OT: Tennessee-bound jumbo dual-sport athlete
I'm not sure if anybody has paid attention to this recruiting oddity, but Georgia offensive lineman Parker Ball is headed to Tennessee to play football. He's a 6'4", 275 lb. center.
That's not the weird part, though.
The weird part is that he's also going to play baseball. And he's not just a rotund first baseman like Cecil Fielder...or Prince Fielder...or John Kruk...or Mo Vaughn...
...he's a 6'4", 275 lb. pitcher. I know there have been big pitchers before like David Wells, C.C. Sabathia, Bartolo Colon, etc., but the combination of football center and baseball pitcher is a different one. Of course, if you want to get on the field playing interior offensive line (especially at 6'4"), you need to be close to 300 lbs., so he could very well get bigger during college.
This got me thinking about Michigan athletics. Have there been any jumbo dual-sport athletes at Michigan? I know some guys have played two sports, like Kelvin Grady, Tai Streets, etc., and Barry Larkin was a baseball player that Bo Schembechler tried to get to play football, too. There have been track guys (Tyrone Wheatley, Denard Robinson, Drake Johnson), but no hefty dudes I can remember.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:09 AM ^
I don’t know anyone specific, but I’m sure there have been some linemen over the years who competed with the Track and Field team as shot putters, discus throwers, etc., since those tend to be very large men and women already.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:12 AM ^
Yeah, I was trying to think of any guys who might also have been wrestlers, too, but I couldn't think of any. Michigan has recruited a couple guys over the years who were going to wrestle in college, too, but they ended up committing elsewhere.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:27 AM ^
Ron Kramer played football and basketball and was on the track team (1954-58). All-American in football, all Big-Ten in basketball and was a tight end on the Super Bowl winning Green Bay Packers. I believe he was an All-Pro tight end during his career. He was not that "jumbo" in college, but was very large in the NFL. He's still the greatest athlete I've seen at Michigan since I went there in the early 1950's.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:40 AM ^
User name checks out. Very cool.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:46 AM ^
Does Don know you're on his old guy corner?
Respect for being on MGoBlog in your 80s!
January 21st, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
The ancient is welcome on my corner any time—he makes me forget I'm sorta ancient myself.
I was born in '53, when he was in class at UM. It's a very different university today, and A2 is a completely different town.
January 21st, 2019 at 9:07 AM ^
Bill Freehan and Don Dufek
Freehan was a big guy for his day (played TE briefly for UM) and was the best MLB catcher not named Johnny Bench.
Don Dufek was a captain for the Seahawks and was a very good hockey player. Not sure how many players are drafted by both the NHL and NFL.
Don Dufek.png)
January 21st, 2019 at 10:03 AM ^
Brother Bill Dufek was a really good hockey player as well as a 1st team All Big Ten tackle. He beat three time heavyweight Ncaa Champion Jimmy Johnson in wrestling 3 out of 5 of their epic matches in high school.
He was probably the fastest lineman on the team. Imagine an athletic 6’ 4” 285 defenseman if he had chosen to stay with hockey.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:05 PM ^
sees that d-d says 'brother' bill dufek. checks user name. guesses 'double-d' = don dufek.
asks question: correct?
January 21st, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
My dad knew Kramer @michigan. Ron was what passed for a b-ball team back then; more people went to hockey games than b-ball.
A bunch of them were at the Union and the door was close. Ron just went through the wood door.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Mi Sooner is correct. Michigan basketball was poor and Michigan hockey was at a peak when I was in school, the hockey team winning the NCAA three times, if I recall correctly, during my undergraduate days ('51-55). But more about Ron Kramer. I happened to be on the basketball team during the '54-55 season when I was a senior and he was a sophomore. Occasionally after practice Ron would go over to the high jump area in Yost Field House (the track and basketball teams shared the facility in those days and the hockey team used a different building), set the high jump bar at 6' and jump over it with an ease that was incredible. However, he was actually a shot putter and/or discus thrower when he performed for the track team. I heard, but could never verify, that Ray Fisher, the famous Michigan baseball coach in those days, wanted Ron to join the baseball team after seeing him hitting some balls in the batting cage one day. Finally, in one sequence of plays in the 1954 U-M v. Michigan State football game, Ron scored a touchdown, kicked the extra point, kicked off to State, and made the tackle on the kickoff play. He was hard to believe as an athlete, and that's the reason number 87 (his football number) was retired. The Ancient
January 21st, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Mi Sooner is correct. Michigan basketball was poor and Michigan hockey was at a peak when I was in school, the hockey team winning the NCAA three times, if I recall correctly, during my undergraduate days ('51-55). But more about Ron Kramer. I happened to be on the basketball team during the '54-55 season when I was a senior and he was a sophomore. Occasionally after practice Ron would go over to the high jump area in Yost Field House (the track and basketball teams shared the facility in those days and the hockey team used a different building), set the high jump bar at 6' and jump over it with an ease that was incredible. However, he was actually a shot putter and/or discus thrower when he performed for the track team. I heard, but could never verify, that Ray Fisher, the famous Michigan baseball coach in those days, wanted Ron to join the baseball team after seeing him hitting some balls in the batting cage one day. Finally, in one sequence of plays in the 1954 U-M v. Michigan State football game, Ron scored a touchdown, kicked the extra point, kicked off to State, and made the tackle on the kickoff play. He was hard to believe as an athlete, and that's the reason number 87 (his football number) was retired. The Ancient
January 22nd, 2019 at 12:00 AM ^
Wow. Thank you for hanging out around here and reminding us late-30's dudes of how silly we sound when we complain that we're getting old (not that our parents are ever shy about reminding us of that).
