Weekend of Champions: Celebrating Wolverine Champions of the Past
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | General
By Steve Kornacki
The "Conqu'ring Heroes" are returning to be remembered and reunited at Saturday's (Nov. 1) Michigan-Indiana football game.
There will be Cazzie Russell, the greatest basketball player in school history returning with his teammates from the 1964 Big Ten champions who went onto become the first Final Four team in school history.
The Weekend of Champions celebrates Michigan's Big Ten and national champion teams and individuals who are celebrating 10-, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-year anniversaries. This weekend, Michigan Athletics is honoring these great Wolverines:
2004 Big Ten Champions - 10-Year
Women's Cross Country
Field Hockey
Football
Women's Gymnastics
Softball
Women's Swimming & Diving
Women's Outdoor Track & Field
Ice Hockey
Rowing
1994 Big Ten Champions - 20-Year
Women's Cross Country
Women's Gymnastics
Men's Swimming & Diving
Women's Swimming & Diving
Men's Indoor Track & Field
Women's Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field
Ice Hockey
1984 Big Ten Champions - 30-Year
Baseball
1974 Big Ten Champions - 40-Year
Men's Basketball
Men's Cross Country
Football
Men's Tennis
1964 Big Ten Champions - 50-Year
Ice Hockey (Big Ten & NCAA Champions)
Men's Basketball
Football
Men's Track and Field
Wrestling
2004 Individual National Champions - 10-Year
Peter Vanderkaay (2) - Men's Swimming
Peter Vanderkaay, Davis Tarwater, Andrew Hurd, Dan Ketchum - Men's Swimming
Nate Brannen - Men's Indoor Track & Field Nate Brannen, DarNell Talbert, Andrew Ellerton, Nick Willis - Men's Indoor Track & Field
Elise Ray - Women's Gymnastics
1994 Individual National Champions - 20-Year
Beth Wymer - Women's Gymnastics
Gustavo Borges (2) - Men's Swimming
Tom Dolan, Chris Rumley, Rodney VanTassell, Gustavo Borges - Men's Swimming (Relay)
Courtney Babcock, Molly McClimon, Richelle Webb, Kristine Westerby - Women's Indoor Track & Field
1984 Individual National Champions - 30-Year
Kent Ferguson - Men's Diving
1974 Individual National Champions - 40-Year
Jarrett Hubbard - Wrestling
1964 Individual National Champions - 50-Year
Gary Erwin - Men's Gymnastics
And there will be swimmer Peter Vanderkaay, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, who led Michigan to an NCAA championship in the 800-meter freestyle relay and won the 400-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle races in 2004.
There will be slugging baseball first baseman Ken Hayward, nicknamed "The Bambino" by his teammates on the 1984 Big Ten champions who reached the College World Series with a future Hall of Fame shortstop in Barry Larkin.
And there will be Richelle Webb, a sprinter who won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes at the 1994 Big Ten outdoor meet before participating on the NCAA championship distance medley relay team that epitomized what teamwork is all about. She was a star on the Big Ten women's indoor and outdoor championship teams that year.
They are returning with numerous team and individual champions celebrating 10-, 20-, 30-, 40- and 50-year reunions at the second annual Weekend of Champions.
The Team That Cazzie Sparked
Russell was such a prized recruit that UCLA coveted his services and the University of Cincinnati sent Oscar Robertson to recruit him at Chicago's Carver High. But he chose Coach Dave Strack and the Wolverines, joining fellow All-American Buntin on a formidable unit that won the first of three consecutive Big Ten championships and went as far as the national semifinal before losing to Duke.
Russell led with 24.8 points per game, while averaging 9.0 rebounds as a 6-foot-6 guard. Buntin scored 23.2 points and led with 12.5 rebounds, and Darden (10.1 points, 9.2 rebounds) and Larry Tregoning (9.6 points, 7.3 rebounds) were versatile forces. Pesky guard Bobby Cantrell rounded out the starting five.
"But what made that team tough was Bobby Cantrell," said Russell, who played 12 years in the NBA, winning a championship with the 1970 New York Knicks and making the 1972 All-Star team for the Golden State Warriors, before coaching in high school and college. "He was so tough, and he set the tone. It was a great chemistry that we all had. And we were the first Final Four team from Michigan. That was special. And in those days, the only way to get to the NCAA Tournament was to win the Big Ten.
