Say It Ain't So, Bo

Nobody may know Bo like I know Bo. He was Michigan. He was as big of an icon in the 1960s and 1970s in Michigan as any professional athlete or coach. When you thought of the Wolverines, you thought of Bo. You may not have always been happy with Bo, but it’s difficult to argue his career coaching record, which includes finishing in the Top 10 in college football 16 of his 21 years at Michigan and only twice out of the Top Twenty. No Schembechler team ever finished without a winning record on his way to198 career coaching victories.

The Wolverines could be boring at times – the cheer “up the middle, up the middle, pass, punt” was invented in Ann Arbor – and you were often suckered into believing their mighty 10-0 record headed into the final game of the season was good enough.. But too often the season ended with a loss to chief nemesis Ohio State and Woody Hayes or, if Michigan got by the Buckeyes, it invariably lost in the Rose Bowl.

There was the heart-shattering loss to Stanford and Jim Plunkett in 1970 (heart shattering to Bo too, as it turns out, as he suffered his first heart attack before the game). And of course who can forget the cheap Rose Bowl loss to USC in which Charles White fumbled the ball before heading into the end zone in 1977? Well, Mrs. Laz may remember because she almost decided to stop dating me after I went outside and laid in the middle of a rain-dampened Lamont Street waiting for a car to swiftly end my misery following that loss. You would think she would recognize by now that I take the Wolverines very seriously, wouldn’t you?

The rivalries between the Big 10 and the Pac 10 brought out the fight in us and I remember the pranks I played on the Biggest USC Trojan Fan In The World, Hank Snow. The day of one Rose Bowl game between Michigan and USC, I placed an ad in the San Diego Union urging all Wolverine fans to attend a lunch and rally at Hank’s house to support the team and made sure his telephone number was prominently displayed so fans could call for directions. I don’t know who had more fun with that prank.

To my cousin, the Michigan Wolverines were everything to him and his family and Bo was an early inspiration in his life. When cancer took him at the young age of 39, he was buried in a Michigan Wolverine casket and dressed in Michigan hat, scarf and jacket.

Bo brought that spirit out in people and gave me and 110,000 Wolverine fans in the Big House so many good memories. He was a class guy in an awkward time in our history and understood the role Saturday football could have on the American psyche. He loved his players, knew their families, knew what the games meant to Michigan, knew that the first 10 or so games were meaningless if he couldn’t beat the Buckeyes or get to the Rose Bowl. He placed all the fans’ expectation on his shoulders and drank bottles of Pepto Bismol instead of complaining about the pressure he was constantly under; pressure he created himself just by winning.

He not only had a great sense for the importance of the game of football and its value to the community and the University, but he took great pride in understanding the relationship between athletics and real life lessons. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have made the controversial decision as Michigan’s athletic director to fire basketball coach Bill Frieder on the eve of the NCAA Tournament because Frieder announced he had taken a job with Arizona State. He said he didn’t want an Arizona State coach to lead his team; he wanted a Michigan coach. Steve Fisher took over as coach and his team won the NCAA championship, proving Bo’s instincts right.

I remember many of the players but it was always Bo we counted on to deliver us the victories we needed. I wonder if the players on this year’s team will be pushed for one more victory knowing his spirit will be hovering around Columbus. If they win, I can just imagine the big grin on Bo’s face as the clock ticks down to zero and his good buddy Woody is on the other side of the field cursing under his breath.