Pge Eight

THE MiCEhSAebr1,15


NOTEBOOK-...N..TOSeptember 17, 1956
By DONALD A. YATES mournful and despairing. Sooner
F I were a poet I think one day or later a sympathetic fan would
I would allow myself the ex- come by and ask, "Do you want
travagance of writing that Ann n extra ticket?" Those oere mae-
Arbor is the autumn city of the ic wordo!
autumn west. This wouldn't make
* a great deal of sense, of course, AFTER a little experience with
but such is the poet's right, pro- this type of adventure, Jimmy
viding he communicates. and I devised a few more subtle
And that expression should not methods of gaining entry.
fail to communicate a certain de- Between us we'd discover some
gree of meaning to all who know distant relative or family acquaint-
Arbor well. She is a very ance who worked Saturday after-
unique town, with unique charms noon as a ticket-taker at the
and unique temperament. I say names. Around kickoff time we'd.
"she" because I have come to dis- edge up to him in the hurrying
cover that these chararteristics lie crowd and whisper confidentially
deep in the soul of a graceful and 'he name of the significant par
feminine town. I should know if sonal link. We were then slipped
anyone knows because I've car- through unnoticed into the game,
ried on a love atair with her for But the neatest trick in our
eighteen years. repertoire was the one, of course,
For a small boy Ann Arbor was which was the most daring. It was
the oxensized bill, and six clan! simpl: we walked up to the gate,
Saturday movie matinee of child- rned round quickly and ak-
hood. She was the sort of town ed in backwards; as we cans
a'that because of her river and her abreast of the pair of grasping 4
parks and her trees and her people ticket-takers we restrained them
>s awas kind to children without seem- for that single critical moment
ing to try. with: "I'm coming out !'; then, a
step beyong their reach, we wheel-
But she was - and is - many ed about and dashed off into the
other things; and has many oth- protective crowd. However, this
er moods, too - as is fitting and was a strategy never to be em-
PLAYER TOM HARMON, A GRIDIRON HERO proper to a woman. One thing ployed at the same gate twice!
odd and disconnected, but a genuine note of familiarity about Ann Arbor - she is the
most dedicated football enthusiast IMPRESSIONS of those early
I know. I can remember the heady 1 R
exhilaration of the football season games are not very distinct in
iin Ann Arbor even back into my my memory, and only a few per-
grade school years. I know my sistent images have stuck in my
mind as recollections of the Mich-
memory does not deceive me here, an home football tames of the
for it is still just the same day, late thirties and early forties.
This above all else - with her The fabulous figure of that per-
heart having been wooed and won iod in Michigan football history
by the college boy - Ann Arbor was the three-time All American
is a football town. The effect is as Tom Harmon. I remember one
if her vital breath were suspend- fall day when, as sixth grade con-
ed from the end of one season to tributors to the Mack School Sta,
the beginning of the next. Those a fellow classmate and I rode from
who know Ann Arbor will best school up to the campus in a
know what I mean, a taxi to interview the great grid-
iron hero.
NSIX or seven Saturdays each Armed with pencil, notepad, and
' year the Main Street and State ppointment, we assailed his door
-.Street merchants put out the big on Cambridge St. (the hallowed
maize and blue banners in front shrine still stands!. We 'ere
of their shops, introducing early there greeted by a charmIng young
-vin the day the exciting, festive lady who seemed to be his sec-
spirit of a local holiday. retary.
And on these days the thousands The All-American himself was
of fans from out of town pour garbed in robe and slhppers in the
into Ann Arbor for the game, fill- act of opening the day's batch of
in the cash drawers of the mer- fan mail. The interview which
chants. The fans park their cars followed was business-like in na-
as directed by soliciting eight- and tune and yet, somehow, it achieved
ten-year olds who stand at the what I felt was a genuine note of
curbs and cry the crystallized familiarity. It seemed only short
"Park here! Park here!" And they minutes later that we found our-
. tfall into the long lines of game go- selves outside, on our way home,
so' ers which move down State Street with that tremendous adventure
NICHOL S ARBORETUM, IDEAL FOR A PICNIC and Main Street, plied by the pe- behind us!
formally dedicated to the pursuit of botanical studies rennial vendors hawking pennants,
pins, chrysanthemums, balloons, QF the Harmon of the playing
toy monkeys, dolls, and gen-yoo- field, it is strange, I have only
ine miniature orchids. one impression, just an odd, dis-
I remember that the beginning connected fragment. I was sitting
of my own contact with Michi- in the north end zone of the stad- /
7!gan football took place in the sium on a cold, darkening day -
" " fall of 1936 when I was pretty far the opposition had just scored -
down in the ranks at grade school. and Michigan formed to receive
Jimmy Duart and I hit on the the kickoff,
idea of spending our Saturdays at I watched a lone, brave figure
~~~- the big University football games. back slowly toward the end zone,
Since we lacked the ready cash his sleeves rolled up to his el-
to pay for tickets we were ini- bows, the large maize numerals on
tially stumped. But the stadium the back of his jersey standing out
fence hasn't been built which can valiantly against the gathering
withstand the full charge of a darkness - 98. I remember noth-
aboy's imagination. So thereafter, ing more .
z without paying a cent, we got in. Harmon is enough exposure to
ak We climbed the fences - we convert- anyone into what I have
surmounted the barbed wire, tore become-a Michigan fan who will
.' y' , " our pants, but we got in: We dug not quit.

v ro ~holes under the fence in th hl
early morning dawn of the day of IN the summer, Ann Arbor tra-
he game - these openings were ditionally goes into the hands of
good only for one admittance, the townspeople who are usually
a though, since they always closed absent then or too busy to make
them up on us before the next much special use of it. Conse-
weekend. quently, they leave it virtually un-
a 'We'd climb atop a ticket box touched and in excellent shape for
and lie there for an hour before the following September.
the game, until the crowd inside For the balance of the year Ann
had reached its peak - then we'd Arbor is possessed by the Uni-
leap off the back side of the build- versity. Early in September the
ing tall of a ten foot drop that first students start to slip back
still looks frightening to me to- into town to arrange their lives
day) and race into the mob. for the coming school year, and
UNIVERSITY BLUE PANEL TRUCK Or we'd stand outside one of they take over with immediate au-
a crime of unawareness and a loss of talent the busiest gates and look terribly thority.