HAIL THE VICTORS: Michigan Mauled Bears for 1951 Rose Bowl Crown By TED PAPES Daily Sports Editor ** * * Michigan begins its 1951 gridiron operations from the pinnacle of college football. Last year's Wolverine miracle eleven scaled the heights and stormed into the Rose Bowl winner's circle in the 62nd renewal of theK Pasadena Classic on New Years Day. * * * * TRIUMPH CAME at the expense of California, Champion of the- Pacific Coast Conference and losers of the last three Bowl tilts. Coach Lynn Waldorf's Golden Bears could not withstand a magnificient second-half rally which won the game for Michigan, 14 to 6. Virtually every football writer on the Coast had the Bears tabbed as heavy favorites over the Western Conference titlists who had lost two contests and tied a third during regular season play. Meanwhile, only a tie had marred the California record.Y Bennie Oosterbaan guided his players into the battle as under- dogs, watched them start badly and sustain a 6-0 deficit in the sec- ond quarter, then rode into the dressing room on their shoulders in a wild victory demonstration after their great revival. ** * * A COLORFUL throng of 98,939 watched the struggle under sunny skies. All but four sections of the huge stadium were highly partisan to the Bears but they were completely eclipsed by the roar of Wol- verine fans iri the dramatic final period. Fullback Don Dufek and tailback Chuck Ortmann embla- zoned their names onto the pages of gridiron history with their performances for Michigan. Dufek carried his team's ground offense almost single-handedly, to score both touchdowns. He averaged five yards in 23 running t attempts, and later earned the 'Most Valuable' rating from his grate- ful mates. {In the air lanes Ortmann put the Wolverines in the unbeatable class with 15 pass completions in 19 tries good for 146 big yards. He also ran from scrimmage five ,imes, did the punting and played on defense in the safety position, * * * * IN THE OPENING period California's power-laden backfield unit On the next play Jim Marinos arched a long pass into the coffin corner where Bob Cummings grabbed it on the two after eluding Dufek. Cummings rolled into the end zone with six points but Les Richter's try for the extra point was wide. * * * * MINUTES LATER the Bears were back knocking at the door with a first down on the Wolverine 11, but the defense was equal to the occasion and held fast on the three. As the Michigan players left the field at halftime they felt for- tunate to be trailing only 6-0. They charged back onto the field after a brilliant exhibi- tion by the bands during intermission to take complete command of the situation offensively. Spearheaded by Ortmann and Dufek, and piloted by their crafty quarterback, Bill Putich, they smashed up and down the field almost at will, but they were unable to cover the distance until five minutes had elapsed in the historic fourth quarter. * * * * MICHIGAN TOOK over on its own 20 and marched 80 yards to glory in 15 plays. The passing of Ortmann was the vital element but with a first down on the enemy four yard line, Putich turned the situation over to Dufek who rammed into the Bear line four consecu- tive times between the tackles to score. With the count deadlocked at 6-6, reliable Harry Allis sent the Michigan partisans into a frenzy with a perfect conversion from placement to give his team all the margin it needed to win. The Bears fell apart completely after that and just -before the final gun, Dufek swept outside right tackle on third down to score from seven yards out. Allis again converted to insure triumph. Thus Michigan completed a five game Rose Bowl sweep by the Big Ten, started by Illinois in 1947, given momentum by the Wolver- ines who whipped Southern California, 49-0, a year later, and sus- tained by Northwestern and Ohio State in 1949 and 1950. A team from the Ann Arbor school has yet to be defeated by a West Coast football combination. Besides the two Bowl games just mentioned, the Wolverines routed Stanford in the first Tournament of Roses back in 1901, and California, 41-0, in a regular season game in 1940. DOWN BUT NOT OUT-As with fullback Don Dufek in this shot of last winter's Rose Bowl game, the Michigan football team was down often during the 1950 season but finished strong to win