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Forty Years in The Big House: Michigan Tales from My Four Decades as a Wolverine
An inside look at the University of Michigan’s football program from the man who was the team’s equipment manager for more than four decades
Forty years ago, Michigan equipment manager Jon Falk began his legacy, becoming a living encyclopedia of Michigan football tradition and history. Hired by Bo Schembechler in 1974, the now retired Falk shares his firsthand, inside stories from in the locker room, on the sideline, and on the road with one of college football’s most storied institutions. He may not be as well known as the Big House or the Little Brown Jug, but among coaches, players, and a good portion of the Michigan football faithful, Jon Falk has fashioned a lively legend of his own. Falk’s recollections connect the past and present to highlight the importance of the relationships created during the best four years of any college player’s life and it’s those relationships that drive the Wolverines to success.
Forty years ago, Michigan equipment manager Jon Falk began his legacy, becoming a living encyclopedia of Michigan football tradition and history. Hired by Bo Schembechler in 1974, the now retired Falk shares his firsthand, inside stories from in the locker room, on the sideline, and on the road with one of college football’s most storied institutions. He may not be as well known as the Big House or the Little Brown Jug, but among coaches, players, and a good portion of the Michigan football faithful, Jon Falk has fashioned a lively legend of his own. Falk’s recollections connect the past and present to highlight the importance of the relationships created during the best four years of any college player’s life and it’s those relationships that drive the Wolverines to success.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 19, 2017
I always enjoy reading about my favorite football team. I read a few new player stories that I wasn’t already familiar with as a Michigan football fan. The spirit of Jon Falk comes through well and I also laughed out loud as I read some of Bo’s comments. However, I found the book to be repetitive and and a bit boring as it continued on.
October 26, 2015
Sad to say, this is a pretty poor book. What could have been a great retrospective on 40 years of Michigan Football was instead a series of repetitive name-dropping platitudes. Only my Michigan roots keep me from giving it 1 star.
The focus of the writing was haphazard at best, flitting from one topic to another within the span of paragraphs, or even sentences. The rambling nature of the narrative, especially in the opening chapters, almost made me set the book aside. For example, in the chapter about recruiting, the authors don't even mention recruiting until the fourth page of a seven page chapter. The first pages are spent rambling about how Bo and Falk handled retirement, how Carr liked to chew the fat with Bo, how Bo liked to tease Falk, how the rise of social media has changed players' behavior over the years, everything but recruiting. Get to the point already.
The philosophy of "show, don't tell" was totally set aside by the authors. They repeatedly *say* how Falk was, or how Bo was, or how the players were, but don't consistently follow through with stories that illustrate those assertions. There are a few good stories -- Falk cleaning out Bo's locker, "Woody Passed the Ball", "Did You Rob That Bank?", "Enemy Found and Captured", Iowa's pink locker room -- which come mostly in the later chapters. But many of the stories are repeated throughout the book, sometimes changing from telling to telling. Like the story about Jim Harbaugh's guarantee of a Michigan victory over Ohio State in 1986. In one telling, when first hearing about the guarantee, Bo rolls his eyes at Harbaugh's bravado, and in another he gets a twinkle in his eye and says, "That's my boy!" Two totally different takes on the same event. Makes one start to doubt the narration altogether.
A book about Michigan's storied football program, about one of the mainstays of that program, who is vaunted as being such a great storyteller, should be nothing *but* great stories from cover to cover. By that standard, this book is a failure. One wonders what a good editor might have been able to do with this material, or what further gems could have been coaxed out of Falk's memories.
P.S.: Also, no index. A book like this, about people and events across 40 years of history, should absolutely have an index.
The focus of the writing was haphazard at best, flitting from one topic to another within the span of paragraphs, or even sentences. The rambling nature of the narrative, especially in the opening chapters, almost made me set the book aside. For example, in the chapter about recruiting, the authors don't even mention recruiting until the fourth page of a seven page chapter. The first pages are spent rambling about how Bo and Falk handled retirement, how Carr liked to chew the fat with Bo, how Bo liked to tease Falk, how the rise of social media has changed players' behavior over the years, everything but recruiting. Get to the point already.
The philosophy of "show, don't tell" was totally set aside by the authors. They repeatedly *say* how Falk was, or how Bo was, or how the players were, but don't consistently follow through with stories that illustrate those assertions. There are a few good stories -- Falk cleaning out Bo's locker, "Woody Passed the Ball", "Did You Rob That Bank?", "Enemy Found and Captured", Iowa's pink locker room -- which come mostly in the later chapters. But many of the stories are repeated throughout the book, sometimes changing from telling to telling. Like the story about Jim Harbaugh's guarantee of a Michigan victory over Ohio State in 1986. In one telling, when first hearing about the guarantee, Bo rolls his eyes at Harbaugh's bravado, and in another he gets a twinkle in his eye and says, "That's my boy!" Two totally different takes on the same event. Makes one start to doubt the narration altogether.
A book about Michigan's storied football program, about one of the mainstays of that program, who is vaunted as being such a great storyteller, should be nothing *but* great stories from cover to cover. By that standard, this book is a failure. One wonders what a good editor might have been able to do with this material, or what further gems could have been coaxed out of Falk's memories.
P.S.: Also, no index. A book like this, about people and events across 40 years of history, should absolutely have an index.
December 10, 2015
I read this right after reading Falk's previous book (If These Walls Could Talk: Michigan Football Stories from Inside the Big House), and it's a fine book, but it's very derivative of the previous book. In fact, whole chapters from the first book are included in this book, verbatim. This book has a nice wrap-up to Falk's career at Michigan, and that was interesting to read, but the rest of the book is way too similar to the first book.
March 14, 2016
I found this book very informative. However, sometimes it was too informative and I felt like I was reading a dictionary other than a book. With myself being a newer generation of the Michigan fan base, I learned a lot about the Bo and Lloyd eras. It was interesting to see what was going on while I was living,but too young to remember any of it.Overall though, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to any Wolverine fan.
October 3, 2015
It was great book that brings us more memories from Big John Falk. His insight and memories from the michigan wolverines great football program. His stories just pull you in to the special job and life that he was lucky to live all these years. Good luck to him in his retirement. I can only hope he would want to share more memories in the future.
April 29, 2016
Jon Falk provides a unique perspective. This was a fun book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews