GLORY DAYS

In 1996 I wrote several columns for the publication called Sports Ann Arbor on local sports history. By request here are some of those columns.

ED BROSS - GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

ED BROSS – GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

It’s funny how your perspective on things changes over time. When I was a kid going to high school sports events in the sixties, I kept seeing one man in attendance at all of the games. Eventually I found out that his name was Ed Bross, and that he was Ann Arbor High’s official scorekeeper. I figured that ANYONE who was associated with AAHS sports had to be a very important person, and assumed that the job of official scorekeeper was undoubtedly a much-sought after position.

Over the years I came to realize that the scorekeeper’s job was a voluntary position, and that it was largely a thankless task that usually fell to whoever the coach or athletic director could con into doing it. Not only did this realization not diminish in my eyes the work that Ed Bross had done over the years, it actually made me admire him even more.

It’s hard to imagine now how long Ed served in that capacity, and just how long ago it was. He started keeping score for the Pioneers in 1932 – that’s two years before my Dad would enter Ann Arbor High as a sophomore. Ed continued as the scorekeeper for the next 33 years, until his death in the fall of 1965.

My most vivid memories of Ed are from attending Ann Arbor High baseball games in the early sixties, just after the school’s home field was moved from West Park to Veterans Park Diamond #5. On a cold, windy early spring day when the number of players on the field outnumbered the spectators, there would be Ed in his overcoat, sitting in his little folding chair up behind home plate, holding the scorebook in his lap.

Imagine what he must have endured through those 33 years – the frigid late afternoons at the ballpark, the frosty nights at the old hockey Coliseum, and driving through ice and snow to get to a distant gymnasium on a mid-winter night. Obviously, although he wasn’t paid for his work, he must have got a great deal of satisfaction from what he did, or he wouldn’t have stayed at it for as long as he did.

What is even more astonishing is that he didn’t take the summer off! Once the school year ended, he took on the task of overseeing scorekeeping for the dozens of baseball and softball teams that participated in the Ann Arbor Recreation Department leagues.

When Ed died, there was a nice write-up about him in the paper. I cut out his picture, and taped it up on the bulletin board in my bedroom where it remained for a number of years. Ed did not have any children, and although he touched the lives of many young people through his volunteer work at the high school, it seemed that within a very short time after his passing, he had all but been forgotten.

Fortunately, there was one person who never forgot him, and that was me. A few years ago when visiting the Pioneer Athletic Department website, I saw that the Pioneer Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame was taking applications for “Volunteer of the Year.” Even though it had been many years since Ed had done his volunteer work, I felt that no one was more deserving of the award than Ed Bross, so I nominated him.

Earlier this year, I got the wonderful news when the phone rang one morning, and I was told that Ed would be honored at the annual Pioneer Hall of Fame dinner. Thank you to all of the members of the Pioneer Athletic Foundation Committee for choosing Ed for this award. If it had not been for this decision, the memory of Ed Bross and his many years of service likely would have been lost forever. Instead, now he will always be remembered for his many contributions to Ann Arbor High School Athletics.

Jim the friendly ticket-taker

I met Jim Atkins in 1978. As play-by-play announcer for WPAG's broadcasts of Michigan hockey games I would enter Yost Arena through the press entrance where Jim, as one of the ushers, was posted. One night as I came in he asked me if I was Jim Heddle and I said yes. He then asked if I was related to Fred Heddle and I told him that I was Fred's son. Jim then told me how much he enjoyed watching my dad play softball at old Sportsman's Park when he was a kid. I thought it was great that I had met one of my dad's "fans," and I began to look forward to visiting with Jim before every hockey game. He always greeted me at the door with a friendly "Hi!," a warm smile and an enthusiastic handshake. As I got to know Jim better, I found out that I wasn't the only one that he treated so well - he was this friendly with everyone he met! To this day I have never met anyone more gregarious, genuine and delightful as Jim Atkins.

In addition to his duties at Yost, Jim also took tickets at the gate for Michigan football, basketball and baseball games. I always would either come in Jim's gate, or once inside would walk over to his post to visit with him before the game. Jim lived in the house where he grew up near Slauson Middle School, where he took care of his elderly mother. He didn't drive, so often I would see him out walking on the west side of town or waiting at a bus stop.

In 1982 I moved to west Michigan but returned to Ann Arbor often to visit, and from time to time would call Jim to find out how he was. He was always pleased to hear from me, and seemed to know all of the town gossip that never made the paper.

I moved back to Ann Arbor in 1994 and for the next 5 years Jim and I enjoyed getting together for lunch at the Old Country buffet every few months. We also ran into each other often at the grocery store and I was amazed that he knew the names of all of the check-out clerks and baggers at the store and all of the workers at the restaurant. He would speak to all of them in the same enthusiastic way that he always greeted me.

We lost Jim suddenly in 1999 and I think of him often, especially when I drive through the area near Slauson school where I used to see him out walking. He was one-of-a-kind, and a true friend and inspiration.

History vs. the wrecking ball

It was early in the year 1969. On a Saturday afternoon we headed toward the U of M athletic campus to see a basketball game. Parking the car north of Michigan Stadium, we began walking toward Crisler Arena when we heard that awful sound - the sound of a wrecking ball hitting concrete. Before I even turned in the direction of the sound, I knew what it must be - they were tearing down the historic Ferry Field football stands. My heart sank, and I knew that even if Michigan won the basketball game, this would not go down in history as a good day.

From the late 20s when the Michigan football team moved into the new stadium until the late 60s the stands had been used for track meets only. Of course they had deteriorated with age and less than a year before they came down a friend and I had wandered over to check them out when we became bored at a Michigan baseball game. There were barricades about 2/3rds of the way up and signs saying it was unsafe to go any higher. My friend ignored the warning and went to the top. I wasn't so brave.

In my office at work I have a large picture of Michigan Stadium and the surrounding area that was taken from an airplane by Dale Fisher on the day of the 1968 Michigan-Michigan State football game. One of my favorite things about the photo is that in the upper-left hand corner you can clearly see the Ferry Field stands still standing. In my mind's eye, that's the way the U of M athletic plant is SUPPOSED to look.

Carnival up on the hill

Back in grade school days, we looked forward to the second week in June for 2 reasons: 1) the last day of school, and 2) the carnival coming to town! In the 60s the annual Jaycees carnival was held up on the hill at Veteran's Park. Adding to the excitement for me was the fact that at night I could look out my bedroom window and see the green and yellow lights at the top of the double ferris wheel.

Later when the pool and ice rink were built at Vets, the carnival moved over to the Pioneer High parking lot and the date was switched to mid-summer. Real old-timers will remember when a carnival was held on Main Street during bargain days in late July, before the Art Fair expanded from the campus area to downtown streets.

Bud & Lee

Bud Corwin was one of my heroes as a young boy. He was the ace pitcher on the Mutual Of Omaha fastpitch softball team that I enjoyed watching play every Tuesday and Thursday night during the summer at Veteran's Park. At that time in the early 60s he was the best pitcher in Ann Arbor, regularly leading his team to city and state titles. What is really amazing is that those who saw him pitch in the 50s say that he was even more dominant then, before an injury to his pitching arm caused him to just be "great" rather than unbeatable.

Throughout his career, Bud threw the ball to his brother Lee who was his catcher. Over the years the team sponsorship changed to Bisiegel Orchards, Discount Tire, Lupi & Sons and Old Heidelberg, and players came and went from the team, but the one constant was the pitching/ catching duo of Bud & Lee, along with yours truly up in the stands rooting them on.

West Stadium hang-outs

In the 50s and 60s, the top 2 places for Ann Arbor teenagers to hang out were Everett's Drive-In and the A&W on West Stadium Boulevard. Everett's was Ann Arbor's version of Arnold's from Happy Days. My favorite menu item was their double-decker California Burger. When Elias Brothers Big Boy restaurants began popping up in metro Detroit but hadn't yet opened a location in Ann Arbor, I began hearing rumors from friends who had been to Big Boy that a Big Boy Hamburger was a lot like a California Burger from Everett's.

When I got my driver's license in the summer of 1970 the first place I went to was Everett's. Me and my buddy pulled into a drive-in space in our '66 Dodge Dart convertible and enjoyed an open-air meal - by ourselves! By then the drive-in option had become less popular and most diners at Everett's went inside to eat. As you can see in the picture, a few years later they installed a drive-thru window as the car-hops were long gone.

