Above all, Saturday in Ann Arbor missed the people

18 — Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

FILE PHOTO/Daily

On what would have been the Wolverines' home opener, Michigan Stadium sat empty, as did many of the traditionally lively tailgating spots.

-

wo-hundred-
eighty-nine days 
ago, when 110,000 
fans filed out of 
Michigan Stadium, 

sadness 
glued to 
their faces 
after yet 
another 
loss to 
Ohio State, 
they had a 
date 
circled on 
their 
calendars: 
September 12, 2020.
That was the date when 
many of those 110,000 would 
come back to the corner of 
Main and Stadium, ready to 
do it all over again. They 
would come from fraternity 
tailgates and house parties, 
brunch buffets and golf 
course cookouts, but their 
final destination would be 
the same: the home of this 
great tradition that’s 
spanned 137 consecutive falls 
in Ann Arbor.
It’s one of those traditions 
that’s marked less by what 
happens on the field than off 
it. It’s the sights and sounds, 
not the wins and losses, that 
bring those 110,000 coming 
back year after year.
Instead, on Saturday 
afternoon, the sight was 
emptiness and the sound was 
silence.
The Wolverines were still 
there, practicing inside 
Michigan Stadium for a 
season that may never come. 
This week, there are 
murmurs that it might, but 
such rumors have come and 
gone with remarkable 
consistency since the Big 
Ten canceled football on 
Aug. 11.
So for now, all we have on 
these typically-hallowed fall 
Saturdays are closed-door 

practices. And yet, somehow, 
that’s the most normal part.
The first strange thing on 
Saturday morning was that I 
woke up to my alarm. 
Normally, in my house across 
the street from East Quad, 
such an accessory would be 
superfluous, so long as I 
wanted to wake up after 6 
a.m.
On this Saturday, though, 
silence was the defining 
feature. It enveloped the air 
on Hill Street, where 
thousands of would-be 

tailgaters took advantage of 
the opportunity to sleep in. 
A handful of frat houses 
picked up the remains of 
illicit parties from the night 
before, but for the most part, 
there was little sign of life.
Where sheets would typical-
ly hang from house windows 
and porches, taunting poor 
Ball State with creative 
messages, there was only 
one. “Rush club lax,” it read. 
Behind it, a maize-and-blue 
Michigan flag sat inside, 
unused until further notice.

Unused, too, were the steps 
to Revelli Hall, where the 
drum line typically 
performs, entertaining 
thousands as they walk to 
the stadium. Across the 
street, Elbel Field was fully 
populated by soccer players 
and frisbee throwers. On 
Saturday, they were the only 
people I saw, save for a 
family of three that stopped 
at the stadium gates to snap 
a picture, reveling in their 
own sadness. But even the 
populated locales are a 

strange sight. Typically, 
Elbel Field would be closed 
to everyone but marching 
band families — no one’s 
playing soccer on a football 
Saturday.
It’s strange what you notice 
without the crowds.
Next to the railroad tracks 
along Hoover Street, where 
that one tailgate with the 
big-screen TVs sets up on 
fall Saturdays, there’s a 
parking lot and a white brick 
warehouse. In dozens of 
walks down this street when 

football beckoned, I never 
noticed either. The ware-
house is an electrical supply 
store, according to Google. 
Next door, a sign says the 
Physical Properties Building 
sits. Before this weekend, it 
would have been ‘the 
building where t-shirt 
vendors set up’ if you had 
asked me.
At the end of Keech Avenue, 
Michigan Stadium is still 
there, but in concept only. It 
is, to everyone except 
players and team personnel, 
indefinitely inaccessible. 
There’s a peeling sign 
outside the northwest 
entrance that lists prohibited 
items. This year, it can be 
updated to include fans, 
even if football returns. 
Their absence allows for 
some new discoveries at the 
stadium, too. The student 
section entrance, apparently, 
is called Alumni Plaza — 
dedicated in 2001. All four 
corners of the stadium have 
their own plazas — Wolver-
ine, Champions and Varsity, 
if you’re curious.
The most important discov-
ery, though, was everything 
that we missed. We missed 
the debates over who should 
start at quarterback and if 
Jim Harbaugh should lose 
his job if Michigan can’t beat 
Ohio State. We missed the 
smell of spilled Natty Light 
and burgers on the grill. But 
most of all, we missed our 
friends and family and the 
memories we would have 
made together.
Because at the center of it 
all, Saturday afternoon in 
Ann Arbor missed the 
people.

_____________________________

Mackie can be reached at 
tmackie@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @theo_mackie.

‘Underrated’ Brad Hawkins stepping

into leadership role in secondary

A look into political contributions
from athletic department figures

Brad Hawkins is one of the 
most experienced players on 
Michigan’s defense. A senior 
two-year starter who’s missed 
just three games since 2017, 
Hawkins is one of the biggest 
sources of continuity on a team 
facing so much upheaval.
In the spring, defensive coordi-
nator Don Brown mentioned 
Hawkins among a select group 
of players he considered the 
leaders on the defense. Now 
that the Wolverines are back in 
Ann Arbor and have resumed 
practice, Hawkins has been 
able to fully step into that role.
“Becoming a leader on this 
defense, it means a lot to me,” 
Hawkins said on a Zoom call 
Friday. “I know I’m going to 
play a big role in the secondary 
and the defense period, just 
being a senior and being a 
leader and playing a lot and 
knowing what’s going on. That 
room has helped me a lot, 
growing as a person and as a 
man.”

