What is your favorite Bo Schembechler story?
I know people always talk about great Bo Schembechler stories here and there. But to my knowledge, there hasn't been just an open topic to just have everyone share there favorite Bo memories and stories. Hell, even if there has been a thread discussing it, I think we can all justify saying them again.
If you love Michigan, then it's hard to pick out just one memory from Bo. For the sake of this topic however, I'll narrow it down to two. The first is from 1969, when Bo first took over at Michigan, when the facilities were pretty ran down. All the coaches would complain to Bo about how bad everything was, and Bo would always find ways to motivate them. For instance when he told one coach that was hanging his coat up lazily one day, "Men, these hooks on the wall, could have been the hook that Fritz Chrysler used".
The second is the whole Billy Taylor story, where Bo was the one who took him to prison in Wisconsin, and never left "one of his kids". Not ashamed to admit that I get choked up every time I hear that story.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^
I was an undergrad working at a bookstore when Bo's Michigan Memories came out, and he did a signing. The signing was scheduled for 4:00. He was the consummate professional. Bo walked in the door at exactly 4:00. He asked the name of everyone who came up to him, looked them in the eye and shook their hand. He stayed until everyone who wanted an autograph got it (which meant staying about an hour beyond the scheduled time), and he put care into that signature - every letter of the name "Bo Schembechler" was legible, as was all the dedications. He double-checked to make sure he was getting people's names right before he put pen to paper. It was clear that in his mind, when he made a public commitment, he was truly committed to being at his best, even if it was just a routine book signing.
P.S. OP - it's Fritz Crisler, not Chrysler.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:37 PM ^
Bo gave a speech to all the high school campers during the middle of football Michigan's football camp. It was hot, humid and miserable with all of the kids gathered in the Track and Field Building. Bo got up to the podium and spoke about sports in America. He went on and on about football and what a great sport and how other sports couldn't compare. He ended with the phrase I have below. You would have thought the roof was going to come off that place! I was working as support staff for that camp in sports medicine and I was ready to go suit up!
October 5th, 2011 at 8:05 PM ^
Rick Leach's recruitment story was priceless. It is a long story but hearing Leach describe the attractive women at ASU in "Daisy Dukes" was hilarious. It was also priceless how he reminded him that ASU was coming to the Big House the next year, and they would beat his butt up and down that field, if he went there.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:52 PM ^
Former M linebacker Craig Mutch arranged for Bo to speak at a fundraiser for Grand Rapids Christian High School's football program in 1995. After a rousing video introduction, Bo walked to the podeum while school band played GRCHS's fight song, which unfortunately is also ND's. Bo's first words to his conservative Dutch Calvinist audience were "Mutch, I want you to make sure this school gets rid of that damn fight song".
October 5th, 2011 at 10:22 PM ^
My favorite Bo story comes from one of my best college and law school buddies who'd been a tight end on the freshman team under Bump Elliott. My friend lasted exactly one practice under Bo.
When I asked him why he quit the team, he looked at me and said, "About halfway through practice I realized that this guy (referring to Bo) is nuts."
I think my friend was destined to be what he became: a brilliant lawyer. To this day, he has no regrets.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:32 PM ^
I worked with a guy who played for Bo at Miami. He said he was the meanest SOB he had ever met. He actually mellowed by the time he got to Michigan if you can believe that.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:37 PM ^
October 7th, 2011 at 9:51 AM ^
October 7th, 2011 at 9:51 AM ^
October 6th, 2011 at 12:52 AM ^
After reading all of these posts it just really hit me...I miss Bo *lip quivering*.
October 6th, 2011 at 1:09 AM ^
I like how Bo earned and owned a few pairs of gold pants.
October 6th, 2011 at 3:10 AM ^
The first time i met Bo I was in about 9th grade playing high school football. My family waited outside the tunnel after a game. Bo came out. My sister asked if she could take a picture. He put down his briefcase and asked if the light was good. I was speechless. I made it to M as a student. Freshman year I was walking by the Union with a M football shirt on. There was Bo walking towards me. In his gruff voice seeing my wide eyes he said, How you doing. I practiced kicking and dreamed of walking on. On a Friday with team practicing in stadium, me and a friend who also thought of walk on kicking were on practice field kicking. It was the year of Bryan Virgil so we might have had a chance. I was set to try a 40 yarder. Then we saw a man jogging towards us. It was Bo. He said, "You gonna make it?" I said I don't know and waited till he ran by to even try. The man had a presence.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:59 AM ^
Freshman year I was down on South Campus fumbling around with a bus map when two old guys walk up to me. The older of the two looks at me and asks me if I need help. I explain I'm trying to catch the bus. The older one looks at the younger one and goes "You know I can never..." a student across the street catches his eye "JOHN GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE NOW". Big guy comes running across the street, never even stopped to look and the older guy has the student explain the map to me.
Turns out the two old guys were Bo and Lloyd heading back from lunch. The student was our QB. For bonus points Bo chewed out John for not looking before crossing the street and then chewed out Lloyd for not teaching his kids to look both ways before crossing the street. There was a lot of swearing involved in this process.
October 7th, 2011 at 12:27 PM ^
I won't spoil a Michigan Marching Band secret, but I will say that every year during Band Week there is a special speaker who comes to speak to entire band, and in particular the freshmen. Well my freshman year (2004) it happened to be Bo. I can't remember a word he said, but I remember that the reaction from all of the upper classmen and the freshmen who were from Michigan was absolutely electric that we had the great Bo Schembechler coming to speak to us. However, I'll never forget my fellow freshman friend who was from Pennsylvania and had absolutely no clue who this "Bo" guy was. He was just kept asking people, "Who's Bo?" but we were all too mesmerized by Bo's words to answer him. Had I known then that he would no longer be w/ us in 2 years, I probably would've tried to get a picture w/ him, and it remains one of my biggest regrets to this day that I didn't.
October 7th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
I asked the exact same question when he came to speak (I was an out-of-state freshman in the MMB that year, too), and the collective gasp from everyone around me made me quickly realize that I had a lot to learn about Michigan Football.