Fall Football Memories - Buckeyes, Wolverines, Spartans - Dave’s Midwestern Ohio Memories

A Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s.


Fall Football Memories - Buckeyes, Wolverines, Spartans

Wow! Michigan State beats Michigan in the last 10 seconds on a fumbled punt snap. No, that’s not a memory from the 50’s & 60’s, but a fresh one from Saturday. It’s 3:00 am Sunday morning and I can’t sleep so maybe writing this week’s blog as promised about college football memories may help get my mind off the game!

Starting out as a solid Buckeye fan back in the 50’s and 60’s was a natural, as they were the only Big 10 team in the state, so everybody was a fan. But then in 1967 while attending college in Michigan, I became exposed to those two schools Up North. Whenever the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Spartans played another team, I always rooted for a win, forever hoping that my three teams would come into their mutual games undefeated, then let the best team win. But sorry Buckeye and MSU fans, during graduate school at U of M in 1974, I became a true maize and blue Wolverine fan.

Since that period, there were many, many memories (some of which I’d like to erase like the last 10 seconds of Saturday’s game); the Big House with 115,000 fans, fall Saturday tailgating, Heisman poses, Big 10, Rose Bowl & National championships, three yards and a cloud of dust, Bo, Woody & Duffy; the list goes on and on. With most of my family living in mid-western Ohio, and me from Michigan, the rivalries seems to become even more intensified over the years.

For example, my brother used to come to the OSU-Michigan games in Ann Arbor, but he never saw the Bucks win at the Big House (during the Cooper era). In fact, after one Michigan win over OSU, it so happened that Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and his staff came to eat at the same restaurant we were and sat at the adjacent table. That was rubbing salt into the wound, so my brother now refuses to come. On the other hand, my sister and her family have traveled to several recent games in Ann Arbor and have never seen the Buckeye’s lose! She’s the one with the scarlet and gray decor in her home, except for one maize and blue item, a block M in her toilet bowl. I go out to pee in their barn when visiting!

Next week I’ll focus on high school football memories, which will be tough as my high school did not play football at the time!