In Memoriam: Bo Schembechler

2006-11-17 22:09 (CST)

Today was a very sad day for those of us who consider ourselves a part of the University of Michigan family. For today marked the passing of former head football coach Bo Schembechler. I'm not usually someone who gets overly emotional about the passing of this or that person. But for some reason, it feels just a little bit different this time. You see, I grew up watching Michigan Football. My mother's house, and the house that I spent half of my childhood in, is literally three blocks away from "The Big House," Michigan Stadium. And my mother's not a big sports fan, but she did sometimes watch Michigan Football with me on Saturday afternoons.

Coach Schembechler was not someone that I knew personally. I've never even seen him in person... only on the television. Sometimes I would see him co-hosting the Big Ten Ticket show with sports anchor Don Shane on WXYZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Detroit, Michigan. Instead of attempting to eulogize him and failing miserably, I think that Don Shane's Remarks on the Passing of Bo Schembechler does a far better job than I ever could (I believe that there is a link on the page to the video version of Shane's eulogy). He wasn't just Coach to the players who played under him. He was Coach to everyone who was a Michigan Football fan. More than a few tears will have been shed to mourn his passing tonight, and I shall shed a tear of my own to add to the count. We'll miss you, Coach.

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