It was a sad day when Everett's closed in 1980 to make way for a Taco Bell. One day that summer the Milkshake Gods took out their wrath on the demolition company when a major windstorm overturned their construction trailer, delaying but not stopping the inevitable.
A decade later, owner Everett Williams again made the California Burger available to Ann Arborites at Cafe Seven (see picture above).

As for A&W, when I was in grade school it was a special treat to go there at night when we would sit in the back window of the car and watch people jumping on trampolines at the Ann Arbor Gymkana which was located right behind the drive-in. Later we enjoyed going there to look at the cute car-hops, but the most popular waitress was a grandmother who worked there for years and gave such great service that she ended up getting a bigger tip than the young cuties
did.

In interviews Bob Seger has said that the Ann Arbor A&W was the inspiration for his hit song "Night Moves," and a plaque recognizing that fact now adorns the wall of the muffler shop that occupies the spot where the A&W once stood.

Besides being almost right across the street from one another, the two drive-ins also had another connection. After Everett's closed, the owner Everett Williams sold the rights to the California Burger recipe to A&W owner Jerry Smith, so you could still get a Cali burger in Ann Arbor until the West Stadium A&W closed in the 90s, and even after that at the Dexter A&W.

Birth of the River Rats

Huron High School fielded it's first football team in 1967. This picture of the squad appeared on the cover of the Huron Valley Ad-Visor, a weekly newspaper serving the Ann Arbor area at that time. Though common now, the technique used to take the picture was considered groundbreaking then in the field of photography.

The Popsicle Man

As a kid growing up, one of the highlights of the day during the summertime was the arrival of the popsicle man. The guy who frequented our neighborhood in Ann Arbor for years was called The Big Mouse, and he quickly learned that stopping in front of our house each day meant a sure sale! We'd run into him around town too, at events like the Carnival or the Soap Box Derby. We even saw him at the State Fair in Detroit once! When the Big Mouse stopped coming around, the Good Humor Man - Jerry Poquette (pictured above) took his place. But the Big Mouse was my favorite, and I wrote a little poem about him a few years back:

I'd hear the bells a-jingling and I knew I was in luck
"Hey mom, can I have a dime? Here comes the ice cream truck!"
Every day he'd come on by, pull right up by our house,
Ann Arbor's favorite ice cream man, the guy we called "Big Mouse"
What a deal on popsicles - 10 cents, or was it a nickel
He had every flavor in the world it seems, except for pickle
Where he got that silly name I guess we'll never know
But he was a BIG deal to us, Mouse - where'd you ever go?

Basketball at Yost

Since 1973, Yost Ice Arena has been the home of the Michigan hockey team. A lot of memorable hockey games have been played there over the years, but nothing can compare to the last days of Michigan basketball at what was then called Yost Field House. When I started attending U-M basketball games as a toddler in the late 50s, fan interest was at an all-time low. The team usually finished at or near the bottom of the Big 10 standings, and you could literally walk in at game time and find a great seat at center court. But that all started to change when Bill Buntin arrived in the early 60s, and when Cazzie Russell enrolled the following year suddenly Michigan basketball was the hottest ticket in town.

Adding to the frenzy was the fact that a) the athletic department sold way more tickets to the games than they had seats, and b) most of the tickets were general admission, meaning that you had to get there at least an hour before the start of the game to be sure you could even find a seat. I remember that my dad and I usually ended up sitting way up in the northwest corner behind the big steel girders, often in the very top row where you'd keep your coat on all game long, because the wind would come right through the ancient busted windows.

Being shoulder-to-shoulder with your fellow fans for an hour or two before the game even started led to a rowdy atmosphere, and the Michigan team added to it by trying fancy dunk shots during warm-ups to get a reaction from the crowd. The fans would count out loud the number of dunks Michigan made until finally the last bench-warmer, who wasn't even tall enough to try a dunk, would lay the ball up, leading to catcalls and jeers.

To say that it was an intimidating atmosphere for a visiting team to come into is putting it mildly. And during Cazzie's 3 years at Michigan coach Dave Strack's club would lose just one game at Yost. Ironically that loss is one of only three games that I can remember specific details about, along with a big win over Indiana when Michigan topped the 100-point mark (the antiquated scoreboards there only registered numbers with 2 digits), and Cazzie's last home game against Northwestern.