What It Means to Be a Wolverine: Michigan's Greatest Players Talk About Michigan Football by Allen, Kevin, Regner, Art, Brown, Nate (2005) Hardcover

by Kevin Allen

Michigan football is many things. It's 111,000 fans crowding into hallowed Michigan Stadium. It's the famed winged helmet. It's Fielding Yost, Fritz Crisler, Tom Harmon, Gerald Ford, Bennie Oosterbaan, Rick Leach, and Bo Schembechler. It's the rousing strains of "Hail to the Victors." It's the sublimity of a brisk, sun-splashed autumn Saturday in Ann Arbor. But most of all it's the utter dependability of an institution that delivers success as regularly as the leaves change colors in southeastern Michigan. Regardless of the decade, the coach, the players, changes to the rules, or social and political upheaval, the University of Michigan Wolverines win on the gridiron-40 conference titles, 34 bowl game wins, 11 national championships, and not one coach in its history with a losing record. What It Means to Be a Wolverine brings together many of the greatest and most significant men who have donned the maize and blue to share their memories of playing and coaching at the University of Michigan. Many schools tout their football tradition, but very few possess a history as rich and varied as Michigan's. The compelling and heartfelt stories and reminiscences of the men included in this book illustrate that vividly.What It Means to Be a Wolverine includes Gerald Ford, who captained Michigan to two national championships in the early thirties and later became president of the United States; Bump Elliot, who played in a Rose Bowl for UM and coached the Wolverines to one as well; Ron Kramer, who starred at Michigan and then went on to write a bestselling book about his time with the Green Bay Packers; Jim Brandstatter, who played on Bo Schembechler's first team, went to the Rose Bowl, and is now the radio voice of the Wolverines; Rick Leach, a four-year starter at quarterback who led Michigan to three Rose Bowls and an Orange Bowl; Lloyd Carr, who coached UM to a national championship in 1997; and the incomparable Bo Schembechler, who over two decades returned Michigan to its exalted status in college football.What It Means to Be a Wolverine is unlike any book ever published about Michigan football. It gets at the essence of what it means to be a "Michigan Man," what it means to play or coach at a school with a 112-year winning tradition, and what it means to be affiliated with the best football college has to offer.

Genres: Sports, Football

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Justin Bhatia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are fan of Michigan football then this is a must read! It was written 15 years ago so it’s forward was written by Bo. It’s former players talking about recruiting stories, memorable Wolverine moments and what it means to play for Michigan. Players from as far back as President Ford through Drew Henson.