Happy Birthday Bo !
The program hasn't been the same since his passing.
We have truly been a program without a leader. I'm ready for team 135 to right the ship.
Since Bo passed away November 17, 2006:
50-41 Overall Record
27-30 Big Ten Record
1-7 against OSU
2-5 against MSU
5-2 against Notre Dame
5-0 against Minnesota
2-4 in Bowl Games
But I'm not sure how much those numbers would change if Bo hadn't died when he did.
Unfortunately, they would have been better. I think that is more of a criticism about Michigan's culture than a compliment to Schembechler (though it certainly is some of that too). The political in-fighting that went on and probably still does a bit today would not have been so severe had Bo been around. Guaranteed.
Pretty sad that a lot of these grown men still needed a babysitter. But kudos to Bo for doing what he needed to there.
I believe without falter that had Bo lived another 3 months Michigan would have beaten Ohio State in the 2006 1 vs 2 game and then Florida or OSU again in the National Championship.
If anything, you'd think they would've wanted to win the 2006 Game for Bo even more after he died.
It is all speculation but I imagine losing a mentor would be fairly distracting to the coaching staff. I mean Lloyd put a lot of thought into his eulogy it is a beautiful speech.
That is truly ridiculous.
"Program without a leader" is very true, but should it be? Bacon has written things like "Bo has not been replaced" as if a replacement is mandatory. Yet I see plenty of programs out there that are very successful and don't have a dominant Godfather figure around. Michigan could be like that too but it's as if they don't know how that works.
I don't think the program needs a "Godfather" figure in the sens of somebody looming over the program but rather someone who you know the buck stops with.
I may be old school but I think college kids need an authority figure in the head coach. They can be friends with their position coaches but they should be united in fear and respect for the head coach. Lloyd was that kind of coach, he praised his staff and players in public but I'm sure in private he tore them apart. I'm still hoping Hoke grows into this role and I think the position coaching shakeups will help.
RIP Bo we will always remember you not only for what you did for our program
But produced high quality, high character, Michigan Men. Go Blue!
I miss Bo.
"I'm 205lbs of solid blue steel" We Love and miss you Bo!
Twisted Blue Steel was right up there with Adamantium.
"A Michigan man will coach Michigan."
And people say that Bo never won a National Championship. He did . . . in Basketball.
Those lines are great. I can so vividly picture him saying each one of them. RIP Bo; you are missed!
Wasn't there something something about "The Team"?
April 1, 1929 - November 17, 2006
You are missed.
Also happy birthday to another great from the past. Bob Ufer. April 1, 1920 - October 26, 1981
Just as loved and missed.
God Bless both of their Maize and Blue hearts.
Cotton pickin' Maize and Blue hearts.
Bob Ufer, too!
And thanks, Bo for sharing your birthday with, among others, Bob Ufer and myself.
to you, too then.
Going out for your first taste of beer tonight?
Happy birthday to Coach Schembechler.
Many of us have memories which are so intertwined with this name that it is difficult to know where to start when saying something, but if anything is the case, a lasting impact when your standard is the standard people use to judge a program and the character of those who are part of it even long after you've left. It might be fair to say that Bo achieved this very thing, and very few people have.
A couple of months back someone posted a video of Bo in some sort of documentary. Included in the video it showed Bo interacting with his players the night before the game at the hotel the team was staying at. It was clear from the footage that Bo cared about his team, and clearly they cared about him. Very few people in this world have that effect on so many. Very few people have that opportunity and do the right thing when they get it. Bo did it right.
"A man is as great as the help he gives, As great as the destiny he seeks, As great as the life he lives."
Happy birthday Bo!
The name of the documentary was Vintage Bo. It followed Bo around the week of the 1971 Iowa game, which Michigan ended up winning 61-7.
Here it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF_Gh__hPC4
Happy Birthday Coach! We miss you!
GO BLUE!
Happy Birthday Coach! I loved reading your book Bo's Lasting Lessons.
you all are making me misty-eyed over here with all of these Bo quotes. i know it's a stupid question, but.....do you think he still knows how much he means to all of us? like, in heaven?
to 3 Michigan Sports Legends:
Bo & Bob Ufer (4/1) as already mentioned, but also to Mr Hockey!
Gordie's 86th birthday was a couple days ago, but I missed it and hadn't seen it posted anywhere on mGoBlog.
Pardon my link, but this article about Gordie on his 86th was too poignant and well-written to not post a link:
For those not wishing to click, here's the copy-and-paste (and yes, it's OT, but we're talking Gordie Howe here ) :
The fishing trips always bring out that smile his sons love and cherish.
Gordie Howe never was one to sit around, and that hasn’t changed even as dementia roils his health. He turns 86 today, an event that will appropriately be celebrated in Detroit, because no city ever has celebrated Howe more. He reigned here as a local hockey folk hero for three decades, defining what it meant to be talented and tough.