the conference crown and beat California in the Pasadena classic, 14-6. Other Michigan players in picture: Leo Koceski (18); Ralph Stribe (75); Harry Allis (88); Tom Johnson (76). i tore huge holes in the Michigan defense. On the second play of the game Jim Monachino skirted his left end and raced 73 yards to what looked like a touchdown, but a Bear backfield man was in motion illegally and the dash was nullified. . Even though California had the offensive edge throughout the first quarter, it could not sustain a scoring drive until a sec- ond period interception of an Ortmann pass by Ray Solari gave the Bears a first down on the Michigan 39 yard lines. EXTRA Y A6F an Daitr EXTRA MRSOMMIN SPORTS SUPPLEMENT ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, THURSDAY, SEPT. 20, 1951 SPORTS SUPPLEMENT Spirit Put 1950 Team At Top of Conference Problems Cloud Grid Prospects for 1951 4> r., * By JIM PARKER Associate Sports Editor The city of Ann Arbor has known some mighty great football teams in its day, but it will be a long time before it will see a team that will match the fighting spirit of last year's edition of the Maize and Blue. The 1950 squad was not the un- defeated, All-American-laden var- iety of the immortal Fielding Yost's unmatched reign at Michi- gan, but names like Chack Ort- mann, Don Dufek, Al Wahl, Tony Momsen and Al Jackson wrote in- to the record books one of the most r spectacular finishes to a Wolver- ine gridiron campaign in over 60 years of football. AN UNYIELDING WILL to win sent this Maize and Blue eleven on a hard up-hill fight from a near- disastrous .season start to the driving finish that won Mich- igan's fourth straight Big Ten title and gave the Maize and Blue the go ahead to its third appearance in the annual Rose Bowl classic. The record book gives the cold facts of this rags to riches suc- cess story. After two-thirds of the 1950 season had come to pass, the Wol- verines had won but two of six contests: LOSSES TO UP-STATE rival Michigan State, Army, and Illi- nois, and a tie with Minnesota far y outweighed victories over Dart- mouth and Wisconsin, and Michi- gan appeared destined for its worst football season in recent years. But games number seven and eight-with Indiana and North- western - put the Wolverines back on the victory trail with two consecutive victories for the first time in the season and set the stage for the season finale with traditional arch-rival Ohio State, which was favored to win its first game from the Wolverines Y since 1944. But by game time on the mem- orable Thanksgiving week-end, the football stadia around the Mid- dlewest were engulfed in raging snow storms, and Michigan spirits, which had looked forward to a climatic upset, were as low as the weather was bad. FOR JUST THREE short weeks before, on a snow-covered gridiron in Ann Arbor, Illinois had seem- ingly ended Michigan's faint hopes for annexing its fourth straight Western Conference crown and a Rose Bowl bid by edging the Wol- verines, 7-0. Rut this time things fared a eyes, 9-3, in the gruelling "Battle of the Blizzard." It was a wild scramble in which the Wolverines failed to record one first down or to complete a single forward pass-all the scoring, including Ohio's three points, came as a result of kick- ing. And in that department, Ort- mann, the blond passing star from Milwaukee, was superb. In a spec- tacular punting duel, he outlasted OSU's All-American Vic Janowicz as the two unleashed 45 punts for a Conference record. S. -, BUT A RUGGED Michigan line blocked Janowicz' kicks on two different occasions for the Wol- verines' margin of victory. After the Ohio star had given the Bucli- eyes a 3-0 lead on a 40-yard field goal, Michigan's All-American cap- tain Al Wahl blocked a Janowicz punt in the end zone for a safety and two points. Then with only 20 seconds left in the first half, linebacker Tony Momsen crashed through to blocksanother Janowicz effort and fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. HarryrAllis converted and that was it: Michigan 9, Ohio State 3. The Wolverines were on their way to another Rose Bowl game. TIMES CERTAINLY had chang- ed, for it seemed only too short a time before that the Wolverines were filing dejectedly back into the dressing room under niammouth Michigan Stadium after having