THE MAGICIANS : Split Personality in 1947 Helped Michigan Drive Everyone Crazy

Whenever anyone suggests that an athlete, or a team is the greatest of all time, it is certain to start endless arguments and comparisons.

There is the inherent problem, of course, of different eras, so such judgments have to be placed in context.

For example, Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen team of 1924, Minnesota of 1934, Army of 1944, Nebraska of 1971 and USC of 1972 have been mentioned, among others, as deserving special recognition.

However, there is one team that stands alone in the sense of its offensive innovations. The Michigan Wolverines of 1947 were ball-handling magicians.

Arguably, they were the best team to play in the 74 Rose Bowl games, or, at least, they were on a given day.

That team comes to mind now as another Michigan team prepares to meet USC Monday in the Rose Bowl, 41 years later.

The Trojans of 1947 had the uncomfortable distinction of being the foil for Michigan’s trickery and dominance in the 1948 Rose Bowl game, losing, 49-0.

It was not only USC’s worst defeat at the time, it also equaled the largest margin of victory in a Rose Bowl game.

Dan Dworsky, an award-winning architect and a resident of Los Angeles since the early 1950s, was an outstanding linebacker on the 1947 Michigan team.

Michigan’s defense was as sound as the offense was flamboyant, allowing only 53 points in an undefeated 10-game season.

It was an all-star team with halfbacks Bob Chappius and Bump Elliott, fullback Jack Weisenburger and quarterback Howard Yerges, along with ends Lenny Ford, Bob Mann and Dick Rifenburg, tackle Alvin Wistert, safety Gene Derricotte and Dworsky.

Fritz Crisler was the Wolverine coach, a Phi Beta Kappa, whose innovative offensive schemes and precise, orderly practices were models of design and efficiency.

Moreover, Crisler is credited with pioneering the two-platoon concept, a separate unit for offense and defense, which is standard today.

It is ironic, though, that this great Michigan team was not recognized as No. 1 in the Associated Press poll at the end of the regular season.

The distinction went to Notre Dame, which beat previously unbeaten USC, 38-7, in December, 1947.

So Michigan wanted to prove to the country that it was better than Notre Dame by beating USC by a larger margin than the Irish did.

That was accomplished with ease. In those days, the final wire service poll came out before the bowl games, unlike today.

However, in an unofficial poll after the Rose Bowl, Michigan was an easy winner.

“Notre Dame still claims that national championship and so do we,� Dworsky said.

Michigan went on to win the official national championship in 1948 with another undefeated team, but one that couldn’t play in the Rose Bowl because of the no repeat rule that existed at the time between the Big Ten and Pacific Coast Conference.

However, because of its appearance in the Rose Bowl, the 1947 team is the one that is historically distinctive.

And it was the Michigan backfield that captivated the public with its daring ball-handling.

“What Crisler did was combine the single wing and buck lateral series with a spinning fullback,� Dworsky said at the Wilshire Boulevard office of his architectural firm. “In that system you need tremendous precision and timing and each of the backs had to be good ball-handlers.�

Weisenburger, the spinning fullback, was a 178-pound converted tailback, who led the Big Ten in rushing in 1947 with a 6.4-yard average. Chappius was the All-American tailback, an accomplished runner and passer. Elliott, another All-American and now Iowa’s athletic director, was the fast wingback and the team’s leading receiver. Yerges was the experienced quarterback. A year later, his replacement, Pete Elliott, Bump’s brother, would become an All-American.

Dworsky, still trim at his 215-pound college playing weight, stood up to demonstrate the ball- handling skills of his teammates.

“We started out in the T formation, then shifted from the T into the single wing,� Dworsky said. “From the single wing, we ran some conventional plays and had the spinning fullback series. He would spin and hand off, or fake to the left halfback coming by him, or do the same thing to the right halfback coming from the other direction, or he’d keep it and hand, or fake, the ball to the quarterback.

“All Yerges would do was just squat with all this action going around him. On one play he’d get the ball and give it to an end, or he’d throw a pass.�

With all of this hocus-pocus going on behind the line, it was little wonder that opposing teams were confused, notably the Trojans.