"We went to the Final Four again the next year, but '64 was the most memorable because I got to go and play with that group of guys. But I had a bad ankle that I developed in the last game of the Big Ten season, and that cost us the NCAA title and cost me making the Olympic team. Still, we were blessed that year."
Super Soph Vanderkaay Led the Way
"We had a lot of talented guys who were willing to work hard that year," said Vanderkaay, now in the consulting business and living in Ferndale, Mich. "We felt an obligation to send our coach, Jon Urbanchek, out on a high note.
"It was a fantastic year. On paper, it was my best year even though I went onto swim faster. But it was hard to top all the winning. It was a lot of fun that year -- swimming fast and a lot of smiles."
Vanderkaay won the 400 meters in 3:40.78 and the 1,500 meters in 14:44.53.
He teamed with Davis Tarwater, Andrew Hurd and Dan Ketchum on the 800-meter free relay NCAA champions that finished in 7:01.42, besting second-place Stanford by more than four seconds.
"Dan Ketchum was our captain and a great leader," said Vanderkaay. "He led through his actions. Dan was tough, never complained and was capable of making tough decisions. And everything clicked and everyone contributed."
The Wolverines finished fifth as a team in the 2004 NCAA meet that was the last for Urbanchek, who won the NCAA meet in 1995 and took home 13 Big Ten championships in 22 seasons.
"Jon was an amazing person to swim for -- a one-of-a-kind guy," said Vanderkaay. "He was funny, never raised his voice and made things fun. Jon made you want to try your best because you could tell how much he cared for you both in and out of the pool."
"The Bambino," Larkin and Casey Went To Bat
The 1984 Big Ten championship baseball team went 43-16 overall and made it to the College World Series under Coach Bud Middaugh. But for all they accomplished that year, the best was yet to come.
Larkin made it to Cooperstown and is now an ESPN analyst. Outfielder Casey Close became a high-profile agent, and represents Derek Jeter, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Ryan Howard. Top pitchers Scott Kamieniecki and Gary Wayne had quality major league careers. And Hal Morris, who played 13 seasons in the majors and hit .304, won the 1990 World Series along with Wolverines Larkin and Chris Sabo, and the Cincinnati Reds.
However, Morris played behind Hayward, "The Bambino," who left Michigan as the career leader in home runs (33), hits (267) and runs batted in (207) and also was the pitching closer. Still, oddly enough, he never got a nibble from professional teams.
"I hit left-handed, hit homers and pitched (like Ruth)," said Hayward, the long-time managing director of the iconic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich. "Hal came in to play first base when I went into pitch, but he didn't play much until I left.
"We had a lot of great players and it's been amazing how successful everyone was. But I never was around a group of players who collectively hated to lose more than we did, and that's why we won so often. As great as Barry was, the thing I remember most about him was what a great teammate he was. Everyone on that team was a great teammate."
Wayne said the way Middaugh had the team prepared for anything with drills on fundamentals while instilling a "distaste of losing" set them up for success.
Webb and Teammates Rallied Behind One Another
Webb dominated the sprints for Wolverines women's track and field teams that won indoor and outdoor championships. And the sprinter and three distance runners coming together to win the 1994 NCAA distance medley relay in a time of 11:08.60 epitomized how Michigan head coach James Henry and cross country coach Mike McGuire emphasized fully supporting one another.
"We all got attention from James and we were family," said Webb, now an assistant vice president of operations for a Houston area health system. "But Mike trained me for the distance medley and we won the national title.
"Our goal was the triple crown -- winning the Big Ten in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. And we all had buddies. It was a sprinter with a distance person, and my buddy was Jessica Kluge. I went to her 800-meter races and cheered her on. She did the same for me in sprint races. We built a true team that way, and when we won the triple crown, we all shouted, `We did it! We did it!'
Webb ran 400 meters, double her longest sprint distance, and combined with Courtney Babcock (1,200 meters) Molly McClimon (1,600 meters as the anchor) and Kristine Weatherby (800 meters) to win the distance medley at the national meet.
"I needed to be in the best shape of my life and run the best race of my life," Webb said. "And we all did that. The individual titles I won were great, but it is the distance medley relay win that means the most to me because it wasn't just me. It took four to jell, and the four of us together made it happen."