lost their 1950 season opener to Michigan State, 14-7. Just nine short weeks before the Spartans had come to Ann Arbor to hand the Wolverines their first beating at the hands of an MSC eleven in thirteen years The upstaters finally had what they wanted, including Michigan's steel goal posts. But the next week-end the Wol- verines got back in the win column with a smashing 27-7 victory over visiting Dartmouth. Playing with- out the services of Ortmann, who had been injured in the first quar- ter of the Michigan State game, Michigan overcame an early Dart- mouth 7-0 lead on the passing of quarterback Bill Putich for two touchdowns, and halfback Don Peterson for another. * * * WINGBACK Leo Koceski took care of the other six points on a reverse. But the big star of the game for the Wolverines was soph- omore end Lowell Perry, who inter- cepted three passes and caught one from Pu1tich for a t d. BILL PUTICH I; The captain throws . . ' The Past .. ROSE BOWL Mich. Cal.; YARDAGE, RUSHING..145 175 YARDS, PASSING.....2146 69 NET YARDAGE ....... 291 2441 YARDAGE, PENALTIES. 20 50 FIRST DOWNS.........15 12 PUNTS.... . ............ 2 4 PUNTING OVERAGE. . .32.5 35.75 FUMBIES LOST. ...... 2 2 REGULAR SEASON FIRST DOWNS............. 103 YARDS, RUSHING........,1542' YARDS, PASSING .......... 1100 PASSES ATTEMPTED...... 157 PASSES COMPLETED...... 64 PASSES INTERCEPTED.... 19 PUNTS...............,..,.. 80 PUNTING AVERAGE.......35.9 FUMBLES LOST........... 171 YARDS PENALIZED.......304 * * * time as a result of Dufek blast through the Cadet line, climaxing a 66-yard drive. BUT TOWARD the end of the third quarter, Army's reserve pow- er and two backs named Al-Pol- lard and Pollock-began to turn the tide and the Wolverines saw three touchdowns rolled up against them in less than five minutes to make the final score, Army 27, Michigan 6. Wisconsin rolled into Ann Ar- bor next week-end to make it a happy homecoming for the Wol- verines as they turned back the BACK FOR MORE-Untiring Bennie Oosterbaan, shown here with the symbol of Michigan prowess, the courageous wolverine, returns for his fourth season as head football coach. Oosterbaan has compiled an enviable record at the helm of Wolverine teams, winning or tying for the conference championship in all three of his previous seasons. EXERIENCE, YOUTH: Makes 'M' Grid Power LOWELL PERRY . and he catches By GEORGE FLINTk Associate Sports Editor Bennie Oosterbaan is fingering an lnaginary rabbit's foot these days. Oosterbaan, who has produced three conference championships ink three seasons as head football coach at Michigan, hopes his bet-f ter-than average luck holds out int 1951. u . * *[ THE REASON is one of the roughest schedules in recent years for a Wolverine teaf which seems to thrive on tough sledding. Not that last year's was easy-with Army's Cadets playing the old role of team-wrecker, the 1950 card gave Captain Al Wahl and his mates enough thrills and chills to finance an amusement park. But continuous pitch of com- petition, plus a probable lift in1 the relative strength of Big Ten opponents, will keep this year's Bill Putich-led squad constantly on its toes. Putich, the junior quarterback who field-generaled Michigan into, a Rose Bowl championship, is the only first-string backfield man back from last year's.quarter. * OOSTERBAAN, although he has capable reserves to call upon, must base his attack on Putich's experience and ability to play both quarter and tailback in a big- league manner. In last spring's sessions, Pu- tier got an extensive workout at the left halfback spot, while Don Zan Fagna handled the blocking back assignments in the Michigan single-wing. From there on the problems start. No. 1 on the list: fullback. The capable Don Peterson, who has filled in at just about every posi- tion 'except canterfield, may be Oosterbaan's choice. His brother Tom was a mainstay on the 1948 team which won nine out of nine for Bennie in his first season as head coach. A SOPHOMORE, Dick Balzhiser of Wheaton, Illinois, looked very good last spring, as did Russ Res- corla, a reserve back from Grand Haven, Michigan. But none of the trio figures to come up to the standard set by the fabulous Don Dufek last season, and it should take a couple of games to get the Michigan buck-lateral sehuence of plays, in which