The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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62 THE WOLVERINE MAY 2019 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Wolverines still had enough his sophomore year to topple the Hoosiers. They then beat a Notre Dame crew in the NCAA Tourna- ment that had taken down unde- feated UCLA earlier in the year. They also shut up the Irish, who had done some talking while hang- ing out with various Wolverines the night before. "All they were talking about was Adrian Dantley, and what Adrian Dantley was going to do to us," Britt noted. "I think I had 25 or 28, and he scored maybe 10 or 11 that game. "After the game, there was an ar- ticle in Sports Illustrated. He said his legs felt like log cabins. I figured out I needed to take him up and down the court. He was a little pudgy. He couldn't run up and down that floor, so I took advantage of that. My offense came to life. It was a beautiful game." The beauty ended in the follow- ing contest. Al McGuire's Marquette squad, led by star Maurice Lucas, left a mark in a 72-70 win. "I was going up for a rebound and Maurice Lucas grabbed me by my shirt," Britt recalled. "I have a scar on my chest, right now, from that incident. He was a tough dude, very rugged." Michigan faced a more rug- ged 1974-75 season, largely due to Campy Russell's early departure. UCLA knocked the Wolverines out of the NCAA Tournament in their opening game in Pullman, Wash. "I wish we would have won that game, but it just didn't work out," Britt said. "We weren't tough enough at that time." They grew more talented heading into Britt's senior season. They added ultra-quick guard Rickey Green, big man Phil Hubbard and others who contributed to an NCAA Tournament finalist. The Wolverines began the year playing in Egypt, with the Peace Corps' People To People program, in a trip Britt noted really brought the team together. They ended it staring down Knight & Co. at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, a national title on the line. Indiana beat the Wolverines twice that season, including a highly con- troversial game at Assembly Hall. Britt & Co. desperately wanted to change the ending. "They knew we were ready," Britt recalled. "Bobby Knight was not confident they'd beat us in that final game. I remember, before tipoff, he comes up to me and says, 'Wayman, it's been a great ride, we really appre- ciate the teamwork and the sports- manship. If you ever need anything when you guys graduate, just give me a call.' "This is Bobby Knight. We had just beaten Rutgers, ran them out. They had been undefeated. The game com- menced, and we were just running away from those guys." Michigan led at the half, but couldn't close. The Hoosiers battled back to an 86-68 win in the title game. "They came roaring back," Britt said. "Scott May got loose more than he should have and [Quinn] Buckner did, too. We didn't take it. We should have taken it. I've always wondered if we just had a little bit more gas in the end, we could have clipped them. But we didn't." Britt had plenty of athleticism left, but circumstances took him into business and eventually govern- ment. Drafted in the 13th round by the NFL's Washington Redskins — even though he'd never played high school football — and in the fourth round by the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, Britt chose basketball. Caught in a numbers game, with the old American Basketball Asso- ciation folding and players like Ca- zzie Russell, Matt Calvin and Don Cheney flooding into the league with guaranteed contracts, Britt wound up briefly with the Detroit Pistons. He soon turned to business, working 24 years for Steelcase, then for Kent County, starting in 2004. For longtime Michigan basketball fans, he'll be remembered for helping put the Wolverines on the map. "That was my vision — to be in the NCAA Tournament," Britt said. "I felt like it was more than the Big Ten cham- pionship. We had that goal in mind." ❏ M ichigan Accomplishments: Helped Michigan to three NCAA Tour- naments, including the title game in 1976 … Averaged 10.6 points and 4.9 rebounds per game as a four-year U-M starter … Averaged 11.9 points and 6.0 rebounds in Michigan's Big Ten title season of 1973-74. Professional Accomplishments: County administrator for Kent County, on Michigan's west side … Has worked for the county since 2004 … Served 24 years in various capacities for Steelcase, a furniture-manufac- turing firm in Grand Rapid … Played in seven NBA games for the Detroit Pistons. Education: Earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sports management and communications through the Ki- nesiology Department in 1994. Michigan Memory: "The biggest takeaway was, after that champion- ship game, realizing how big we had become. When I came there, they had a 'Dump Orr' campaign on campus. They were boycotting the team. It was not in a good place. "By the time we left, we were in a whole different zone. It just felt great. The whole campus had come to life. That school was rockin' back then. We changed the dynamic, how they viewed the basketball team. It wasn't just football. We became an item, all over again. "They gave me the Defensive Player of the Year Award. I left there knowing I'd made a contribution to the orga- nization, to the campus and to the student body." Family: He and his wife, Dinah, have seven kids: Eric, Raven, Tia, Ean, Ariel, Ron and Desirae. The Wayman Britt File Britt currently serves as Kent County adminis- trator in Grand Rapids, Mich., helping the "vul- nerable and underserved in our community." PHOTO COURTESY WAYMAN BRITT