The 1943 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1943 Big Ten Conference football season. Fritz Crisler, in his sixth year as head coach, led the team to an 8–1 record and a tie with Purdue for the Western Conference championship. The team was ranked No. 3 in the final AP Poll behind Notre Dame and the Iowa Pre-Flight School. (It was ranked No. 2 by Litkenhous.) Michigan outscored its opponents 302 to 73 in nine games. The team's total of 302 points (33.5 points per game) was the highest point total for a Michigan team since the 1917 team scored 304 points in 10 games (30.4 points per game).February 1944 Michiganensian, p. 94. Defensively, the team held every opponent, except Notre Dame, to seven or fewer points.
After opening the season with three consecutive victories, the Wolverines lost to Notre Dame by a 35–12 score in game matching teams ranked #1 and #2 in the AP Poll. In the fifth game of the season, the team responded with a 49–6 victory over a Minnesota team ranked #11 by the AP. The game marked the worst defeat to that time in the history of the Minnesota football program and Michigan's first victory over the Golden Gophers since 1932. The Wolverines finished the season with a 45–7 victory over Ohio State—the largest margin of victory in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry since Michigan's 86–0 victory in 1902.
At the end of the season, several Michigan players received individual honors. Despite missing the last three games of the season due to military service, fullback Bill Daley finished seventh in the voting for the Heisman Trophy and was selected as consensus All-American. Daley led the team in both rushing and scoring, totaling 817 rushing yards and 59 points in six games. Daley gained 216 of his rushing yards in Michigan's 21–7 over Northwestern.
Bob Wiese, who played at quarterback and fullback, was selected by his teammates as the most valuable player on the 1943 team and finished in a tie for second in voting for the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy presented to the most valuable player in the Western Conference. Right tackle Merv Pregulman was also selected as a first-team All-American by Collier's Weekly and Stars & Stripes. center Fred Negus was also selected as a first-team All-Western Conference player.
Schedule
Rankings
Season summary Pre-season The 1943 season was Fritz Crisler's sixth as the head coach at Michigan. His 1942 team had concluded its season with a 7–3 record and a #9 ranking in the final AP Poll. Several key players from the 1942 team, including tackles Albert Wistert and Bill Pritula, quarterback George Ceithaml, and end Elmer Madar, were lost to graduation. Several others were called up to active military service, including backs Bob Chappuis, Tom Kuzma and Don Robinson. Another key player expected to return was right guard Julius Franks, who in 1942 became Michigan's first African-American player to be selected as an All-American. Franks contracted tuberculosis at the start of the school year and missed the entire 1943 season. Fritz Crisler announced on September 7 that Franks had been lost for the season due to illness.
While Michigan lost a number of key players to wartime service, the school's military training programs (including the V-12 Navy College Training Program) also resulted in more than a dozen players being transferred to Michigan from other schools. The two most highly touted transfers joining the Michigan program in 1943 were fullback Bill Daley from Minnesota and Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch from Wisconsin. After watching Hirsch in pre-season practice, Associated Press football writer Jerry Liska referred to "squirming Elroy Hirsch" as "Wisconsin's gold-plated wartime gift to Michigan." Daley and Hirsch became Michigan's most powerful offensive weapons during the 1943 season and were dubbed Michigan's "lend-lease backs."
The arrival of players from other universities required Michigan veterans to be flexible. Merv Pregulman was credited with being Michigan's "Handy Man" for adapting to a new role. Pregulman was a guard for Michigan in 1941 and the starting center in 1942, but moved to right tackle to make room for Fred Negus of Wisconsin at center. With a pre-season injury to place-kicker Jim Brieske, Pregulman also was given responsibility for kick offs and place-kicking extra points.
With World War II being fought in Europe and the Pacific, some universities, including Michigan State, canceled their football programs for the 1943 season. In April 1943, Fritz Crisler, who was Michigan's athletic director as well as its football coach, announced that the university would continue "a complete schedule in all sports even if Michigan does not receive a dime in revenue." With thousands arriving in the area to work in war industries, Crisler opined the college football would serve civilian morale. More importantly, Crisler touted the training impact of the sport: "There is no substitute for football in physical training. The physical advantages of this contact game have been proved repeatedly and are now being demonstrated once more on the battlefield. Football teaches resourcefulness. It develops initiative, demands quick thinking under pressure, and requires courage."
Also in April 1943, it was reported that Michigan's 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon was missing in action. Harmon was serving as a bomber pilot in the Army Air Corps and disappeared while flying a mission in South America. Harmon's bomber had crashed in the jungle in Brazil, killing the entire crew with the exception Harmon. Harmon survived after reportedly hacked his way through the jungle. On learning that Harmon had been found, Fritz Crisler called Harmon "the greatest competitor in the history of football" and added, "And I'll betcha he doesn't have a scratch on him."
In August 1943, Albert Benbrook, an All-American who had starred on Fielding H. Yost's Michigan teams from 1908 to 1910, died in Texas.
