There are...

Submitted by UM Fan from Sydney on

 

...days until Jordan Kovacs sees the first of Michigan's many wins this season.

Jordan is a former walk-on turned scholarship athlete. He initially wore number 32, but changed to 11, which was a legends jersey (stupid idea thinking back). In 2012, Jordan was chosen as second team All-Big Ten and named a finalist for the Burlsworth Trophy. He was also named the team's MVP and earned Academic All-Big Ten. Jordan has seen time with the Dolphins, Chiefs, and Rams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Kovacs

 

Just eleven days, folks.

NashvilleMaize…

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:36 AM ^

For some reason, changing Kovacs' number from #32 to Legends #11 bothered me more than any other change. I think changing Gallon from #10 comes in second place for the "WHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!" Award. Loved Kovacs.

M Gulo Gulo

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:48 AM ^

Francis "Whitey" Wistert

Francis "Whitey" Wistert played for consecutive undefeated national championship teams in 1932 and 1933 and was a consensus All-American in 1933. The 1934 University of Michigan yearbook, the Michiganensian, included the following quote from Grantland Rice: "Wistert was unanimously selected as the best tackle in the Middle-West this year. He was the key to Michigan's defensive line play. He was a sure tackler and it was next to impossible to fool him on trick maneuvers. He was keen, quick, and accurate in diagnosing plays."

Wistert and Chuck Bernard were the leaders of the 1933 offensive line when the team went 7–0–1 with a tie to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

One of Wistert's teammates on the 1932 and 1933 Michigan football teams was future U.S. President Gerald Ford. In an interview in the February 1974 issue of "Michigan Alumnus", Wistert said of Ford: "He was a real good competitor – a real bulldog type. Even during a losing year, he was voted MVP by his teammates. They felt he was one guy who could stay and fight for a losing cause."[18]

In 1936, he was a member Michigan football coaching staff under Coach Harry Kipke.

Baseball

Wistert also earned varsity letters in baseball three years and was selected as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference in 1934. The 1934 Michiganensian yearbook reports that the final game of the baseball season was a 4–0 shutout by Wistert against the University of Chicago Maroons. "Wistert, for the Wolves, allowed only five well-scattered hits during the game. Although Whitey Wistert walked four men, he more than off-set this by striking out nine of the Maroons to face him." Wistert also pitched a four-hitter against Ohio State.

Wistert was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967, one year before his brother Albert. In 1981, he was named to the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in the fourth class of inductees alongside his brothers. Only five Michigan football players earned this honor before him.

 

Albert "Ox" Wistert

 

After graduating from Foreman High School, Albert "Ox" Wistert became the second of the Wistert brothers to play for Michigan where he wore number 11 like his brothers and played from 1940 to 1942. He was a consensus All-American and team MVP in 1942. He played in the 1943 East–West Shrine Game. He is well remembered, among other things, for his exploits in a 1942 game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1968, one year after his brother Francis. In 1981, he was named to the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in the fourth class of inductees alongside his brothers. Only five Michigan football players earned this honor before him.

Michigan posted a 20–5–1 record during Wistert's three years on the team. In 1940, the team's only loss in its eight-game season was to the eventual national champion Minnesota Golden Gophers football. The Wolverines followed that season with 6–1–1 and 7–3 marks in the next two years. Wistert served as captain of the College All-star team that beat the Sammy Baugh-led National Football League championWashington Redskins, 27–7, in Chicago. He was the only one of the three brothers not to play on a national championship squad at Michigan.

 

Alvin "Moose" Wistert

After one semester at Boston University, Alvin Wistert transferred to the University of Michigan. He was the last of the Wistert brothers to play for the Michigan Wolverines football team where he, like his brothers Francis and Albert before him, wore number 11, which was retired by the University of Michigan but will be re-issued starting November 10, 2012 before a home game against Northwestern as part of the new Michigan Football Legend program. In the spring of 1947, Wistert won the Meyer Morton Award as the most improved player during Michigan's spring football practice. Wistert played defensive left tackle for the undefeated 1947 Michigan Wolverines football team that became known as "The Mad Magicians", and is considered to be the greatest Michigan football team of all time. Wistert later recalled the tight competition to play for the 1947 team: "There were players of almost equal ability on the first two teams. You had to play at your peak because there was someone who could always step in. Also, there was a good balance. A good mixture of youth and maturity." At 230 pounds, Wistert was the largest player on the 1947 Michigan team. In addition to being the largest player, he was also the oldest. Wistert recalled, "When I played football for Michigan in 1947, opponents would say, 'Here comes Pappy and his kids again.' I was a 30-year-old college freshman. I was 13 years older than some of the other players."