the fullback plays an important ball-handling part, to function smoothly. At right half, the situation isn'-t bad at all. Although the be fairly strong. Ted Kress, ineli- gible last season, appeared to be a good enough passer in spring drills, but lacks the finese of Charley Ortmann in getting tbh ball away at- the right moment. He may develop, however, and is fast enough on his feet to Idle the running assignments. terry Nulf, Norm Canty (a sophomore), and Peterson will be around to give the position depth. The line, big question mark at the start of the 1950 season, bids well to be Oosterbaan's main asset this fall. Although the center position is weak, there's depth offensively and de- fensively at guard, tackle, and end. Best bet for the ball-snapping position may be Emil Morlock, a junior, who was sidelined by in- ,juries last fall. He'll have to show up well in the early practices, however, to keep Wayne Melchiori, who has looked very good on de- fense, and John Kuklinski, of East Chicago, Ind., from grabbing the job. AT GUARD, four lettermen re- turn and there seems to be no doubt that they'll come through well. Pete Kinyon, Jim Wolter, Tom Kelsey, and Bob Timm are al big enough and fast enough to give Michigan opponents trouble up the middle. In addition, Don Dugger, Dick Beison, Bob Meader, and Doh Rahrig are good reserve material. Tom Johnson, one of the best all-around lineman in the con- ference, is the big man remong the tackles. At 220 pounds, Johnson is fast, smart, and well- drilled on fundamentals. He might well be a candidate for All-American honors this fall. His probable running mate will be Dick Strozewski, a, junior, who developed amazingly dur- ing the course of the 1950 sea- son. On defense, Roger Zatkoff and Ted Topor stand out as two of the better line-backers in the Big Ten, and have plenty of varsity experi- ence. End is another strong position for the Maize and Blue, with poe- try-in-motion Lowell Perry back to do more pass-catching, and the tall Fred Pickard available as the second half of the one-two punch. The most improved played last spring, Meyer Morton award-win- ner Merritt Green, is another great prospect, and Les Popp could develop into a good defen- By PANDRO S. BERMAN Michigan football teams are made, not born. A large and expert coaching staff is to a great extent respon- sible for the excellent showings Wolverine teams make year after year. Nine men in varying capa- cities are on the athletic depart- ment payroll for the purpose of giving the Maize and Blue grid- ders the best teaching possible in the intricacies of the most popu- lar of college sports. HEADING THE Michigan staff, is Bennie Oosterbaan, all-time All-American at Michigan in the 1 twentiesand one of the finestI ends ever to wear a football uni- form. Oosterbaan took over froml present athletic director H. O. (Fritz) Crisler in 1948. Oosterbaan did rather well in his freshman season. All he produced was an undefeated ball club which was acclaimed Blott is known as an excellent teacher of the game's funda- mentals, and the defensive lines he has put together have been among the best in the country. Blott has coached under four Michigan head mentors-Yost, Kipke, Crisler, and Oosterbaan. Wally Weber, one of the more expressive gentlemen on the Mi- chigan campus, handles freshman gridders, and has been with the Michigan staff since 1931. Weber is well-known for his banquet oratory, and his choice of words is as erudite, perhaps more so, than that of Yale's Herman Hick- man.Y BILL ORWIG is the end coach for the Wolverines. The vauntedI Maize and Blue passing attack owes much to the ability this lik- able Michigan graduate has with the wingmen. Orwig was a member of the same basketball team on whichI :,. The Future 1950 SEASON RESULTS Michigan 7, Michigan State 14 Michigan 27, Dartmouth 7 Michigan 6, Army 27 Michigan 26, Wisconsin 13 Michigan 7, Minnesota 7 Michigan 20, Indiana 7 Michigan 34, Northwestern 23 Michigan 9, Ohio State 3 Rose Bolvl-Michigan 14, Cal- ifornia 6 1951 SCHEDULE Sept. 29-Michigan State, here Oct. 6-Stanford, here Oct. 13-Inliana, here Oct. 20-Iowa, there Oct. 27-Minnesota, here Nov. 3-Illinois, there Nov. 10-Cornell, there Nov. 17-Northwestern, here Nov. 24-Ohio State, here Bowls Aplenty * * * Michigan's 1951 Rose Bowl team