michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, November 2, 2015

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Michigan brings the 
trophy back to Ann 

Arbor with win

» INSIDE
Little Brown Jug

Michigan stops 

Minnesota at half-
yard line on final 
play to win, 29-26

By MAX BULTMAN

Daily Sports Editor

MINNEAPOLIS — It came 

down to one play, a few inches 
and a lesson Jim Harbaugh 

hopes his players carry with 
them for the rest of their lives.

After a goal-line stand on 

the game’s final play, the No. 15 
Michigan football team escaped 
TCF Bank Stadium with a win 
over Minnesota, 29-26.

“It feels tremendous for the 

way the players played, and a 
phenomenal learning experi-
ence for our men to be able to 
win a tough one,” Harbaugh 
said. “It’s a great learning expe-
rience because it reinforces 

everything you tell them about 
never giving up and fighting ‘til 
the end.”

With 19 seconds remaining, 

Golden Gophers’ quarterback 
Mitch Leidner connected with 
Drew Wolitarsky for 22 yards 
and what looked like a go-ahead 
touchdown. But a booth review 
showed that Wolitarsky’s knee 
touched at the half-yard line, 
forcing Minnesota to hurry back 
to the line and try to punch it in.

The clock began running 

as the Golden Gophers made 
a formation shift, splitting a 
receiver out wide to pass after 
initially lining up in a running 
formation. Leidner’s throw was 
incomplete, though, and by the 
time the ball hit the ground, 17 
seconds had run off the clock. 
Just two remained.

Trailing by three, conven-

tional wisdom would have told 
Minnesota to kick a field goal. 
But in an emotional contest 

See MICHIGAN, Page 3B

Crisler Center hosts 
10th annual Army vs. 
Navy matchup to kick 

off Veteran’s Week

By EMILY ROBERTS

For the Daily

The Crisler Center played host to 

a different kind of basketball game 
on Sunday.

Instead of the Michigan men’s 

basketball 
team, 
wheelchairs 

glided up and down the court dur-
ing the 10th annual Army v. Navy 
Wheelchair Basketball Game.

The teams are co-ed and made 

up of experienced wheelchair 
basketball players, as well as Uni-
versity student veterans, ROTC 
students, and occasionally, local 
law enforcement. Sunday’s game 
ended with a 45-40 Army victory.

Gerald Hoff, the event’s founder 

and an insurance representative at 
the University Health System, said 
the game aims to raise awareness 
about living with a disability.

“The 
Wheelchair 
Basketball 

game is the only University-spon-
sored disability related sporting 
event,” he said. “This event show-
cases the skills of people with dis-
abilities; it showcases the ability 
within disability.”

Run entirely by volunteers, the 

event also featured performances 
by several student groups along 
with the game, including the Men’s 
Glee Club, the Michigan Dance 
team and the Michigan Cheer 
Team.

The game is also part of Veter-

ans Week at the University, which 
includes several panels covering 
the experiences of veteran as well 
as appreciation events.

Jerry Sarasin, a long-time wheel-

chair basketball player and instruc-
tor who played for the Army team, 
said the win had been a long time 
coming for his team, which had lost 
in the past few years.

Sarasin added that many char-

acteristics of the game, like pacing, 
are very similar to a game played by 
able-bodied teams. He noted that 
part of the value of hosting this 
event is also demonstrating that 
similarity to the University com-
munity.

“If more people came out to 

the games, wheelchair basketball 
would really grow as a sport, we 
know this because the sport is huge 
in places such as Europe,” he said. 
“There are other colleges that have 
wheelchair teams, and it’s sad that 
athletes have to go out of state to 
play at the collegiate level.”

Kinesiology senior Jon Mendi-

celli, president of the University’s 
Student Veterans Association, said 
he always enjoys playing in the 
games.

“The real wheelchair basketball 

players do a great job of getting all 
of us to play as a team, and making 
us look good on the court,” he said.

Mendicelli, a Marine Corps vet-

eran, played for the Navy team. He 
said the game was important for 
student veterans, especially those 
with disabilities.

“Disabilities often come with 

a stigma, but at this game we can 

See WHEELCHAIR, Page 3A

Fourth annual 
‘Day of the Dead’ 
ball celebrates 

tradition, culture

By JACKIE CHARNIGA

Daily Staff Reporter

The University’s chapter 

of the Lambda Theta Alpha 
Latin Sorority, Inc. concluded 

annual celebrations for LatinX 
Heritage month Friday night 
with its fourth annual Dia de 
los Muertos Ball.

In partnership with the 

office of Multi-Ethnic Stu-
dent Affairs and the Michi-
gan Latin@ Assembly, the 
Founders Room of the Alumni 
Center hosted face-painting, 
traditional food and a perfor-
mance by the Detroit-based 
ballet troupe Folklorico de los 
Renacidos.

The aim of the ball is to 

educate students about the 
history and cultural traditions 
of Dia de los Muertos and cel-
ebrate the work of the LatinX 
Heritage planning committee.

Dia de los Muertos, which 

translates in English as “Day 
of the Dead,” is a Latin holi-
day celebrated every Nov. 1 to 
honor the dead with food and 
festivities. Traditional cer-
emonies commonly honor the 

EMILIE FARRUGIA/Daily

Ballet Folklorico de los Renacidos, a Mexican folkloric dance group based in Detroit, performs at the fourth Annu-
al Dia de los Muertos Ball sponsored by the Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority at the Alumni Center on Friday.

Organizers aim to 
bolster donations as 
part of competition 

against OSU

By MEGAN DOYLE

For the Daily

Hundreds of people streamed 

in and out of the Michigan Sta-
dium on Sunday as part of the 
fifth annual “Be a Hero at the Big 
House” blood drive, an event that 
kicked off the 34th annual Wol-
verine vs. Buckeye Challenge for 
Life.

The blood drive competition 

will run until Thanksgiving and 
encourages people to donate 
blood and register as organ 
donors in competition with Ohio 
State University. Last year, the 
University beat OSU in registered 
organ donors by 43,857 people, 
but collected only 2,298 pints of 
blood to Ohio State’s 2,414.

Sunday’s event was co-spon-

See LATINX, Page 3A
See BLOOD, Page 3A

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Jeffrey Dennis, a player on the Navy team, reaches for the ball in the 10th annual 
Army vs. Navy Wheelchair Basketball Game in the Crisler Center on Sunday.

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily

Redshirt freshman quarterback Wilton Speight entered Saturday’s game when fifth-year senior starting quaterback Jake Rudock was injured. Michigan trailed 
at the time, but Speight eventually led the Wolverines to victory on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. 

Wheelchair ball 
raises disability 

awareness

LatinX month concludes 
with ‘Dia de los Muertos’

Big House 
blood drive 
starts 34th 
Blood Battle

Goal-line stand helps 
‘M’ hold off Gophers

CAMPUS LIFE

INDEX
Vol. CXXV No. 23
©2015 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com

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