It had a few false starts and detours along the way but at last you can now watch the University of Detroit football team in action. It is not the whole game, and you may only catch a glimpse of the band and cheerleaders, and there is no sound, but hey, half the fun might be to call your own play by play action. Additional films will be added, and if you can ID some of the unknown games, let...
Each year at commencement the University of Detroit Mercy welcomes back former students for a fifty-year class reunion. For the class of 1965, here are a few items they might remember: Maybe they were one of the 8500 who attended one of the last public appearances of Robert Frost at the Memorial building in November 1962. Listen to Johnny Mathis at the 1963 Spring Carnival sing “Misty”. Remember where they were when they heard the news that President...
I just happen to be filing away some football pictures and just realized that there must have been a change in the scoreboards that were used back when UD had a football team. Don’t know when the change was made, but this first one has written on the back: “new electrical scoreboard donated by Chevrolet” and has a date stamp “Sept 26 1934″ The second scoreboard just has the date stamp” Oct 18, 1953″ The second one would have been...
It was not an announcement UD president the Very Rev, Laurence V. Britt wanted to make: The University of Detroit has dropped Varsity football. His statement in part reads: “After careful appraisal of its most recently completed football season and detailed review of the program over the past ten years, the President and Trustees of the University of Detroit have now been compelled to make the decision to discontinue the university’s program of intercollegiate football. Despite concerted efforts to make...
Now that football season is upon us, a time take a look back at the early teams of the University of Detroit. Football was such a big part of the university that one of the first buildings that was constructed on the McNichols campus was a football stadium. But the move to the McNichols campus did not take place until 1922 and there was no space on Jefferson Avenue where the school was located to play home games. They sometimes...
On occasion I find some item on ebay that I think would be nice to have in the university archives. There was a posting for a “Large 1931 Press Photo University of Detroit College Football Team”. Did a little digging around because the uniforms did not look like the kind they wore in 1931. There was a listing on the back of the picture of the members of the team and I recognized one of the names “Walter (Tillie) Voss....
Back in the days when the University of Detroit had a football team, Homecoming of 1953 had all the traditional activities: pep rally, parade floats, homecoming queen, bonfires, and a dance before and after the game. Homecoming festivities would start on Friday with a dance at the Memorial Building (now called Calihan Hall) when the homecoming queen would be crowned. In 1953 D’Anne Howell, a dental hygienist student, was chosen as queen and her five court attendants were Mary Carlson,...
In the process of collecting UD memorabilia from wherever-including ebay, I got this lighter commemorating the 30th anniversary of the 1946 football team. It was given “Compliments of Chuck & Ann Baer June 5, 1976″. Charles Baer was the Head Football Coach in 1946. A little background about this team would show why this team seemed to be extra special. According to the 1947 Tower yearbook, this was the first real post-war team. It was the first Titan team that...
Did you know Mercy College of Detroit had a football team? It was only around from 1967 to 1971, but there was a team! Ok- so it was a flag football team, no helmets or padding as part of the uniform-but still it was a football team! The teams they played: Detroit College of Business, Midwestern Baptist, Detroit Institute of Technology, Shaw College (formerly Michigan Lutheran College), and Detroit Bible College. Their first game was with the University of Detroit...
The University of Detroit had a marching band to go along with some of their football games. The first student band were engineers dressed as clowns, played at a football game in which U of M defeated U of D, 39-6 on November 1, 1913. The first organized band was formed in September of 1919 when a call went out for volunteers and twenty-five musician showed up. The first appearance was for a performance of As You Like It by...
