GBMWolverine: Michigan Stadium — Glory, Hallowed Ground, Tradition
Glory, Hallowed Ground, Tradition
This Saturday, millions will see in one manner or another the new and definitely improved Big House. And so some preliminary comments follow.
Most major college alumni love to visit the home team’s turf. The game day experience is as enjoyable as the actual game. On some days it may be better.
There cannot be many fan bases that truly appreciate the history and stature of their home field more so than the Michigan fan base. The reasons are myriad and one may as well start with history.
Fielding H. Yost was one of a kind. He was a true hybrid before the era of successful crossover types became vogue. Fielding may be the single most influential man in Michigan football history. He was part motivator, part educator, and part salesman, among other things. There is no adjective “part” to the following descriptors and nouns: fierce competitor, winner, egocentric, and persuasive.
Fielding Yost was a part of the first crop of glorious, legendary football coaches that included Pop Warner, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Knute Rockne. His record and achievements at the very least could hold their own with any of the other legends, and in truth with any college coach who has ever lived. The other coach who comes to mind as soaring above everyone else is Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, a humble under the radar type. Coaches have won more games than either Wilkinson or Yost, but for a twenty-year span, which is quite sufficient to make a mark, neither could be topped.
Yost accomplished much, but the accomplishment that will longest survive stands on Stadium and Main; it is Michigan Stadium. Yost lobbied long and hard and finally in 1927, as an athletic director, he saw his dream (be it visionary or merely vane egotistical one-upmanship) come to fruition.
No won can say that Coach Yost was not only persistent in pursuing his dream he was flat out relentless. His vision came with a small price, a bruised ego for not getting his way on everything related to the project. He wanted another site, not far from the stadium. But the university bought land that was near swamp quality, one could infer to save money. And so much of the land had to be drained and the stadium was built partially under the surrounding ground level. Yost also was stymied in his lobbying for a stadium capable of holding between 130, 000 to 150,000 depending on the version one wishes to accept. As a concession, the foundation underlying the grand new stadium was built to support a bigger venture some point into the future.
And so in 1927, the stadium opened with about a 72,000 capacity and has undergone several changes in structure and capacity since. The first game was against Ohio Wesleyan, won 33-0 and the stadium dedication game soon after against Ohio State saw another Michigan defensive shutout, 21-0.
Things kept getting bigger and other increases in seating and construction followed, including maybe the best and most endearing of all stadium lore, the mystical 01 seat of Professor Fritz Crisler. Where is it? Maybe no on knows, or maybe the location is in a time capsule, or maybe it is mythical. But one thing is certain; there will certainly be no capacity in the future that will not end in a number one.
There is much to like about the vaunted venue that is the Big House. It is indeed big, but the seating is outstanding, Even a seat in the rows above 70 are really decent viewing, preferred by some over the lower ring. The outside concourse will now be much more pleasing. The structure speaks football but demonstrates not a touch of gaudiness; instead a virtuous simplicity is the format. There is no hint of shameless commercialism within the central structure, but that joy may soon change. But at least the stadium is not the final result of a conglomerate naming rights enterprise.
Perhaps the most desirable quality of Michigan Stadium is the realization that the patron views areas where Tom Harmon ran to true glory, where Fritz and Bo became the best of the best, where Charlie Woodson did it all, where David Boston had his view of the world temporarily inverted, where the M-Club will forever support the Blue, where Bob Ufer enjoyed life as much as any human who ever breathed air, where there is only one tunnel and one way to get to the field, and where the proud marching band enters through the same tunnel and performs, game after game, the unchanging traditional routine that no one ever tires of seeing. That is Michigan, that and hundreds of other happenings of great note.
There may be better restrooms (no one will complain here) and a bigger concourse, and luxury additions (which are just fine), but perhaps the finest result of the two-year construction project is that the Big House is still the Big House.
Let the commemorative festivities begin. Let the curtain fall with a win.
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!