January 21st, 2019 at 12:03 PM ^
Wrestling wouldn’t play well with football at a collegiate level anyway I don’t think. It seems like football players are mostly trying to bulk up more, while wrestlers are unilaterally trying to cut tens of pounds to an arbitrary number.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:27 PM ^
This is relatively accurate, though in the off season ask any one of the wrestlers what they walk around at and you’d be horrified to hear the difference in that weight and their wrestling weight class. Common for the LS’s to be up in the 160s-180s, the middle weight classes to teeter near 190 or 200 and the bigger guys to be in the 230-250 range.
The difference between being in “football shape” or just being in shape and being in “wrestling shape” is huge. And I am not taking anything away from the conditioning of any division 1 football player. But wrestlers are fucking nuts, especially the gym rats
January 22nd, 2019 at 2:29 PM ^
I don't think a guy with the bulk and muscle mass of an offensive lineman is going to be able to pitch. A pitcher requires long, lean muscles and tremendous flexibility and extension of the shoulder.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
Actually, all did not commit elsewhere. They just realized football was full time and some of the weight room requirements did not transfer to the mat as well as it did to the field. Off the top of my head, I can think of Terrance Taylor, Mike Teeter and Rob Renes.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:50 PM ^
Back in the fall of '67, Pete Drehman (sp?) was both a punter on the football team and a wrestler.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Dierdorf was the Ohio state discus champion in high school. He threw the discus is a few track meets. Didn't practice with the team much & was just recruited for meets.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:12 AM ^
Wasn't there a dt who who was track and field too while playing at M?
January 21st, 2019 at 8:33 AM ^
Are you thinking of Marques Slocum - he was always running trying to catch his Fuck Lion.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:29 PM ^
Did Terrance Taylor do any of this? For some reason I thought he did shot put or something while at UM. I know he wrestled in high school and did Track and Field there. Maybe he solely focused on football in college
January 21st, 2019 at 8:21 AM ^
Paul Jokisch comes to mind, who switched from basketball to football in the early 80’s. He was a much better football player.
January 21st, 2019 at 10:11 AM ^
Jokisch was good. 6’8” wide out. He looked funny out there against 5’ 10 DBs. Had some decent foot speed.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:38 PM ^
If you watch Wolverine Historian's Jim Harbaugh tribute vid, it's practically a Paul Jokisch tribute vid with liberal doses of Eric Kattus. Those guys were like Brady and Gronk.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:26 AM ^
This is especially unusual because while the other pitchers mentioned were just fat, none of them had an offensive line sized arms. They carried all of their weight in the trunks. Having the monster arms a lineman need often works directly against the small shoulder muscle strength needed to throw a baseball at what a high level college pitcher would need to do.
January 21st, 2019 at 8:40 AM ^
This will be interesting. The development of a pitcher and a center is completely opposed to each other. Bulk will not help with shoulder separation and hip rotation.
Other point of note is that the kid is a walk on and only throws in the low 80's
January 21st, 2019 at 8:55 AM ^
I actually find this pretty interesting because a lot of baseball pitching conditioning involves mobility and lower body exercises which would definitely aid an OL if you factor in the strength and powerlifting
January 21st, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^
When I was in school in the mid-90's Jon Jansen spent some time practicing with the basketball team. He didn't end up joining them but there was talk that he would and I know he worked out with them a couple of times before he made his decision. At the time he was about 6'7" and 310 pounds.
