Bob Ufer memories.......

Submitted by Shemmy126 on

At home for the Holidays, and while going through some items in the basement came accross a box of Ufer game cassette tapes from my early childhood. Got me thinking... what was my favorite "Ufer Moment"? Of course, the Indiana game stands out, however, there were so many it is difficult to pick one. What is yours??......................

Tater

December 23rd, 2009 at 3:37 PM ^

Michigan football hasn't been nearly as entertaining to listen to since "Ufe" died. I didn't fully realize what a treasure he was until he was gone, and I realized that other announcers didn't have a tenth of the energy or enthusiasm for the game that he had.

I know it is almost politically incorrect to be a "homer" in the booth now, but I really wish that I could hear him call another game.

VAWolverine

December 23rd, 2009 at 4:08 PM ^

vs. OSU when the goons in scarlet and gray tore down the M Club banner before M came out of the tunnel. I never heard an announcer so incensed in my life reporting what was happening.

jabberwock

December 23rd, 2009 at 4:34 PM ^

shivering outside in our car/driveway listening to Ufer call the games.
Our family stereo had busted and my father was too frugal (cheap bastard!) to get a new one before Christmas.
My parents didn't want me sitting in a running car for 3 hours (also, my frugal father didn't want to give the "Damn A-rabs" any more gas $)
so he hooked the battery charger to the battery while I laid in the front seat and listened.
It wasn't too bad in Sept & Oct., but November was a bitch.
A few games were on TV and my parents thought I was an idiot for not watching them inside.
They didn't understand that you didn't "listen" to a game with Ufer, you "felt" it.

jb5O4

December 23rd, 2009 at 4:43 PM ^

I'm too young to have experienced his entertaining broadcast personality but I have seen and heard him on documentaries about Michigan football. My favorite is the Wrangler to Carter call in the Indiana game. Also the time when he lead Michigan Stadium in a round of the victors right before he passed away was very moving.

SFBlue

December 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 PM ^

"Touchdown Billy Taylor! Touchdown Billy Taylor! Billy Taylor scored a touchdown from 21 yards out and the stadium goes stark raving bananas !"

Simi Maquoketa

December 23rd, 2009 at 6:44 PM ^

I'm not so sure how many people had to suffer with WUOM's nine-volt battery operated transformer signal in the old days.

Living in Detroit before UM moved to WJR, getting that radio station to come in was more of a battle than taking on Ohio State by yourself.

The Indiana game, no doubt. Ufer went nuts, but the words he was able to summon furing the aftermath of that moment are still etched in my mind.

But I can't remember them right now. Coke and Southern Comfort and all. Something about "valhalla" and...well...it was unbelievable.

Simi Maquoketa

December 23rd, 2009 at 7:11 PM ^

That game featured what could be called the smartest play EVER.

The play before the Wangler to Carter TD, Lawrence Reid caught a pass from Wangler on or near the Indiana 40 (?), and with no time outs left, and Reid about to be tackled in the middle of the field, he friggin' lateraled the ball to...LEE CORSO on the Indiana sideline! It would have made Kenny Stabler and Dave Casper proud! Corso went nuts--but hey! Play over, time stopped.

Next play--Fielding H Yost looking down from football Valhalla...

imablue

December 23rd, 2009 at 7:39 PM ^

I was just a kid, but it was a good thing to hear,
remember one game against OSU, and I paraphrase, "What a beautiful Maize and Blue Saturday afternoon." That
meant we were winning.
He was an emotional and charismatic announcer.

uminks

December 23rd, 2009 at 8:03 PM ^

During the 70s we were lucky to get 2 may be 3 games televised but even when we did, I would always turn down the tv volume and crank up Ufe! I remember Ufer's last season broadcasting was my first semester at UM.

Ufer had so many great quotes and rhymes. Many times he would rattle off these great rhymes before games, he has several about OSU and Columbus, and a few about the sand box in W.Lafayette. I wonder if there is a page out there with great Uferisms?

Yeah WUOM's signal was very weak. I grew up about 25 miles north of A^2 and got this Jackson station much clearer for Michigan football!

willywill9

December 23rd, 2009 at 8:39 PM ^

I don't know much about Bob Ufer other than audio and video you see online or in video, but boy was he intense.

Check the video below. It's a bit long, but you at least have to listen to the part beginning at 3:10. Man he was something else.

"You bet your cotton pickin' life!"

acnumber1

December 23rd, 2009 at 10:55 PM ^

...was hesitating to comment on this thread as there are too many great memories of Ufer...

...this audio/video, while missing some of the well known classics, most certainly sums up the spirit.

Goose bumps, chills, tears...

Let's hope that Ufer and his brethren up in football's Valhalla will see Michigan's return to power and dominance soon.

Go Blue!

Blue boy johnson

December 23rd, 2009 at 8:50 PM ^

What's one thing I'll always remember and never forget? Late November 1978 I was a senior in HS and drove to AA on the eve of the Ohio State game and attended a pep rally. Rick Leach was a senior and Old Man Ufer gave a great speech. The climax of the evening was burning Woody Hayes in effigy, don't know if that sort of thing is condoned anymore.

All these things are from memory and if I made a mistake it's a mistake of the head and not of the heart

3rdGenerationBlue

December 23rd, 2009 at 10:20 PM ^

I was maybe 6 years old and we were at the Franklin cider mill. My Dad had tuned in Ufer's play by play and I was in the back seat. Someone ran for a long TD and Ufer went nuts, honking the horn and probably comparing it to a run he remembered from 30 years before. He got me hooked on Michigan football. From then on we listened to Ufer every game even if Michigan were on TV (we'd turn down the sound and listen to the radio). He was a Michigan Man if there ever was one.

victors2000

December 24th, 2009 at 8:00 AM ^

As a youngster I didn't appreciate Mr. Ufer, or radio broadcasts in general, preferring to watch the games on t.v., but I wish I would have now. I love listening to games rebroadcast on WTKA; his passion for Michigan football,his youthful attitude towards broadcasting the games, and his "Ufer-isms" really make the game come alive. One thing he used to say that I thought was funny was the way he referred to Woody as "Dr. Strangehayes", hehe! :P