Howe doesn’t come to Detroit a whole lot any more, because he cannot be on his own. He has spent the past four months in Lubbock, Texas — staying with his daughter, Cathy, and her husband, Bob — escaping the harsh winter that would have impeded his physical activity. The man who six decades ago dominated opponents in hockey remains a man who doesn’t like to be still.
Keeping Howe active can be as simple as buying a rake, but there’s nothing better than getting him onto a body of water. “We try to make it fun for Dad, and that means fishing,” Mark Howe said Sunday. Mark is a scout for the Red Wings, having played defense for them late in a career that led to a Hall of Fame induction in 2011, 39 years after his dad. Gordie Howe had three sons and a daughter with Colleen Howe, his wife of 55 years who passed away five years ago from Pick’s disease, a neurological condition that causes dementia .
Howe’s children have looked after him in shifts since Colleen’s death. Marty, who also played in the NHL, does most of the professional planning, like a potential upcoming charity appearance in Calgary, Alberta. Murray, a radiologist in Toledo, is in charge of the medical care. Gordie spends summers with Mark, who lives halfway between Philadelphia and New York and has another home near the Jersey shore, making for easy access to the activity that has defined the Howes’ lives as much as hockey.
“Dad used to take Marty and I fishing when we were kids,” Mark said. “We’d go fishing in Michigan and southern Ontario. He took us on trips down to Ecuador and to Florida with friends. We’d go deep-sea fishing and fish for Arctic char in northern Canada, or for walleye or sea bass. We’ve done a lot of fishing together with Dad.
“Growing up in Saskatoon, Dad always used to tell us he’d run down to the river and get some wooden handmade lures, and he’d catch northern pike all day. He always loved and still loves fishing.”
His sons — Marty lives outside Hartford, Conn., and often in the summer will take Howe fishing on Long Island Sound — have grown accustomed to what comes after a fishing trip with their dad. “I can take him out fishing for tuna on a beautiful night,” Mark said, “and the next day he’ll remember he went fishing, but not if he caught anything, or what boat he was on.”
Like his siblings, Mark has a daily habit when he is hosting his dad. When Howe wakes in the morning, Mark asks: Do you know the names of your children?
“When I had him for three months last summer,” Mark said, “there were only two days he couldn’t name all four of us.”
Remembering in the morning doesn’t mean Howe will remember later in the day. Mark recounted having his dad for a week this past Christmas and taking him to scout an Islanders game. “Halfway through the first period, he asked, ‘Where’s Mark?’ You smile and ask, ‘What did you say?’ And then he realizes you are there with him, and he says, ‘Oh, I must have gotten hit in the head too often.’ He realizes what he asks.”
Howe’s awareness of the immediate is acute. “He knows if people are talking about him, if he hears people being sarcastic about him,” Mark said. When Howe and Ted Lindsay were to drop the puck for the 2014 Winter Classic second alumni game this past New Year’s Eve, Howe rejected the help offered by Mark and Steve Yzerman.
“He was irritated with me for trying to help and gave me a nasty look,” Mark said.
It stung, but also swelled Mark’s heart. Because Howe didn’t shoot a dirty look at Yzerman. Howe knew which man was his son and which man was a fellow Wings legend.
“He’s giving me dirty looks, and that was his pride factor,” Mark said. “He was telling me, ‘I don’t need to be helped.’ It was a little bit of aggression, but I’m glad that Dad knows the difference between me and Stevie and only got mad at me. And 30 seconds later, it was forgotten. It’s not his nature.”
It stung, but also swelled Mark’s heart. Because Howe didn’t shoot a dirty look at Yzerman. Howe knew which man was his son and which man was a fellow Wings legend.
“He’s giving me dirty looks, and that was his pride factor,” Mark said. “He was telling me, ‘I don’t need to be helped.’ It was a little bit of aggression, but I’m glad that Dad knows the difference between me and Stevie and only got mad at me. And 30 seconds later, it was forgotten. It’s not his nature.”
Howe began his professional hockey career 70 years ago with a failed attempt at making the New York Rangers. A year later, he caught on with the Wings, for whom he made his debut Oct. 16, 1946. He would go on to be a four-time Stanley Cup champion, six-time Art Ross Trophy winner, six-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner, and 23-time NHL All-Star.
The pride Howe had in his professional career now manifests itself in his desire to remain useful to his children. “He wants to feel like he’s needed and wanted,” Mark said. “His nature is, he’s always given. He feels horrible if you’re working and he’s not doing anything.”
On bad days, when Howe naps for hours at a time, he will wake up and see Mark waxing his car and want to help. “It’s just not safe,” Mark said. “So you switch jobs. A couple of years ago, I took him to Home Depot, and we bought a rake. And he spent the next seven hours raking my lawn. He’s still a horse that way. He was doing something that he knew was helping me out.
“He’s a caring and loving parent, giving to his child, and this is how he does it nowadays. I’m glad it’s still there, because that’s him. That’s what you cherish, when you know he knows he is helping you, and he’s having fun, and you see him smile."