RIP Jim Mandich

Fuck cancer. RIP Mr. Mandich. Go Blue!

You have got to be fucking kidding me. 

The number of former players passing away too soon has been mind boggling the last several years. 

Damn... RIP

Man, back to back.  Yeah, we gotta beat this thing.

RIP Jim. Come on Phil...

Too many Wolverines falling to cancer lately.

Sad to hear this. He was so proud to be a Michigan Man. He would always make references to it on his radio show in South Florida. Also had his own Real Estate company.

Will never forget the story told by his teammate about seeing him in the tunnel (Senior Year) before they played OSU. The guy was so emotional, he had tears streaming out his eyes. We won that year. He was Captain.

"For every one of us, living in this world

means waiting for our end. Let he who can

win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,

That will be his best and only bulwark."

-Beowulf,

One of our greatest team captains ever.  RIP.

Cancer sucks. RIP Jim.

Go Blue.

A true Michigan Man.  I remember watching him on a 13' black and white TV in 1969.  He was 10' tall and made of steel.  I guess even Superman is powerless to kryptonite.  Cancer is a motherfu^&er.

More help to take on AMHG.

Saw him play, and saw him tear up OSU in '69.

One of the all-time great team leaders, and one of the guys who helped redefine Michigan football under Bo.

RIP.

One of the great ones, in every sense of the word. RIP, Captain Mandich.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/39717/dolphins-legend-jim-m…

Too many, too soon.

Terrible news.  Got to tailgate with him a couple of times.  Very nice, classy guy who was definitely a proud Michigan Man.  Sad day.  RIP.

My prayers go out to your family in their time of sorrow.

Diablo.

Great player for Michigan. RIP.

Is note how often he's mentioned in Bo's Lasting Lessons to realize what a giant he was, and what a legend. Hail!

Hope you and Bo and Vada and all those other guys are up there right now sharing stories, Mr. Mandich.

I am so, so sad about this.  I love the stories about about Mandich, about how hard he played and his role in the great victory in 69.  I love his comment in the HBO special about the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry "that he felt shadenfreude every day because of what we did to them that afternoon."

But I also feel an odd kinship simply because this Michigan boy moved to Ohio 15 years ago and happens to live in Solon, Ohio (near Cleveland) where Mandich was raised and went to high school.  His picture still hangs in the high school (although my son notes that while his Dolphins uniform is framed, his Michigan jersey is conspicuously absent).  In a weird way (since I was born and raised in Michigan), I feel like Mandich is my hometown hero.

RIP Jim.  Condolences to his family.  I am sure Bob Ufer is now welcoming Mandich into football's Valhalla.

An enduring memory from the 1969 Ohio State game was the expression on the face of Jim Mandich as the team was going off the field. It was incandescent and mirrorred the collective mood of all of us on that great day. This program was rebuilt on the shoulders of giants, and now there is one more giant in heaven. Go Blue!

Sorry to hear of his passing, my Dad always liked him a lot.

Another sad day.  RIP Captain.  Mandich was a great Michigan Man

and Hail to Jim Mandich.  Mandich was at the genesis of what today's U of M fans enjoy.  As a captain of the 1969 team, it was that team's dedication to what Bo preached that turned the Michigan football program around.  The 1969 victory over tsio (consensus #1 team in the country) was truly Bo most important victory ... ever.

I will never forget Jim Mandich being carried off the field after the '69 game.  RIP Mr. Mandich, you will always be a Wolverine immortal.

Go Blue !

RIP Captain.  A giant of a man.

I will always remember Mandich in 1968 after Woody went for 2 at the end of the blowout.  Most people were sort of WTF is Woody doing, this is insane?  Mandich was so (rightly) enraged in his comments after the game that I thought then and there "this is going to come back to bite Woody in the ass next year."  Sure enough, Mandich was one of the leaders of the upset of the century.  You have to love a guy who does something like that.

Man, this sucks... he has been the only football player for the Bo year's that I'd met.  I was lucky enough to sit with him and watch a few games with the alumni club down in Miami.  He bought me and a friend a few beers and we had no idea who he was until later (even though we were sitting below with Dolphin's jersey).  My condolences to his family.

Mandich stayed, and he was a champion.  Not only was he a champion at Michigan, but he was a champion in the NFL.  More importantly, though, he was a champion in life.  RIP, Mr Mandich: you will be missed.

Jim Mandich was probably one of the toughest players to every put on the winged helmet.  In addition to being one of our greatest TE's ever, he was also a tremendous leader.  He will be greatly missed in the Michigan community.  My sincerest condolences to his family, and RIP Jim. 

...to Jim Mandich is posted at MGoBlue.com.

There isn't one word you can use to describe Jim. He was hard-nosed, tough, loving, contentious, funny, enjoyable, charismatic, giving -- just a super guy who played on an undefeated NFL team and won Super Bowls in the pros. In Ann Arbor, he was one of the all-time great Wolverine players, gaining All-America, Michigan Hall of Honor and College Football Hall of Fame honors. And, more importantly, he was elected captain by his teammates. There is no greater honor for a Michigan Football player.

The whole piece is definitely worth a read.