Bennie Oosterbaan

Benjamin Gaylord "Bennie" Oosterbaan (February 4, 1906 in Muskegon, Michigan – October 25, 1990 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) was a three-time first team All-American football player and two-time All-American basketball player as well as a football, basketball and baseball coach at the University of Michigan. Despite the fact that he last played nearly 80 years ago, he is still widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in Michigan's storied history -- and one of the greatest all-around athletes in Big Ten conference history.

Athlete at University of Michigan

Oosterban began his athletic career at Muskegon High School where he was selected by the Detroit News as an All-State end in . And in his junior year (1923) he led the Muskegon basketball team to a state championship and was named a High School All-American in basketball.cite web|url=http://www.mashf.com/1987_inductees.htm|title=Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame]

At Michigan, Bennie Oosterbaan earned nine letters -- three apiece in football, basketball, and baseball.cite news|title="Obituaries"|publisher=The Sporting News| date=|accessdate=] In its obituary of Oosterbaan, The Sporting News described him as a "phenomenal student-athlete who in his senior year at Michigan "was captain of the football team, led the Big Ten Conference in scoring in basketball and was the league's leading hitter in baseball, a sport he had not pursued while in high school."

Football

A star receiver and defensive end in a time when the forward pass was still evolving, Oosterbaan and quarterback Benny Friedman were Michigan's first great passing combination. He was also a skilled passer, once throwing for touchdowns of twenty and fifty yards in a match against rival Ohio State University.cite web|url=http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/oosterbaanben.shtml|title="Oosterbaan, Bennie (Benjamin G.) Basketball, Football"|publisher=Hickok Sports]

As a sophomore in 1925, Oosterbaan led the Big Ten with eight touchdowns. That year, the Wolverines outscored their opponents 227-3. The team shut out every team they faced, except a 3-2 defeat to Northwestern at Soldier Field late in the season. Oosterbaan's defensive play was outstanding as well, and he was key in shutting out the Illini and Red Grange 3-0 in 1925. Five players from the 1925 team were named All-Americans, including Benny Friedman and Oosterbaan.

In 1926, Friedman and Oosterbaan were both named All-Americans after leading the Wolverines to a 7-1 record and their second consecutive Big Ten Conference championship. That year, his 60-yard run with a recovered fumble helped Michigan to a 7-6 victory over Minnesota in the annual Little Brown Jug game. The Wolverines outscored their opponents, 191-38, and suffered their only loss to Navy, =10-0, in front of 80,000 fans at Baltimore Stadium.

In 1927, Friedman had moved on to the NFL, and Oosterbaan was named the team's captain and Most Valuable Player. Oosterbaan was also selected as an All-American for the third consecutive season. He is one of only two players at Michigan ever to receive consensus All-American honors three times -- Anthony Carter being the other. The Wolverines went 20-4 in Oostebaan's career at Michigan.

Basketball

In addition to football, Oosterbaan was an All-American in basketball and led the Big Ten Conference in field goals in his junior (50 field goals) and senior (57 field goals) years and in scoring (129 points) in his senior year. He was named All-American in both 1927 and 1928 and was a member of Michigan's first back-to-back Western conference champions under E. J. Mather in 1925-6 and 1926-7 (the latter being Michigan's first outright champion). He twice recorded double-doubles in this low scoring era.

Baseball

He was also an All-Conference baseball player who won the Big Ten batting title in 1927 with a .469 batting average. While at the University of Michigan he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

Oostergaan was both a scholar and an athlete. In 1928, he received Michigan's Big Ten medal, awarded annually for excellence in scholarship and athletics. That year he was also awarded the Western Conference Medal of Honor for proficiency as a scholar-athlete.cite book|title=Michigan Basketball (media guide)]

Coaching career at Michigan

After graduating, Oosterbaan declined offers to play professional football. According to friend and player Ron Kramer, Oosterbaan grew up in the ['Dutch Reformed Church' [this would have been either the Reformed Church in America or the Christian Reformed Church] and did not sign a professional football or baseball contract "because of his religious background and his mother. 'Dutch Reformed' didn't play football on Sundays."

Instead, Oosterbaan stayed on at the University of Michigan as an assistant coach for the football and basketball teams. He was an assistant coach of the football team from . He also became the head basketball coach in 1938 and served in that capacity until 1946. The basketball team had an 81-72 record while Oosterbaan was the head coach. Oosterbaan employed an uptempo style of play that differed from that of his predecessor Frank Cappon. In 1948 Oosterbaan took over as head coach at Michigan. Fritz Crisler named Oosterbaan as his successor after the 1948 Rose Bowl in which Michigan beat the University of Southern California by a score of 49-0. Crisler described Oosterbaan "the best offensive mind in college football." Oosterbaan led the Wolverines to a National Championship in his first season and won Coach of the Year honors. His teams won Big Ten championships in each of his first three seasons ), but did not win another under his tenure. He coached at Michigan until 1958, compiling a 63-33-4 record. His teams were noted for their defensive play.

Oosterban was also head coach of the freshman baseball team.

Coaching record

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A Michigan man for life

Oosterbaan resigned as the head football coach in 1958. At the time, he said: "The pressure finally got to me. Not the kind that comes from outside. Not from my bosses or the fans. I mean the pressure that builds up inside a head coach whether he wins or loses."cite news|author=Saylor, Jack|title="Oosterbaan, Michigan synonymous"|publisher=Chicago Tribune| date=|accessdate=] He was succeeded by Bump Elliott.

In 1959, Oosterbaan became Michigan's director of athletic alumni relations and held that position until he retired in 1972.

Oosterbaan died in 1990, having spent his entire career associated with the University of Michigan. As one of his obituaries noted, he "went to Ann Arbor as a freshman in 1924 - and never left." All-American Ron Kramer said of his former coach: "Bennie Oosterbaan is the Michigan tradition. The man gave his whole life to Michigan."

Don Lund, U-M's associate athletic director for alumni relations who also played basketball for Oosterbaan said: "There's no question he was the greatest athlete we ever had here at Michigan."

Honors and awards

Bennie Oosterbaan's jersey number 47 is one of only five numbers retired by the Michigan football program.

Oosterbaan was also named to the "All-Time All-American Team" in 1951, as well as the Football Writers Association of America All-Time All-American team in 1974.

In 1954, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.cite web|url=http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=20080|title=Bennie Oosterbaan: Member Biography|publisher=National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame]

A poll of Michigan alumni and friends in 1979 selected Oosterbaan as U-M's greatest all-time football player.

In 1999, "Sports Illustrated" published a list of "The 50 Greatest Sports Figures From Michigan" (in all sports), and ranked Oosterbaan fourth on the list behind Joe Louis, Magic Johnson and Charlie Gehringer. [cite news|title="The 50 Greatest Sports Figures From Michigan"|publisher=Sports Illustrated| date=|accessdate=] He was the highest ranked football player, ahead of Michigan Wolverines football legends Ron Kramer (#7), Fielding Yost (#9), Rick Leach (#22), Fritz Crisler (#31), and Harry Kipke (#40).

ee also

* 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team
* University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor

Notes

External links

* [http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=20080 College Football Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/oosterbaanben.shtml Hickok Sports Bio]
* [http://www.mashf.com/1987_inductees.htm Muskegon Area Sport Hall of Fame: Class of 1987 Biography]