TalkingwithLeon: The Mid-West Triangle

Before you read this blog be warned that it may be slanted to form a big block

Three deep rooted college football programs full of history, three of the most successful programs in NCAA history, and three states interconnected by football in a way that you might not suspect. These three schools make up the Mid-West Triangle, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. These three traditional powerhouses of the Mid-West have more interconnection to them then meets the eye. Let me connect the dots for you so you will know what I mean.

We’ll start with the Michigan-Notre Dame (South Bend) connection. Separated by 187 miles and two rabid fan bases, this heated rivalry goes way back to another century. On November 23^rd, 1887 the nice boys from the University of Michigan (Yeah!) went down to South Bend, Indiana to teach the new kids on the block The Fighting Irish (Booooo!) how to play the new game called football. Michigan won 8-0. Teaching them the sport of kings was the only neighborly thing to do. Notre Dame was a slow learner though, it took them an additional eight games to finally pull off a win in 1909, 11-3. Michigan being the sportsmen that they were back then, pouted about the loss to Notre Dame and refused to play the Irish for another 33 years.

The good folks in South Bend, Indiana home of the Fighting Irish (Booooo!) gave Michigan a very talented lad named, Louis Elbel (Louis Elbel was born in South Bend, Indiana on October 28, 1877) , the man who would pen “The Victors”, the greatest fight song ever ( Hail to the Victors , baby!) in 1898.

Hail! To the victors valiant

Hail! To the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! To Michigan

The leaders and best

Hail! To the victors valiant

Hail! To the conqu'ring heroes

Hail! Hail! To Michigan,

The champions of the West! (Feel free to sing along)

In gratitude for the lovely war song that the South Bend native gave to Big M, Michigan let Notre Dame copy the “Big House” built in 1927 (without worry of copyright infringement). They made themselves a “Little Big House” in 1930. The Irish named their little house, “The House that Rockne Built”. Shouldn’t they have named it the House that Rockne copied?

THE BIG HOUSE
(every good Michigan home should have this picture in their dens) by: http://www.aerialpics.com/

Rockne's House

Now I will show you the Michigan-Ohio State connection. Michigan in 1932 taught Ohio how to spell by introducing the “Ohio Script” to them in Columbus. The state of Ohio not wanting to be out done by its rival up North has over the many years sent her sons to Michigan. Many of Michigan coaches have either coached in Ohio or played in Ohio. Michigan in turn gave “Ohio” as Michigan’s new coach Brady Hoke calls ‘em, lots of headaches over the years. Anyone remember the 1969 season? The apprentice (Bo) showed the teacher (Woody) that things weren’t going to be the same in Ann Arbor anymore. Maybe Woody shouldn’t have run that score up the previous year 50-14.

Thanks to the state of Ohio for sending the Wolverines so many good coaches over the years. This blog also points out why Rich Rodriguez ( I still like you Rich) couldn’t truly be successful at U of M, it wasn’t because he isn’t a good coach, it wasn’t a lack of support from the fan base, or because he couldn't recruit

(ever hear of a kid named Denard Robinson?)

it is because he never played or coached in the state of Ohio. History truly shows that to be successful at U of M and to be a Michigan Man you have to first be an Ohio man.

Michigan Coaches that Were Born In Ohio, Played In Ohio, or Coached in Ohio

Name of Coach	Born	Ohio School	Ohio School(s)	Record at
		Played for	Coached at	Michigan
Horace Greely Prettyman	Stryker, Ohio
Gustave Herman Ferbert	Cleveland, Ohio			24-3-1
Fielding H Yost			Ohio Wesleyan	198-35-12
George Little		Ohio Wesleyan	Cicinnati
Bo Schembechler	Barberton, Ohio	Miami of Ohio	Ohio State (A),	234-65-8
			Bowling Green (A),
			Miami of Ohio
Gary Moeller	Lima, Ohio	Ohio State		44-13-3
Brady Hoke	Dayton, Ohio		Toledo (A)	10-2
				510-118-24
(A) denotes was an assistant coach Look at that combined record, Wow!

Now to the Michigan fans go ahead and burn the Notre Dame and Ohio State effigies (you wouldn’t be true blue if you didn’t) but remember it takes a South Bender to write a Michigan fight song and a Ohioan to successfully coach a Wolverine team.

To the Notre Dame bunch I say to you, remember when your team does beat our boys, who taught you how to play the game? The other thing to remember when you walk into “The House that Rockne Built”, remember your house was inspired by the house that Michigan built. Go Blue!

And finally to that school down South the next time you dot that I in Ohio remember that U of M taught you fine people how to spell, “Ohio” in 1932 by introducing the “Ohio Script”.