As a junior, Wistert was selected as a consensus All-American while playing for the undefeated 1948 Michigan team that finished the season ranked #1 in the Associated Press poll. In October 1948, Michigan helped secure Michigan's 19th consecutive victory with a blocked punt at the 12-yard-line of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Michigan recovered the ball at the one-yard line and scored a touchdown on the next play. The 1948 team also set a Rose Bowl record defeating U.S.C. 49-0.

After the 1948 season, Wistert was unanimously chosen as the team captain of the 1949 team. He was selected as a consensus All-American for the second straight year in 1949.

When Wistert played his final game for Michigan in November 1949, the Detroit Free Press offered to fly his mother, Josephine, to the game to watch her son play. She had never seen one of her sons' football games in person but listened to the games on the radio. She declined the invitation, noting that she had been ill would listen to the game on the radio while looking at her sons' pictures. Interviewed by Lyall Smith, she expressed her particular pride for Alvin's accomplishments:

"I am the proudest mother in the world. But I am proudest of all about Alvin. It hasn't been easy for him to go to school, you know. He had the hard way and that's why I am so happy his teammates made him captain this year and that he was picked by you sportswriters as an All-America . . ."

The Sporting News published a photograph in December 1949 of Wistert's mother "Cheering Alvin's Final Game" while listening on the radio with a Michigan pennant and photographs of her three sons visible in the background.

Wistert was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973 as the third Wistert brother so honored. In 1981, he was also inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in the fourth class of inductees alongside his brothers. Only five Michigan football players earned this honor before him.

 

 

mgobaran

August 23rd, 2016 at 8:51 AM ^

Legends Jerseys still were a good idea imo. Outside of Tom Harmon's 98, which shouldn't be in rotation, the idea of legends jerseys were cool imo. Just don't give them to players with established numbers! If someone wanted to come in an wear number 11, okay cool. Do it. You have a lot to live up to kid. Don't screw up. And in 2 years or so when the kid got on the field, you could pan to the number, nameplate, and teach a new generation about the Wisert Brothers. 

TBD, I never heard of the Wistert brothers before the legends patches. I never knew 11, 47, 48, 87, and 98 were retired. I just figured no one wore 98 out of respect and never noticed the rest. I knew Ford played here, but not what he meant to the team, I new of Kramer and Oosterbaan, but not of how transcendant they were. 

The legends jerseys were a great idea executed in the worst way possible imo.

That's why Courtney Avery is one of only 2 players to wear number 11 since it was originally retired.

Go Blue Eyes

August 23rd, 2016 at 9:53 AM ^

Is it permissable for players to wear a different number for one game?  if so the legends numbres should be worn on Homecoming which would make it a nice tribute to those players who have had their numbers retired. 

Kovacs wearing 11 was just silly.

mgobaran

August 23rd, 2016 at 10:06 AM ^

This predates the official legends jersey thing a bit, but the way I see it Hemmingway wearing 21 was cool. It was fun seeing a WR wear 21 again. It made me think Hemmingway would be something special in a Michigan uniform. And that turned out pretty spot on. Roundtree switching for 12 to 21 for 1 season was stupid. Gallon switching from 10 to 21 was asinine. Look how sad he was: 

umbig11

August 23rd, 2016 at 9:03 AM ^

Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

 

I just thought I would throw this in here, so we don't have to create a seperate thread. If you ordered tickets to the Rutgers game from the ticket office they have been mailed out. They should be in your mailboxes.

Fishbulb

August 23rd, 2016 at 10:03 AM ^

Student body walk-on to the NFL. I wonder how often that happens. I remember first seeing him against ND. I think he might not have had his name on his jersey.




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