100" Apo _ 01, H: . ,. ltaY .....S4f_.:?._#' .. ,t 2¢ : :cctb _. ,",..w .. ..,. . Ryan White White On Target 6oda~ster LUfr was, oa /z oWe urteen years ago-tomorrow, an era in Michigan football history ended - and it had nothing to do with the team on the field., On Oct. 17, 1981, legendary radio voice Bob Ufer broadcast his final Michigan football game. .Nine days after that Michigan St'di im contest between the Wolver- iuiedand Iowa, Ufer lost his three- yef' battle with colon cancer. There will be quite a few people reading this today who don't know who Ufer was, and that's too bad. If y're a Michigan football fan, you shiu'd know. In the Wolverines' storied past, Ufer isn't a chapter; he's an entire volume. Ufer was the greatest voice in the 116-year history of Michigan a flotball. No one who ever heard the man would argue that. Before he missed the first game of the 1981 season, Ufer had brought 362 straight games into homes all over the Midwest via the WJR airwaves. And he did it his way. All the rules of play-by-play were tossed out the window of Ufer's broadcast booth. His calls were emotional, spirited and colorful. *Ufer didn't just cover the Wolver- ines; he loved them. He was a Michigan fan who didn't worry about showing it. Ufer was a homer in every sense of the word, but noone ever seemed to care. He was such a personality that even fans at other schools respected him. In his final trip to East Lansing in 1981, Spartan fans gave Ufer a standing ovation. "His spirit and love for Michigan were genuine," said current Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, who remembers listening to Ufer back when he was a high school coach. "His charisma and spirit were things you don't see often." The Wolverines have always taken pride in hiring "Michigan men" within the football program, and that's what they had in Ufer. He graduated from Michigan in 1943. While he was a Wolverine, he established himself as one of the school's greatest track and field athletes. In 1940, Ufer's first year, he set eight freshman records. At a Big Ten meet in Chicago in 1942, he set the world indoor record in the 440 (:48.1). Still, he is most famous for his work as a broadcaster. For the 37 years he broadcast, the Wolverines were known across the airwaves as "Meechigan." The stadium was dramatically referred to as "the hole that Yost dug, Crisler paid for, Canham carpeted and Schembechler fills every Saturday in the fall." And Bo Schembechler, with his affinity for keeping the attack on the ground, received the moniker "General George Patton" Sciembechler. Ufer screamed, yelled and consis- tently lost his voice during games. He got twice as worked up as Dick Vitale ever has. lfer even had a horn, called the "George Patton" Schembechler scoring horn, that he would honk after every Michigan touchdown and field goal. But it is impossible to fully describe Ufer's style in words. You hadto have heard him. Saturday, an off day for this season's Wolverines, WJR replayed Ufer's broadcast of the 1976 Michi- gan-Michigan State game. A all -C- fIi-A y,_ T Mer is stil V LEYBALL Continued from Page 1B lead and never looked back. "Tohearthem screaming gives you the extra oomph to win," senior Shannon Brownlee said. "Notjust for yourself, but for the team as a whole." DuetothestrongattackingofBrownlee, Shareen Luze and Sarah Jackson, Michi- gan hardly felt the loss of Ruschiensky in coasting to a 15-6 win in game one. Luze, in particular, filled in admirably for Ruschiensky, finishing with 17 kills for the match. "I just wanted to go in there and play my game," Luze said. "I just tried to swing away. There was a lot of competi- tion to see who would go out and fill (Kristen's) spot." The second game had no real rhythm as the Gophers and the Wolverines were neck and neck throughout. However, Michigan was able to capture the big points in the end. At 14-14, the Wolver- ines received an ace from Jeanine Szczesniak. They then wrapped the game up with a big kill by Brownlee. Although Michigan stepping up in the big points was the immediate factor for the 16-14 win, the underlying causes for the victory stemmed from the Wolver- ines' improvedblockinganddigging play. Suzy O'Donnell, Jackson and Brownlee provided the biggest boosts for Michigan with their blocking, while Linnea Mendoza, Szczesniak and Brownlee all dug well. The Gophers jumped out to an early lead in the third game behind the sloppy play of Michigan on both the offensive and defensive ends. Minnesota held com- manding leads of 7-3 and 13-5 in the third game. Atthe 13-5junctureofthisgame,Michi- gan coach Greg Giovanazzi utilized one of his common strategies by making sub- stitutions to change the look of his team. He brought in Erin McGovern, Jane Stevens, Linsey Ebert and Karen Chase to give the team a needed spark. "For the second time in a week, we made substitutions to give the team a rest," Giovanazzi said. "We changed the tempo." This strategy proved effective as the combination of the great sideout