Bo context.
His doctor said the big-game-week excitement could have contributed to Schembechler’s death of heart failure Friday morning in a Detroit TV studio.
I prefer the poetic take in an e-mail from my friend Christine Brennan, the USA Today columnist who grew up a Michigan fan:
This is Bo’s ultimate final act: fire up Michigan to an emotional level perhaps never seen in the UM-OSU series.
If you’re following the Schembechler news, you’re hearing a lot of references to the onset his heart problems, a heart attack in Pasadena hours before his first Rose Bowl game in 1970.
What must that have been like?
The Daily News had a look back at that incident in an article three years ago by Walter Hammerwold:
The 1970 Rose Bowl was supposed to be the crowning achievement in a young coach’s brief career. Bo Schembechler, in his first year at the helm, had led Michigan to an 8-2 record and a Big Ten Conference title. But while his players took opening warmups on the Rose Bowl field, Schembechler lay in a hospital bed, the victim of a heart attack.
“The press didn’t know until halftime what had happened,” said Michigan team physician Dr. Gerald O’Connor, who made the initial diagnosis. “But the press noticed when he wasn’t out for the pregame warmups, and I could hear one of the Detroit writers yelling down at me from the press box, ‘Where’s Bo? Where’s Bo?’ ”
The Michigan players knew what had happened, but by the time they took the field the diagnosis was somewhat preliminary. None of the players knew the severity of the coach’s condition.Perhaps because of Schembechler’s absence, the Wolverines played a half-hearted game and lost to USC 10-3.
“It had to weigh on them,” O’Connor said. “It weighed on us all.”
(Schembechler) made a complete recovery from the heart attack he suffered at a Pasadena monastery where he was spending the night before the game. He returned to the Rose Bowl nine more times to set the record for most appearances by a head coach.
Schembechler announced his retirement before the 1990 Rose Bowl game against USC, and true to his cantankerous image he went out screaming about a critical holding penalty, as related in the next morning’s Daily News by Ron Rapoport:
“That was the most ridiculous call I’ve ever seen,” he said of line judge Charles Czubin’s holding call on Michigan linebacker Bobby Abrams. ”It’s an absolutely basic call. The official said he was blocking below the waist, then he went to the referee and said he was holding.”
Schembechler said he would apologize if films showed Abrams had indeed been guilty but he also noted, “One thing I won’t miss in retirement is incompetent officials.”
Asked who made the call against Abrams, he said, “The most incompetent one.”
Did he know if the offending official was from the Pac-10?
“I do know that and it happens every time,” he said. “We need a neutral crew for a game like this. Of course, the worst call ever (the ruling that USC’s Charles White hadn’t fumbled before scoring the winning touchdown in 1979) was made by a Big 10 official. But this one ranks.”
In expressing his outrage, Schembechler compounded Michigan’s problem by flinging down his clipboard and running onto the field, almost tripping over his phone cord in the process. For this, he was assessed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moved the ball back to the Michigan 21 and after the ensuing punt USC marched to its game-winning touchdown.
Schembechler had a sense of humor, as he showed at is 1993 Rose Bowl Hall of Fame induction, covered by Paola Boivin noted in the Daily News:
(Schembechler) was remembered by master of ceremonies Curt Gowdy for his record number of appearances at the game.
“I’m glad that Curt recognized that the 10 times I was out here was more than any other coach in history,” he said, “and glad he failed to mention my record. . . . This place has been good and bad to me.”
Schembechler’s teams were 2-8 in Rose Bowl games.
There are coaches who are bigger than the games. Schembechler’s Ohio State coaching rival Woody Hayes was one, Schembechler’s USC coaching rival John McKay was one, and Schembechler is one. The proof will be felt Saturday when a game between the No. 1 Buckeyes and No. 2 Wolverines is played in the shadow of his death.
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