Alumni Stuff

I won't write about much of anything else today.  

Tomorrow is Michigan State v. Michigan football day and this is probably my  only blog entry.  

I'll try  to be brief.

Speaking with a few of my friends from college days it lumps down to this; that the farther you are from something good if not great the fewer things you recall but those that you do, you do very vividly. The BBQ tailgate smells, the chill air on a Saturday morning when leaf burning was permitted, laughter and smiles, the crowd alight with happy faces, optimism and camaraderie.

My mom went to UM. My dad went to Eastern Michigan but he opened a restaurant in Ann Arbor called the "Brown Jug" that is there to this day. He got out of school early in the depression and aside from a few stints in and outside the law which we won't talk about, he and some buddies got into this place early on.  It started as the Little Brown Jug.  Anyway, my mom went there often while in school and supposedly met my dad there and they eventually met again at the war and got married.  Murky family history.  My father tells of football weekend days and him being up at 2am to make doughnuts - honey dipped doughnuts - and delivering them to the frat houses on Saturday mornings $1 a dozen. Game days.

I broke ranks and gave up a golf scholarshipt to UM to go to Michigan State.  A traitor of sorts and was in the band.  Football games v. Michigan were the epicenter of the schedule for the team for the band for the campus.  UM had a great great college band at the time. William Revelli was the director and he was what we would call now "a pisser".  He enjoy humiliating players.  Dennis Stolzman, a good friend, was the first clarinet player at UM. First chair - and no small thing.  He had ulcers.

But game days - the crisp air...special game meals provided by alumni who all showed up, 10,000 showing up for band practice, the march to the stadium...running out on the field - home or there...77,000 at our place 106,000 there..the unbelievable torrent of noise and color.  It was magnificent and gives me memories that are vivid from 50+ years.

Michigan was not so good back then .. before Bo Schembechler's time.  The coach was a fella named Elliot and they didn't fill the stadium unless it was for the MSU game - or perhaps Ohio State who would come in and pulverize them.

My last day that I was in the band for that game I got permission from Harry Begian, the director of bands at MSU (I was president of the Band so I dared to ask) to meet the band at UM that morning.  I went down really early and parked on S. University and actually payed I think $5 for an all day spot, wearing my band uniform of all things and went to the Jug for breakfast..this is 1968 I think....met the owner, told him about my dad, and went to the Student Union to meet the band during the pre-game meal before rehearsal..my mom had played piano in the student lounge from 4-7 weeknights and got to look at the piano where she played 30 years before..even found a picture of her in an early scene of the Union..one of those candids that are on the memento walls for the alumni to see and say "I remember that...". That was my speech of greeting to the UM band, those rememberances and that link. Also what an honor it was to be on the field for a memory that we would recall nearly half a century later. They liked the speech - although I'm pretty sure that they were simply amazed that someone from hated-State could walk and chew gum, let alone talk.

Now we are all AARP qualified..those of us who were involved in the 60s. Our parents are long gone. But special days like this with all the color and pomp and parade...it puts a spring in your step and a little lightheartedness in your chest and helps aching bones get through a Saturday of chores and leaves, grass that needs one last mowing...perhaps a garage sale.  

Should have one of my own.