and de- fensive play of Michigan and the tenta- tive play of Minnesota enabled the Wol- verines to get back in the game. Once Michigan was back in conten- TONYA BOARD/Daily Suzy O'Donnell (left) and Shareen Luze block a Wisconsin shot Saturday night. tion, Giovanazzi returned the starters to action. Behind the strong offensive ex- ecution of Mendoza, Luze and Brownlee, the Wolverines pulled the game out, 15- 13. "Michigan played areally great match," Minnesota coach Pam Miller-Dombeck said. "They didn't let anything hit the floor." Given the results of the match with the Gophers, Michigan went into Saturday's match against the Badgers with a lot of confidence. This was evident in the first game as Michigan won the big points down the stretch to prevail, 18-16. In the second game, Michigan struggled on both the offensive and defensive ends. The Wolverines failed to convert numer- ous kills plus had difficulty handling the powerful spikes of the Badger attack, in particular those of Marisa Mackey and Amy Lee. Mackey and Lee finished the match with 26 and 23 kills, respectively. The third game had the same flow as the first two as both teams battled back and forth. Brownlee played particularly well, converting alot ofher spikes enroute to a 30 kill effort for the match, setting a The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, October 16, 1995 - 38 Defense provides lift for Michiganspikers new school record. In addition, both Brownlee and O'Donnell blocked well in this game. However, it wasn't enough as the Badger attack proved too strong. Wis- consin captured the game, 15-13. While the fourth game began like the previous three, this time Michigan took the initiative at 9-9. Brownlee was un- touchable in converting nearly all of herkills as Michigan coasted to a 15-11 win. The momentum stayed with the Wol- verines in the fifth game. They made adjustments to the Badger attack enabling them to convert only five of 20 kill attempts for the game. While Wisconsin continued to look flustered, everything clicked for Michigan on both the offen- sive and defensive ends. "We got tentative and Michigan played really well in the fifth game," Wisconsin coach John Cook said. Mendoza consistently got the ball to either Brownlee on the outside or O'Donnell up the middle, while attaining a school record 73 assists forthe match. In the end, Michigan won 15-9 while play- ing a relaxed, fundamental game. By Andy Knudsen Daily Sports Writer The Wolverines are digging - and blocking - out of the hole that left them tied for ninth in the conference last year. For a team that does not put on point- scoring clinics, the Michigan volley- ball team has put its conference and postseason hopes in the hands of its defense. This weekend.served as a positive test for the Wolverines' 'D' as they rolled over Minnesota, 15-6, 16-14, 15- 13, and outlasted Wisconsin, 18-16, 15-17, 13-15, 15-11, 15-9. "It's been a trademark of ours. We sideout well but have trouble scor- ing," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. The points sporadically build up, though, when the Wolverines success- fully stifle their opponents. While many coaches attribute success or failure to their side of the net, Minnesota's interim-coach Pam Miller-Dombeck acknowl- edged the "great defense" of the Wolverines. "They dug a lot of balls," she said. Michigan averaged 21.75 digs per game in its two matches this weekend, much improved from its 15.9 dpg aver- age last year. "It was getting frustrating watching them dig out shots," Minnesota outside hitter Katrien DeDecker said. The 6-foot-2 junior finished Friday's match with 21 kills, but the rest of the Golden Gophers couldn't gain enough momentum to shake the Wolverines' confidence. Freshman Jeanine Szczesniak led Michigan over the weekend with 37 digs, followed by senior Shannon Brownlee (32) and sophomore setter Linnea Mendoza (31). "Our rovers did a really good job of popping the ball up," Giovanazzi said. Michigan's work on blocking in prac- tice last week also paid dividends in its weekend homestand. Last year, the Wolverines averaged "It's been a trademark of ours We sideout well but have trouble scoring." - Greg Glovanazzi Michigan volleyball coach 1.6 team blocks per game and 2.8 block assists per game. Improvement from last year and the beginning of this year was evi- dent against the Gophers and Bad- gers as Michigan averaged 2.7 team blocks and 4.9 block assists per game. "Our blocking got a lot better at the E end of the match (Saturday)," senior Suzy O'Donnell said. The Wolverines' defense kept them in the grueling three hour match against a Wisconsin team that Giovanazzi said "handles the ball as well as any (team) we've seen." Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Jackson led Michigan's improved blocking with 12 block assists in the two matches. Brownlee totaled 10 block assists and O'Donnell followed with 7 for the; weekend. For Brownlee, the key to good block- ing is her position on the floor. "I was just trying to line up in front of the hitter," she said. The Wolverines will need to con- tinue their defensive prowess as they play their next three games on the road against the top three teams in the con- ference. O'Donnell said the team is playing with a lot of confidence, which will' help it battle the Big Ten's cream of the crop: Penn State, Ohio State and Michi- gan State. "We're very happy with how we're playing right now," she said. "It will really help us going into these next matches." 'M' harriers capture Michigan Intercollegiate Championships By Nancy Berger Daily Sports Writer Being the best women's cross coun- try team in the state is not enough for Michigan. The Wolverines won't be satisfied until they can become the best cross country team in the Big Ten for the-fourth straight year in a row. The Michigan Intercollegiate Championships in Ypsilanti proved to be no more than a mere jog in the Huron Golf Club for the 15th ranked Wolverines. Michigan ran away from the 23 team field, with 20 points. The Wol- verines' closest competitor was in- state rival Michigan State with 70 points. Western Michigan finished third with 94 points. All-American sophomore Pauline Arnill led the Michigan squad of nine harriers by capturing the Intercolle- giate title in the time of 17:42. Her closest challenger in the race was Michigan State's Stephanie Dueringer, whose finished in 18:08. Freshman Katie McGregor was the leader of the first pack of Michigan harriers, finishing third with a time of 18:31. Katy Hollbacher and Jen Bar- ber finished in fourth and fifth place with times of 18:32 and 18:37, re- spectively. Arnill and this trio of top runners have secured spots on the nine-person team that will be competing at the Big Ten championships. Michelle Slater and Kelly Chard, who were both inac- tive Friday, are the other two runners that will join the squad in Minneapo- lis in two weeks. "I have to run better. I am not con- tent with what I have been doing," Hollbacher said. Hollbacher and her teammates re- alize that winning another Big Ten title will be an even bigger challenge than last year because of injuries. The most crushing setback to the team is the nagging back injury to senior Courtney Babcock. Whether she will run or not in two weeks is still in question. One person who might be going to the Big Ten's is Jen Stuht, who finished seventh Friday with a time of 18:46. "I was very happy with the way I ran. It was one of my better times," said Stuht, who replaced Kelly Chard at the meet this weekend. Among the others that will be fight- ing for a spot on the roster for Minne- apolis are Mayrie Richards, Tiffin Goodman, Eileen Fleck and-Heather Grigg. Fleck finished four seconds in front of Richards Friday while Goodman and Grigg placed 21st and 32nd, re- spectively. There are about 10 girls who are running healthy that can contribute to winning another championship. Hollbacher said that the Badgers will pose an even tougher challenge to the Wolverines than last year, so depth will be a key factor when competing against Big Ten rival Wisconsin. "Every team has a big gun, but the most important runners are the 3-5 positions," Stuht said. "We need to have the team come within 45 sec- onds of Arnill." a Closing that time gap was one of the focuses that Coach McGuire had stressed to the team before the meet Friday. It is something that the team will have to continue to work on as- indicated by the results. Michigan still has many unan- swered questions but it will have two weeks to fill in the blanks before the big meet. When the last blank is filled, the Wolverines hope that it will say Big Ten Champion. ATTN: Ch. E's, M.E.'s: A°rchenicaI Company *LYONDELL IS A FORTUNE 200 COMPANY LOCATED IN HOUSTON, TEXAS AND SURROUNDING AREAS *LYONDELL IS A WORLD SCALE MANUFACTURER OF OLEFINS (ETHYLENE, PROPYLENE), POLYMERS, MTBE, METHANOL, AND OTHER PETROCHEMICALS AND OWNS A MAJORITY INTEREST IN THE LYONDELL-CITGO HOUSTON REFINERY *LYONDELL WAS FEATURED IN THE BEST SELLER "THE 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR IN AMERICA" -L YONDELL HAS OPENINGS FOR B.S. GRADUATES AND COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STUDENTS IN CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES *LYONDELL WILL BE AT THE UofM SWE CAREER FAIR AND WILL INTERVIEW AT THE PLACEMENT CENTER NOV. 3rd FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT BRIAN PRUEIT at LYONDELL, 713-452-8469 or THE UofM PLACEMENT CENTER OR UofM CO-OP OFFICE. LYONDELL IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER - M/F/D/V SENIORS Be part of the 1996 MICHIGANENSIAN Women's. cross cou ntry results Team finish Points 1. Michigan 20 2. Michigan State ,70 3,Western Michigan 94 4., Central Michigan ' 113. 5, Eastem Michigan 123 6. Hillsdale 124 7, Detroit-Mercy 165 8. Spring Arbor 255 9. Siena Heights 294 10. Macomb 320 11. Lake Superior 346 - 12.-Schoolcraft , 362 13. Grand Valley State 377 14. Aquinas 407 15. Northwood 437 16. Concordia 487 17, Delta 495 C