The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 33 Morris received a call saying something had happened at WXYZ, and EMS units were taking Schembechler to the hospital. Morris called longtime Schembechler aide Mary Passink, who was trying to track down Cathy Schembechler. Morris was driving and actually saw her on the road, following her home and rushing her to the hospital. What followed changed everything. "It was tremendous, deep sorrow," Thorn- bladh said. "He meant so much to me per- sonally in my life. I was grieved and greatly saddened by his passing. "There's not a day that I don't miss him, and there's not a day that I don't rely on him and what he taught me. I rely on him every day, in my personal life and in business, with the things that he taught me through my as- sociation with him as a player and coach." Falk recalled, "Mary Passink called me and said, "Jon, Bo just passed away.' It's like getting hit in the gut." Chris Spielman, an Ohio State All-Amer- ican and someone who nearly escaped Ohio on the strength of Schembechler's charisma alone, noted: "I remember it. There are cer- tain people that pass away — or go home, as I like to call it — that we remember where we are. I was at Boston College, getting ready to do a game. I just got out of a meet- ing with the Boston College coaches, and I was walking down to the production truck. "Somebody mentioned something to me, then I got a call from WJR, asking if I could go on the radio and say a few things about Coach Schembechler. I certainly jumped at that opportunity. I was honored that some- body thought of me as one of many to give my thoughts." A Memorable Presence Spielman couldn't be any more of a Buck- eye. Reared in Canton, Ohio, he donned the scarlet and gray in the mid-1980s, eventu- ally becoming a Lombardi Award winner at linebacker. Before that, he almost became a Wolver- ine. "It was really close," Spielman insisted. "It didn't have anything to do with uniforms, or the school itself. It was because of Coach Schembechler, because of the impact he had on me personally. "Ohio State won out in the end, but it was certainly closer in my mind, which at that time was the only mind that mattered. I was really close to going there." Schembechler just had a way about him, Spielman assured. There wasn't anything false about him, a fact the eventual De- troit Lion and college football broadcaster learned even more deeply as he went along. He'd often stop by when he was with the Lions, visiting with then-U-M linebackers coach Jim Herrmann. When Spielman began calling games instead of playing them, his respect for Schembechler deepened. "When I first got into broadcasting, I did a Michigan game," Spielman remembered. "He was in his office. I walked in there to say hello, and it was like he knew me my whole life. We didn't miss a beat from way back to high school recruiting in the '80s. "I don't think there is a coach I had any more respect or genuine feeling for, that I didn't play for, than Coach Schembechler." It wasn't a surface schmooze, either, Spielman stressed. "He knew me," Spielman said. "At that time, my father was still alive and my mom was still alive. He asked about them, by name, not just 'How are your parents?' It was, 'How's Sonny? How's Nancy?' It was genuine, with regard to sincerely wanting to know how they were doing. That meant everything to me." If Schembechler treated a fierce rival in such a fashion, it's not hard to imagine the way he embraced his own. While they toiled under his watchful eye and high-decibel de- mands, they might not have dreamed he'd ever be their staunchest supporter. But story after story can be told of just how profoundly Schembechler cared for the young men who'd labored in a winged hel- met. Jim Coode was one of them. Coode, an offensive tackle out of Ottawa, came to the United States after earning an award as the top prep blocker in Canada. He battled for Schembechler from 1971-73. Later in life, he battled Amyotrophic Lat- eral Sclerosis, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. It proved a fight he couldn't win, but his coach made certain Coode knew he still had a team behind him. When the former Wolverine began going downhill physically, the locals back in Ot- tawa put together a benefit gathering on his behalf. Schembechler took Michigan offen- sive line coach Jerry Hanlon, along with two of Coode's former teammates — Thornbladh and placekicker Mike Lantry — to attend with him. "I expected maybe a thousand people," Thornbladh said. "There had to be three or four thousand people there to recognize Jim, because Jim had made a great impact on that community. There was this great outpouring of love and support for Jim. "Jim was barely ambulatory at the time. He was declining. Bo stood up and gave a speech about him, and us, and what we mean to each other. It was unbelievable." Emotion overtook Thornbladh at that mo- ment, causing a long pause as he gathered his composure. "Even now," he said, "it's emotional." And even now, Thornbladh marvels at Schembechler's presence. "This man was dying, his family was there and … it was quintessential Bo," he remem- bered. "All these people in Ottawa just stood and applauded. They were so moved by him. "Anything he did, he did for one of his boys, one of his sons of Michigan. It's uplift- ing. He was alive and his family was there, and they took such pride. It was just remark- able how he crafted that speech … he talked about what we meant to each other and what was important in life. "People couldn't get to him, so they came over and shook my hand. I was with him. That was how moving a talk it was." A Trip Going South Carr's nearly impossible task on Nov. 17, 2006, involved so many elements. First, he had to grasp the reins on his own emotions, swirling strongly in the wake of his mentor's passing. Then he had to try and redirect a football team toward a reachable goal of finishing a season, winning a Big Ten title and more. "We had a great football team," Carr said. "We all knew that the national championship was out there, with two games to go." Suddenly, shockingly, the game didn't matter much to some of its most decorated alums. Carr knew he couldn't allow that to be the case for those in the locker room. But taking an undistracted squad into Columbus proved easier planned than executed. Schembechler played for Woody Hayes at Miami (Ohio) and then coached under him at Ohio State before coaching against his mentor at U-M. In what was coined "The 10- Year War," the Schembechler-led Wolverines went 5-4-1 against Hayes and the Buckeyes. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS