E Pluribus Unum

If you're not from Michigan, if you're not a fan of college football, or if you're not a University of Michigan alum, then you'll probably shrug this story off. But pretty much anyone else from one of those groups (and I belong to all three) will feel some sense of loss on hearing that Bo Schembechler has died -- and, of all times, on the day before the Michigan-Ohio State game.

From a 1981 Sports Illustrated profile of Bo:

"Schembechler," says Bobby Knight, "is the best coach coaching anything in college sports."

Southern California coach John Robinson, a Bo buddy, says, "I'd love to have a son play for him. He'd come out of there a much better person."

Gerald Ford [who played for the Wolverines before spending a few years in Washington] says, "He's a helluva man, isn't he? The two things I think of with Bo are strength and success. And then, underneath the surface is a very, very compassionate man."

Woody Hayes [Bo's mentor even after Bo left Ohio State] professes great admiration, although he does add softly, "Bo is the second best in the country. I have to say the first is that old man down at Alabama." [That's "Bear" Bryant for you neophytes.]

His teams won or shared 13 Big Ten titles and made 10 appearances in the Rose Bowl (but won just two). The Wolverines were known for their grinding running game and brick wall defense. They called him Patton for the way his teams rolled over the opposition -- and for his personal ferocity.

I was at Michigan during the early part of his career when Michigan Stadium would fill up with over 104 thousand fans on those cold and overcast fall days. Even up in the nosebleed seats, you'd watch one man -- Bo -- as he paced up and down the sideline watching as his teams would demolish the opposition by 30, 40, 50 or more points. He beat Northwestern once, 69-0.

The stories are endless but the there was a common thread throughout all of them: playing against (or for!) Bo was like trying to read a newspaper in a tornado.

So tomorrow is the Michigan-Ohio State game, a huge event in Michigan (and Ohio) even under normal conditions. This year, it was shaping up to be even bigger than usual, with Ohio and Michigan being ranked number 1 and 2 in the national rankings. I'd seen him on TV just last week, cackling with glee about the upcoming game and making a passing reference to the pacemaker he'd just had implanted in his chest, a device that was supposed to have helped his famously bad heart keep ticking.

From his autobiography:

I will die one day from a bad heart. I’ve pretty much accepted that. Already I have suffered two heart attacks, two open-heart surgeries, and I’ll probably go through another episode before I’m finished here on earth.

In some ways, that’s a terrible thing to live under. On the other hand, each time I come through one of those scares, it makes me appreciate the life I have that much more. When that doctor told me a few years ago, as I lay on that hospital bed with tubes coming out of my body, that, yes, I could coach again, I swear it was one of the happiest moments of my life.

And win this one for Bo.