I’m just going to leave this here. It’s really long, but some of you have come to expect that of me. It is not critical of anyone. If anything it’s a testament to our program through the years.
I appreciate, Slytherin, that you are a huge Michigan fan, and that you love Michigan Basketball. I appreciate and, frankly, envy you that you have the opportunity to be a season ticket holder for Michigan basketball. Thank you for your support of Michigan Athletics and of our sports programs.
Having said that, I’ve been following Michigan Basketball since the early sixties when Dave Strack came to AA. Strack turned Michigan’s basketball program around. I personally had the great privilege of watching Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin, and their teammates Oliver Darden and Larry Tregoning, though not often as very few games were televised back then. But I DID see them play in person a few times and more than a few times on TV.
Coach Strack led the Wolverines to three consecutive Big Ten Championships, a Final Four appearance in 1964 and the NCAA National Final game in 1965 where they lost to UCLA. We had wonderful players, a great coach, and tremendous success. I was just growing up, a high school kid, I graduated in '65, and I was falling in love…falling in love with Michigan Basketball. It was an absolute joy to be a Wolverine during those glory years.
That’s how I remember those years, as glory years, as being so excited to be a fan of Michigan Basketball, of the joy that I felt being a fan. That 1964-65 team lost to a great UCLA team who won their second of ten national championships that year. We lost to a coach who would become legendary and a team that was building a dynasty.
Great memories, but I don’t remember much about the loss to Loyola in 1964, though the game was certainly memorable. Look it up for yourself. And the 1965 game, as an 18 year old Michigan fan, I was crushed and disappointed at our loss. Today I am just so proud to have been a fan, to remember the FEELING I had going into that game, to look back and say, I was a Michigan man.
Over the decades that I’ve been a devout fan of Michigan Basketball I’ve seen good times and bad. The ride to the 1989 Championship was magical. I went to a lot of games that season. I had a former player whose dad had season tickets literally at midcourt, about 15 rows up, lower bowl, and he gave me his tickets whenever I wanted them. He was a huge Michigan booster but not a basketball fan. He was also one of the most influential members of the country club at which I was the privilege of being assistant pro. So my son and I, sometimes friends of my son, too, saw some great basketball that year. And THEN, the National Championship year in 1989! Oh my goodness, it was GREAT to be a Michigan Wolverine, to borrow a phrase.
Glen Rice, Terry Mills, Rumeal Robinson, Loy Vaught, Mark Hughes, Sean Higgins, Mike Griffin, what a team! Rob Pelinka was on that team, too. Wow! And we’d wait in the tunnel after the games and my son got autographs just like he had gotten the autographs in the years before of Gary Grant and Garde Thompson, all heroes to a young boy Special times for a dad and a son!
I also suffered through the depths of depression during the scandal years, the abyss. It had been so fun and exciting during the Fab Five years, but it all came crashing down. As Michigan fans we had to painfully endure that. That, too, was crushing. And it lasted a LONG time.
I went through the painful Brian Ellerbe years, and I was there for all six years of Tommy Amaker, not just that 22-13 NIT early exit disappointment year that you “experienced.” I thought Tommy would be our savior, that he’d lead us back to the promised land, but he didn’t. I did admire Tommy, though. He brought dignity and respect back to Michigan. And his firing led to the hiring of John Beilein. And now a glorius new era has begun and we are in the midst of it.
Why am I saying all of this? Because I think 30 years from now, hopefully even in ten years, you WILL look back and have great memories of this basketball team and these players, these wonderful, exceptional young men, who don our uniform and play their hearts out for Michigan. I hope you’ll have memories of these terrific young men who represent our university so well and with so much class. We are in the midst of a great run in Michigan Basketball led by John Beilein. I hope you’ll remember X and Charles and Iggy, and Isaiah and JP and John Teske, “Sleep.” At least I sincerely hope you do. And I hope those memories give you great joy and pride, as my memories of Michigan Basketball have for me. Those times may not, probably won’t, last forever.
It’s only been a few days now since that lost to TT, and htough disappointed in the loss, I already have great memories of this team. And I have memories of over fifty years ago, too, of the sixties, and of that young lad who fell in love with, and grew up with Michigan Basketball, and of everything it means to me, raising my son to love Michigan basketball, being with him at Crisler, and of how much THESE kids and THIS coach mean to me. I hope you can cherish these times. I know I do. These are GOOD times to be a Michigan Basketball fan. I wish you well my friend, my fellow MICHIGAN fan! Go Blue!!!
Sorry to all who took the time to read this, for the length of it, but I hope it had some meaning for you, from a little old Silver haired Michigan man and former basketball coach, dad, and lover of Michigan Basketball.