Those ’48 Michigan Kids Meeting Too

Michigan’s 50-year reunion of its 1948 Rose Bowl championship team will be a relative “Romper Room” compared to Washington State’s reunion of its ’31 Rose Bowl team.

You like omens? The Wolverines have been getting together in Ann Arbor every five years since 1948, and decided years ago to return to Pasadena for the 50th anniversary of their 49-0 victory against USC--never imagining that Michigan would be playing in the game for the national title.

Twenty-nine members of the 1948 Rose Bowl championship team are expected to reconvene to swap stories about their fabled squad, which finished 10-0 and is considered by some the greatest college team of all time.

The Wolverines, coached by Fritz Crisler, were known as “the Mad Magicians” for their innovative offensive schemes.

Combining the single-wing formation with an unbalanced line, the Wolverines’ four-man backfield dazzled opponents with a dizzying sequence of handoffs and spinner plays.

Jack Weisenburger was the ringmaster, brilliantly melding the famed “spinner cycle” and buck-lateral series into one.

The other components were quarterback Howard Yerges and two gifted backs, Bob Chappius, the team’s best runner and passer, and Chalmers “Bump” Elliott, a blazing wingback.

“There was a lot of very clever ballhandling,” said Dan Dworsky, starting linebacker and backup center.

It was a complicated system, with 180 play options from seven formations.

How good were the Wolverines?

Michigan players were clearly miffed that Notre Dame had been voted national champion by the Associated Press before the 1948 Rose Bowl, and thus vented their anger on the Trojans.

“It was such a great game,” said Dworsky, 70, a Los Angeles architect who designed his alma mater’s Crisler Arena. “Everything worked so beautifully. It was a crisp, beautiful day. A typical Rose Bowl day.”

Michigan’s shutout victory over USC--”I was very proud of the nothing,” Dworsky said--was such a display of dominance that, in an unprecedented move, the AP voters reconvened on Jan. 6, 1948, and voted Michigan No. 1, although the NCAA record book still lists Notre Dame No. 1 with an explaining asterisk.

Dworsky says the Michigan offense was very difficult to duplicate. The Los Angeles Dons of the old All-America Football Conference borrowed the scheme in the season Dworsky played for the team, 1949.

“They tried to install the Michigan system, with the spinning cycle, and didn’t do it very well,” he said.

Thinking he could not coach a better team, Crisler retired after the 1947 season. Bennie Oosterbaan took over and led Michigan to an undisputed national title in 1948.

The Wolverines have not won a national crown since.

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Remember When . . .

1947 SEASON (10-0)

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OPPONENT RESULT Michigan State W 55-0 Stanford W 49-13 Pittsburgh W 69-0 at Northwestern W 49-21 Minnesota W 13-6 at Illinois W 14-7 Indiana W 35-0 at Wisconsin W 40-6 Ohio State W 21-0 USC (Rose Bowl) W 49-0

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