It is always fascinating when you see the biggest guys on the football team like him, or Gentry, or any number of left tackles over the years......who would end up being just average height on the basketball court. All of those huge NFL left tackles are basically the same size as Mathews, Iggy, or Livers. Tai Streets looked tiny on a basketball court despite being slightly above average for a WR.
January 21st, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
Another forgotten dual-sport guy at Michigan was Clayton Richard. He's had a 10-year successful stint in the MLB after coming to Michigan as a hot-shot QB who ended up being the backup for a while before giving up football for what was clearly his best sport.
Then of course there's Drew Henson.....still bitter....
January 21st, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
I was at a Gus Macker and watched John and his brother (who played college basketball) clean up our court on a team with a friend of mine. Didn’t get to play them (fortunately), but it was funny watching guys bounce off of John as he swung that big leg around in the post and made layup after layup.
January 21st, 2019 at 9:43 AM ^
Okay, I know you’re looking for the big guys, but a forgotten guy who was a real cool dude and hasn’t been mentioned was Chuck Winters. Baseball cf and football fs.
Big guys, I don’t know....
January 21st, 2019 at 9:50 AM ^
Rob Renes, right? Wrestler-nose tackle?
January 21st, 2019 at 4:54 PM ^
I don't think Rob wrestled in college. I can not find any records or stats for him in college as a wrestler. Very good wrestler in high school.
January 21st, 2019 at 9:50 AM ^
Dave Porter was an NCAA Champion wrestler in the sixties and was drafted to play in the NFL, as well.
January 21st, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
Not a UM example but Kyle Long of the Bears was a pitcher and I think was going to play both sports at FSU before he got booted. Didn't end up playing baseball at Oregon or the community college between FSU and Oregon, that I'm aware of anyway.
January 21st, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
Football Center and Baseball Pitcher. The next Clayton Kershaw? Same height at 6'4" but Parker Ball (great name, BTW) has 50 pounds on Kershaw.
January 21st, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
Not quite a UM example, but Bob Griese, the father of Brian, not only played quarterback for the Purdue team that handed the Wolverines their only loss in 1964 (and yes, I was in the stands as a student for the game), but was a guard on the basketball team and pitched for the baseball team. An impressive talent!
Since his son was quarterback for our 1997 championship team, I can forgive him for that long-ago loss that probably prevented a championship in 1964. Though it still rankles a bit.
January 21st, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Karsen Barnhart can really hoop at Paw Paw. He's only like 6'4 but so difficult to stop due to his size and power. He's also pretty nimble on his feet considering his size. If he was a few inches taller, I bet he'd have a chance at hoops at a lot of schools.
January 21st, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
Going to drive me crazy because now I can't remember the name, but a couple days ago I saw a DE recruit on Instagram that was 6'5" or 6'6"ish, 280-290 lbs doing a bunch of ridiculous hand springs, back flips and cartwheels. If you only saw him in street clothes you'd probably think he's a chunk, but just effortlessly athletic.
Committed to some Who Cares SEC school, no doubt...
January 21st, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
I once saw Bubba Paris play basketball on the court in front of South Quad. He had a 6” vertical leap, but could still dunk...
January 21st, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
Back in the 60s when freshmen weren't eligible athletes could play IM sports if it wasn't their varsity sport. Huber House in South Quad was the dorm of choice for many athletes and freshman football players. In 19678-8 the house IM team was made up entirely of football players they ran a dunk drill before games, including linemen.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
Paul Jockich played both football and basketball but he was a tight end so not real big
January 21st, 2019 at 12:18 PM ^
Came to see an amusing picture of a large person playing baseball.
Stayed when I saw mom replying immediately below.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
There's a really unique example at Michigan right now. Julius Welschof .DE and competitive mogul skier!
January 21st, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
In the multi sport athlete from my era, David Hall was back up to Steve Smith at QB and also played basketball one year and track all 4. Was a champion at decathlon
January 21st, 2019 at 9:06 PM ^
was he a transfer from somewhere like depaw?
January 21st, 2019 at 5:25 PM ^
Shocked that over the course of a full 9 hours not a single person listed Ricky "The Peach" Leach, The guts and glue of the maize and blue, as a two sport athlete....He does not fit the large human criteria but lots of other mentions didn't either. A beloved QB for Bo, he was a much better baseball player (made it to the bigs)….Have also heard off the record reports that he was a high level partier too......over-achiever!
January 21st, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
How about kicker/catcher?
Mike Gillette. I met him as a kid when he was on the Lakeland tigers, gave us an autographed bat at a game for a go blue.
http://www.greatest21days.com/2016/03/mike-gillette-baseball-syndrome-2409.html?m=1