8 — Thursday, September 12, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

C O M M E M O R AT I N G

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

University of Michigan Law School, 1225 Jeffries Hall

4:10–5:30 p.m.

Sponsored by U-M Office of the Provost

A CONVERSATION WITH
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
JUSTIN AMASH

On Friday night, a similar roar of
applause to the one that filled Temple’s
McGonigle Hall in April 1970 bounced
off the walls in Ann Arbor’s Glick
Ballroom.
A room full of people crowded
around nine round tables overlooking
the golf course along East Stadium
Boulevard, eyes glued to the projector
screen. On it, the faintly-colored film
from the day that forever solidified the
1970 Michigan men’s gymnastics team’s
place in history rolled. Nearly half a
century later, players from that national
championship team still recall April 4,
1970 well.
Over 18 months
of planning went
into the reunion,
largely facilitated by
a committee of four
team members —
Ron Rapper, Murray
Plotkin, Ray Gura and
Ed Howard.
When the idea of
a reunion was first
floated, the committee
estimated about 30
people would come.
The team itself
included 27 lettermen,
of which two have
passed away. Just two
still live in Michigan,
while others have
settled as far away
as Colorado, Florida and Arizona. The
proposition of every living teammate
making the trip felt far-fetched at first,
but after the committee put out a feeler,
it became reality quickly.
Eighteen months later, 85 people
packed the Glick Ballroom to celebrate
the 50th anniversary of the team’s
national championship. Some former
players brought up to three generations
of family to the dinner, while others
traveled alone or with a spouse.
Championship banners draped from the
windows and the championship trophy
sat on a table adjacent to the door as
guests walked in.
Since 1969, the Michigan men’s
gymnastics program is responsible
for seven of the university’s 15 team
national championships. Following

the 1970 title, it took three decades for
the program to hoist the trophy again.
But the 1970 team’s impact on the
perception surrounding the sport on
campus goes far beyond a slab of iron
with a championship inscription.
“Makes one feel as if we’ve come of
age and are considered as one of the
major sports on our campus,” coach
Newt Loken wrote in his annual team
newsletter that summer. “You men
have elevated the sport of gymnastics
to (what) some have declared ‘a
fantastically beautiful sport.’ ”
***
More often than not, the 1970
national championship felt out of
Michigan’s reach. Eight teams qualified
for the two-day preliminary qualifiers
in Philadelphia,
with the top three
advancing to the
finals the following
day.
The Wolverines
found themselves
in fourth place
at the close of
the afternoon
session. With their
season on the line,
they surged past
Southern Illinois
and Temple to
clinch a spot in the
next day’s field.
Just over
24 hours later,
Michigan needed
more than a surge.
It needed a miracle.
With every routine in the books besides
one, the Wolverines trailed Iowa State,
the heavy favorite, by 9.3 points — a
“lofty score” at the time, according to
Rapper. Silence fell over McGonigle
Hall as Howard, the last man standing,
stepped up to the horizontal bars. With
the pressure of an entire season on his
shoulders, Howard delivered a career-
best 9.4.
The national championship was
decided by one-tenth of a point — the
scoring difference of a
slight arm flex, a three-
degree vertical error or
an inadvertent slight step
on a dismount. Howard
put the perfect bowtie
on a 12-0 season, forever
cementing the team

