams, was probably the best end who led the Wolverines to two ever produced at Michigan. The highly successfully seasons. Har- present backfield coach of the mon's running mate, "Bullet Bob" Wolverines has honored on the Westfall succeeded the great 1925, 26 and 27 teams, and in 1926 Tommy as Michigan's represnta- he was joined by the other half of tive to the All-American team. But the combination, Benny Fried- even before Westfall, Michigan' man. produced another great player, Friedman, famed passer of the Edward Frutig, who was selected "soft ball" and deadly accurate at end along with Harmon to the quarterback of the Wolverines in 1940 team. the mid-twenties became the first Then in 1942, Michigan again signal caller to be named as he produced two All - Americans led the Maize and Blue to the this time they were both line- Conference title in 1926. men, Julius Franks, whose great Then in 1928, Otto Pommer- career was cut short when he ening became the first tackle to contracted tudebeulosis, and be chosen to an All-American Albert Wistert, brother of team from Michigan. Hence, in Francis, and of Alvin, stellar the short span of seven years, tackle of this year's team. Final- Michigan succeeded in placing ly, in 1943 Michigan once again seven men on the lists of All- produced two All-Americans. Americans. But in the succeed- This time they were William ing years, they were to place Daley, hard plunging fullback thirteen more men on these and Mervin Pregulman, tackle mythical teams. and one of the famous Seven In 1931, it was Maynard Mor- Oak Posts. Ii~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ _______________________________--_____________-_________--_______ Three Michigan gridders op- erating on Jack Blottds forward wall during the course of the re- cent season were honored by the Associated Press "Lineman of the Week" poll. Dan Dworsky and Quentin Sick- els received recognition twice apiece during the campaign while Bob Mann's play was cited for honorable mention on another oc- ca-sion. Dworsky was first iecognized for his play against Minnesota. Although shaken up several times, he recovered to remain in the game and lead the goal line de- fense against the hard charging Minnesota line. Only an honorable mention was awarded Dworsky for this performance largely because it was that week that Columbia's Bill Swiacki was doing pass catch- ing gymnastics to end Army's long football dominance. On the following weekend the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, line- backer placed second on the AP poll with his bruising play against Illinois. This game constituted the high point in Michigan line play for the season, and Dworsky in particular turned back the pound- ing Russ Steger at several cru- cial points during the afternoon, stopping him for a loss with fourth down, one to go on Mich- igan's 11 yardline. MANN SIZED CATCH-Bob Mann, who accounted for 302 of of Michigan's total yards on passes from Chaiuis alone! Mann also doubles as a scintillating reken field runner on the end- around play the Crisler regime set u for him. his best jaut this year on this play was z 51-yard T) sprint against Northwestern. FERRY FIELD BARBERS "THE FRIENDLY SHOP" ON WAY TO SPORTS. BU I L D I NGS 806 SOUTH STATE STREET Wi. A. MILLER, Propj. _ _. . _.. _ _ _ - - _ .. _ _ _ _ /