Week 1: at Camp Grant
On September 18, 1943, Michigan opened the season with a 26-0 victory over the United States Army's Camp Grant Warriors. Camp Grant had opened its season the prior week with a 23-0 victory over Illinois and featured fullback Corwin Clatt, who played for Notre Dame in 1942 and later played in the NFL. In previous years, Michigan had opened its season against Michigan State, but Michigan State did not field a team in 1943. Camp Grant was coached by Michigan State coach Charlie Bachman and replaced the Spartans as Michigan's opponent for the season opener.February 1944 Michiganensian, p. 89. The game was played in Rockford, Illinois before "a capacity crowd of 6,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilians."
Elroy Hirsch was the star of the game for Michigan with a long kickoff return, two touchdowns and an interception. Hirsch had played for Wisconsin in 1942, but was transferred to Michigan as part of the V-12 Navy College Training Program. In his first game as a Wolverine, Hirsch returned the opening kickoff 50 yards "with some dazzling open-field running" to midfield. Hirsch capped the opening drive with a three-yard touchdown run, and Bill Daley, another V-12 transfer student, missed the extra point kick. In the second quarter, Jack Wink, another Wisconsin transfer student, took over at quarterback and completed a 30-yard pass to Art Renner at Camp Grant's three-yard line. Hirsch ran for his second touchdown, and Daley again missed the extra point kick. Paul White scored on a reverse from Daley in the third quarter, and Merv Pregulman kicked the extra point to give Michigan the lead at 19-0. Michigan's final score was set up when Hirsch intercepted a pass on the Camp Grant 39-yard line. Daley scored Michigan's final touchdown on a 23-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Pregulman kicked his second extra point. Paul White also tallied an interception in the third quarter after Camp Grant had taken the ball to the Michigan 12-yard line.
Michigan dominated the game statistically with 226 rushing yards, 138 passing yards, and three interceptions. The Wolverines held Camp Grant to four first downs, 43 rushing yards, and 51 passing yards. The account of the game published by the International News Service emphasized Michigan's teamwork and noted that Michigan was "considered the 1943 powerhouse of collegiate football."
Michigan's starting lineup against Camp Grant was Rudy Smeja (left end), Bob Hanzlik (left tackle), John Gallagher (left guard), Fred Negus (center), George Kraeger (right guard), Merv Pregulman (right tackle), Art Renner (right end), Bob Wiese (quarterback), Elroy Hirsch (left halfback), Paul White (right halfback), and Bill Daley (fullback). Players appearing in the game as substitutes for Michigan were Hank Olshanski, Fenwick Crane, Rex Wells, Farnham Johnson, Bob Rennebohm, and Clifton Myll (ends); John Greene, Robert Kennedy, Clem Bauman and Fred Bryan (tackles), Amstutz, Robert Fischer, William Sigler and Jack Trump (guards); Harold Watts (center); Bob Nussbaumer, Wally Dreyer, Jack Petoskey, Jim Holgate, Jack Wink, Joe Ponsetto, Hugh Mack, Jim Aliber, Don Lund, Earl Maves and Bob Stenberg (backs).
Week 2: Western Michigan
In the second game of the 1943 season, Michigan defeated Western Michigan by a score of 57 to 6 before a crowd of only 18,000 spectators at Michigan Stadium. Michigan scored two touchdowns in each quarter, and its 57 points was the highest single-game total since 1939. Elroy Hirsch scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, and Michigan also scored on a safety in the opening quarter when Bob Hanzlik tackled Bob Mellen in the end zone. Bill Daley had a 65-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and Bob Nussbaumer, substituting for Hirsch, also scored two touchdowns. Michigan's remaining touchdowns were scored by Bob Wiese, Wally Dreyer and Bill Culligan. Merv Pregulman converted on seven of eight extra point kicks. Western Michigan's touchdown came on a two-yard run by Augie Camarata in the second quarter. The Chicago Daily Tribune reported that head coach Fritz Crisler "tried vainly to stem the tide by resorting to fourth and fifth string players after the regulars had piled up a convincing early lead." A total of 43 players appeared in the game for Michigan.
Michigan's starting lineup against Western Michigan was Rudy Smeja (left end), Bob Hanzlik (left tackle), George Kraeger (left guard), Fred Negus (center), John Gallagher (right guard), Merv Pregulman (right tackle), Art Renner (right end), Bob Wiese (quarterback), Elroy Hirsch (left halfback), Paul White (right halfback), and Bill Daley (fullback). Players appearing in the game as substitutes for Michigan were Bob Rennebohn, Farnham Johnson, Jack Petoskey, Hank Olshanski, Alan Schwartz, Vincent Mroz, Bruce Hilkene, and Clifton Myll (ends); John Greene, Clem Bauman, Fred Bryan and Robert Kennedy (tackles); Rex Wells, Ralph Amstutz, Jack Trump, Robert Fischer, William Rohrback (guards); John Crandell (center); Jack Wink, Joe Ponsetto, Hugh Mack and Jim Aliber (quarterbacks); Bob Nussbaumer, Wally Dreyer, Lynch, Jim Holgate, William Culligan, James Brown and Jerome Powers (halfbacks); and Don Lund, Bob Stenberg, and Earl Maves (fullbacks).
Week 3: at Northwestern