among Michigan’s all-time best.
The Wolverines’ narrow margin
in the championship might’ve been
thrilling, but it wasn’t an accurate
portrayal of how badly Michigan beat
teams during that era. Beginning in
1968, the team won four consecutive
Big Ten titles, posting a 28-0 dual meet
record across a three-year period in
the process. The Wolverines won those
meets by an average of five points.
That’s the equivalent of a 31-3 win in
football and 10-1 score in baseball,
according to Rapper.
***
Ironically enough, the reunion began
with a lost ring.
When trampoline champion
Goerge Huntzicker discovered his
championship ring was missing two
years ago, he phoned Rapper — the
team’s captain — to ask how to get
a new one. These types of rings are
hard to come by, so Rapper thought it
was worth it to reach out to the whole
team to see if other players lost their
rings too. The wheels began turning
in his head and, soon enough, the idea
snowballed.
A long-overdue reunion was in order.
Using the event as an opportunity to
issue redesigned rings to the team was
the perfect reason to bring everyone to
the Ann Arbor. But the face of the man
responsible for building the team was
missing, as Loken passed away in 2011
at the age of 92.
“Winning a championship is the
pinnacle of college athletics,” Rapper
said. “And for this championship, credit
must go to our coach, Newt Loken.
… He emphasized the importance of
hitting your routine and instilled in us
the pride of representing Michigan in
the sport of gymnastics. It was Newt
who engineered our victory. In what is
traditionally an individually-focused
sport, this team victory was very
special.”
Added Plotkin: “(Loken) knew how
to make things happen. He knew how to
say things in a way that made you want
to stretch yourself.”

When Michigan granted varsity
status to its men’s gymnastics team in
1947, Loken was named the program’s
first coach. From there, the program
was off and running. As a 1941 national
high bar and all-around champion at
Minnesota, he had the perfect pedigree
to shape and lead an elite program.
He remained at the helm for 36 years,
compiling a 250-72-1 career record
while winning a pair of NCAA titles
and overseeing 71 Big Ten individual
event championships.
Plotkin graduated in 1972 but
remained in Ann Arbor to complete his
master’s degree. Loken, nearing the
end of his career, made Plotkin his first
assistant coach. To this day, he raves
about how lucky he was to have the

dual perspective of both playing and
working for Loken.
Loken’s death in 2011 marked the
end of an era in men’s gymnastics. Even
after retiring from coaching, he didn’t
miss a single home meet for 61 years. In
fact, once Loken retired, his successor
named an award for best individual
performance at each home meet after
him. Loken presented the award, a
certificate which quickly became one
of the program’s highest honors, until
2010.
“(Loken) was
unlike nearly
every other coach
who has reached
legendary
status in his or

her sport,” wrote former Daily sports
editor Colt Rosensweig, author of
the biography “Newt: The Father of
Michigan Men’s Gymnastics.” “Instead
of barking orders like a drill sergeant,
Newt resembled a kindly father. His
unflagging optimism and constant
encouragement — not to mention his
excellent technical skills — motivated
his gymnasts more than a good chewing
out ever could.”
***
The program fell out of contention
after Loken retired, posting eight
straight losing seasons during the
decade prior to current coach Kurt
Golder’s hiring in 1997. While the
Wolverines suffered through their
winless 1996 season, Golder served as
the top assistant at Iowa — a program
trending in the opposite direction. With
little ambition to become a head coach
at the time, Golder was content.
That is, until Loken called him. The
next day, Loken called again. And again.
He wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Ultimately, Golder accepted the
job — a testament to Loken and his
legacy. It only took Golder three years
to transform a winless team into a
national champion. The program
hasn’t looked back, winning three more
national titles since.
***
As the guests dined on salads,
roasted Yukon potatoes and pecan
crusted chicken, Rapper approached
the podium. Rapper’s grandson, an
aspiring gymnast himself, was one of
the 85 pairs of eyes on the front of the
room. Loken’s children sat at the front
table, while Plotkin’s grandchildren
played with a ball in the back of the
room.
Beyond the applause that
accompanied Howard’s now-legendary
9.4, three generations of admiration,
chatter and pride brought an equal
presence to the room. And the bond
shared amongst the 1970 teammates
proved to be as strong as ever.
“It’s great to get the band back
together,” Rapper said. “There’s
something to be said about the athletic
bond that ties together members of an
athletic team. The bond is particularly
strong that brings together an NCAA
championship team.”
Now, they have new rings to show
for it.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

You men have
elevated the sport of
gymnastics to (what)
some have declared “a
fantastically beautiful
sport.”

(Loken) knew how to
make things happen.
He knew how to say
things in a way that
made you want to
stretch yourself.

50 years later, title team celebrates reunion