But though Hawkins’ talent 
and 
experience 
isn’t 
in 

question, COVID-19 and the 
postponement of the Big Ten 
football season have left his 
status in flux. Like teammate 
Kwity Paye, Hawkins hasn’t 
yet made a formal decision on 
whether to play if a season is 
held this school year. Though 
Hawkins acknowledged that 
things could change quickly, 
he expressed a desire to play 
another season with Michigan.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I 
want to come back, I want 
to play another year here at 
the university,” he said. “Of 
course, there’s a lot of things 
that can change. But I want to 
come back and play with these 
guys, and hopefully I get that 
opportunity.”
One area where Hawkins’ 
leadership is key is with the 
development of sophomore 
safety Daxton Hill.
Hill showed promise last year, 
primarily as a backup safety and 
nickel corner as well as a gunner 
on special teams. He started 
three games at the end of the 

year when Hawkins went down 
with an undisclosed injury.
“That was a big loss to us at the 
end of the year,” Brown said 
May 22. “And it took Daxton 
Hill, who’s an excellent player, 
and put him into a role that, 
he had to change his role and 
obviously that was a very good 
experience for Daxton, but 
the overall play of our defense 
obviously 
gets 
impacted 

because you lose a player of 
Brad Hawkins’ stature.”
Now, instead of backing up 
Hawkins, Hill will likely start 
alongside him if there is a 
season. That means the two of 
them will work together more 
than ever.
Hawkins acknowledged Hill’s 
contributions at the end of 
last season and expressed 
confidence in their abilities as a 
unit.
“(Hill) got a lot bigger, a 
lot stronger, a lot smarter,” 
Hawkins said. “He’s definitely a 
guy to watch out for, of course. 
... He’s grown every single day. 
He’s looking real good. Both of 
us do a real good job of commu-
nicating with each other. I feel 
like we both cover really well. 
There’s versatility back there. 
Free safety, rover, it doesn’t 
really matter with both of us. 
Having him back there helps 
me a lot. With his athleticism 
and his smarts and his speed, it 
definitely helps a lot.”
Beyond COVID-19, uncertainty 
over the season and a new part-
ner at safety, Hawkins is also 
working with a new position 
coach in Bob Shoop, whose hire 
was announced in January after 
Chris Partridge left for Ole Miss. 

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Safety Brad Hawkins is becoming a leader on Michigan's defense.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

As Election Day inches closer, 
the push to get people to vote 
intensifies 
every 
day. 
But 

behind the scenes and well 
before Nov. 3, individuals from 
all walks of life assert their 
political stance in another way: 
donations.
Any individual can donate an 
amount of their choosing up to 
a government-mandated limit 
either directly to campaigns, 
to PACs or to Super PACs. This 
is an individual’s right as a U.S. 
citizen, so, the University of 
Michigan does not infringe on 
that ability, and neither does 
the athletic department. 
Many 
athletics 
personnel 

donate to political campaigns, 
and information about their 
individual donations including 
amount, donation recipient, 
name of individual donor and 
employer are available on the 
Federal Election Commission 
website.

“Harbaugh” 
is 
the 
name 

that immediately jumps off 
the webpage. The donations 
coming from Jack, a former 
Michigan assistant coach, and 
Jacqueline “Jackie” Harbaugh 
— Jim and John’s parents 
— fill up all but one of the 
search results under the name. 
The only other was a $7.00 
contribution to ActBlue from 
James Harbaugh Jr.
Jack and Jackie’s donations 
weren’t of the same vein as 
James’. The two donated totals 
of $450 to Donald J. Trump 
for President Inc., $400 to the 
Donald Trump Make America 
Great Again Committee, $350 
to the Republican National 
Committee and $300 to John 
James for Senate over the past 
16 months.
Michigan football coach Jim 
Harbaugh hasn’t donated, per 
the FEC, but his entire team 
registered to vote last week.
As for current athletic person-
nel 
giving 
contributions, 

Michigan swim and dive coach 
Mike Bottom has donated on 

15 separate occasions within 
the past year to Donald Trump 
and WinRed, a republican 
PAC. Overall, Bottom gave 
$1,375 across the same 15 
donations, giving $75 each 
time to Donald J. Trump for 
President Inc. and $100 for 
each donation to a PAC or 
organization that supported 
him.
In smaller amounts, Michigan 
men’s gymnastics assistant 
coach Jordan Gaarenstroom 
gave $20 to WinRed last 
December, 
and 
Michigan 

cheerleading coach Pam St. 
John gave $53.50 across six 
donations to ActBlue.
The 
athletic 
department 

declined comment for this 
story.
Past these few, the FEC 
website produced nothing 
discernable 
about 
other 

athletic department persons’ 
donations, 
including 
no 

results found for either Jim 
Harbaugh or men’s basketball 
coach Juwan Howard. This 
doesn’t confirm either of 
them — or any Michigan 
athletic 
department 
staff 

— hasn’t donated, just that 
results do not come up under 
their name. They could be 
donating in other ways not 
identifiable by the individual 
contribution database, such 
as donating under the name 
of an LLC or alias, especially 
considering the wide-spread 
recent activism and sufficient 
wealth Michigan coaches and 
staff have available to them.
But with just over a month left, 
a few last minute donations 
could pop up, giving even 
greater 
insight 
into 
the 

political actions of people in 
Michigan athletics.

NICHOLAS STOLL

Daily Sports Writer

Read more online at michigandail
y.com

THEO
MACKIE

T

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