The architect of the offense was Crisler, with input from Bennie Oosterbaan, who would became head coach the next season when Crisler decided to spend all his time as athletic director.

“Crisler was not only an intellectual in strategy, but also the way he ran practices,� Dworsky recalled. “He had this notebook with red and blue notes. There would be 2 minutes for this drill, 5 minutes for another.

“He ran practices rigidly and we called him ‘The Lord’. He would allow it to rain, or not. He was a Douglas MacArthur-type figure, handsome and rigid. When he spoke, he would often use quotations. I sculpted him and gave him the bust in 1971.�

Another bust of Crisler, who died in 1982, is in Dworsky’s office.

Although the 1947 Michigan team is known for its mystifying offense, the defense was just as complicated, according to Dworsky.

“We were an intelligent team and we had some complex defenses, the nature of which you see today,� Dworsky said. “I called the defensive signals and we would shift people, looping, or stunting.

“Crisler started the two-platoon system in 1945, so the offense and defense practiced as separate units. And the coaching staff did an excellent job of scouting opponents, what they would do in certain circumstances. And we made our adjustments on defense accordingly.

“When we went to the Rose Bowl, we had USC down pat. We knew their system as well as they did.�

Not only was Michigan ahead of its time in 1947, it was also an experienced, mature team, as were other college teams of that era.

With World War II concluding in 1945, veterans came back to college campuses, many of whom had played in the late 1930s, or early 1940s. The average age was the low-, or mid-20s. Today, they would be pros at that age.

Dworsky recalled that Chappius was 27, a bomber pilot who had been shot down over Italy. He also said tackle Alvin Wistert was 31 or 32. His younger brother, Albert, played at Michigan before him. Another brother, Francis, played in the early 1930s. All of the brothers became All-Americans.

The Trojans, like the Wolverines, benefited from the post-World War II surplus of players.

However, according to Don Clark, a guard on the 1947 team, the Trojans were a tired, frustrated team before they even played Michigan.

Jeff Cravath, the USC coach at the time, took 60 of his players to Santa Barbara and had them relentlessly scrimmage.

“We were a much better team than we showed against Notre Dame and Michigan,� said Clark, who would later become USC’s football coach. “We were dead tired before the Rose Bowl game because of those Santa Barbara sessions.�

Tired and outclassed.

USC gained only 91 yards running and 42 passing. The Trojans penetrated past midfield only twice.

Meanwhile, the Michigan magicians were bedazzling USC. Weisenburger scored 3 touchdowns. Chappius passed 11 yards to Bump Elliott and 18 yards to Yerges for 2 more touchdowns. Yerges passed 28 yards to Rifenburg for still another touchdown--and so it went.

Chappius and Weisenburger each gained 91 yards rushing, and Chappius passed for an additional 181 yards.

Dworsky recalled that he was playing center late in the game because of a mix up in substitutions.

“I was trying to block John Ferraro (USC’s All-American tackle and now a city councilman) and he gave me a shove and I landed on my rear end,� Dworsky said, chuckling. “He was probably fed up by that time.�

The Wolverines came to Pasadena by train and left the same way, partying en route home with Crisler joining the festivities.

Dworsky was named to an all-time Rose Bowl team in 1983--as a center.

“I don’t want them to take it away, even though I was really a linebacker,� Dworsky said.

Michigan’s dominating victory over USC was indicative of the period as the Big Ten won 12 of the first 13 Rose Bowl games from the Pacific Coast representative. In a turnabout, the Pacific 10 Conference has now won 18 of the past 23 games and 12 of 14 against the Big Ten.

Dworsky played one more season for the Wolverines and then returned to Los Angeles in 1949 as a linebacker for the L.A. Dons of the All-America Conference.

When the league folded after that season, Dworsky decided to get on with his career as an architect.

He began his own firm in 1953 and it has earned more than 50 national, regional and community awards.

Among his firm’s many projects are the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angles International Airport, the Drake Stadium track facility at UCLA, and the Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan.

And Dworsky will forever be recognized as a member of one of the most exciting and innovative teams in Rose Bowl history.

The bond among them is still strong, as a reunion is held every 5 years at Ann Arbor, Mich.