Kornacki: Harbaugh Brothers Teaming Up as Past Meets Present
3/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 13, 2015
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Harbaugh family members not coaching against one another in Super Bowl XLVII -- parents Jack and Jackie Harbaugh and daughter Joani Crean -- were on a national radio call-in show before the big game in New Orleans.
They were discussing the joy of having sons and brothers Jim and John leading their teams in football's ultimate game, along with the dilemma they all faced: one of them had to lose.
Nothing surprising had been asked until a caller got on the show and said: "Yeah, question from Baltimore. Is it true that you both like Jim better than John?"
Jackie became visibly upset and was searching for the right words to rebuke the caller until her daughter recognized the caller's voice.
Joani asked, "Is that John?"
Jack piped in, "John Harbaugh?"
And everyone roared with laughter. John had just eased the tension of the week with a classic practical joke.
Two years removed from that day, Jack got a twinkle in his eye when recalling that prank.
"Jackie was about to go at it with that caller," he said with a chuckle. "It was a little like the old Smothers Brothers show, when they always joked: 'Mom loves you best!' "
John laughed about that on Thursday (March 12) at Michigan's football practice. He's here to speak at today's (Friday, March 13) sold-out University of Michigan Spring Football Clinic.
"I totally had them," said John, "and especially my mom. She was like, 'We love John; it's not true.' "
John's Baltimore Ravens won the "Harbowl," as it was called, 34-31, fighting off a late comeback by Jim's San Francisco 49ers.
"It's too bad Jim was on the other sideline," John said. "That made it really strange and pretty unique. I pinch myself to have been a part of all this."
The best brothers to ever coach in the NFL are together again this weekend.
"I'll tell you what," said Jack, "their mom is one happy lady. She doesn't get her two boys together too often."
They were born 15 months apart to the day, John on Sept. 23, 1962 and Jim on Dec. 23, 1963, in Toledo. And they might as well have been twins. The boys did everything together growing up, and the best years were in Ann Arbor, 1973-79, when Jack coached defensive backs for Bo Schembechler.
They even served as babysitters for Schembechler's youngest son, Shemy, who enjoyed their company so much that Bo had a surprise coming when he came to pick up his boy at the Harbaugh house on Anderson Avenue.
Bo Schembechler
"Bo comes by and says it's time for Shemy to go home," said John. "He's upstairs playing with blocks and Bo says, 'C'mon, Shem. Dad's here!' Shemy says, 'No, I'm not ready to come home yet, Dad.' Bo says, 'SHEMY! C'mon, Shem. Time to come home, son.'
"Now this is Bo Schembechler. We've seen him chew out the toughest players in college football. He comes up to the bottom of the steps and says, 'C'mon, Shem, it's time to come home. Your dad's here now.' "
John impersonated Bo while telling the story, and dropped Bo's voice down low with a sing-song tone that a coaxing kindergarten teacher might use.
John continued: "Shemy says, 'I'm not coming, Dad.' He's got two blocks in his hand. And then all of a sudden, it's, 'Shoom! Shoom!' "
The blocks were whizzing toward Dad.
"Bo just picks him up, puts him over his shoulder, and takes him home," said John
The Harbaugh boys would flood the backyard to create their own ice rink for hockey games, and Jack recalled the day when his high school teammate from Crestline, Ohio, Detroit Tigers pinch-hitting legend Gates Brown, drove up to their home on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and created quite a stir.
"Jim and John got people lined up to get the Gator's autograph," said Jack. "It wasn't until later that I found out they charged everybody a dollar for the autographs."
When the story was recalled for the boys in front of their father, Jim and John raised their hands and their eyebrows.
"We never charged money for Gates' autograph, Dad," said John. "Some of these stories tend to get exaggerated."
Jack noted that "Gates backs up my story," and John added that Gates had passed away and is no longer available to validate the claim.
"Dad," said Jim, "you know why you had us? So we could be pawns in your stories. None of this is true."
And then they all shared a good laugh before heading off to dinner with Jackie and a few friends.
"Dad's thrilled by this," said John. "It's really cool."
The boys, now 51 and 52, have made their parents plenty proud.
And it goes well beyond their football prowess. Jack and Jackie are thrilled that they've been such good fathers, husbands, citizens and devout Roman Catholics. Shoot, Jim follows Pope Francis on Twitter.
What lessons from their parents meant the most?
"What was real big was treating people right," said John. "They told us to compete to be the best in everything you do. My dad would talk to us about having 'enthusiasm unknown to mankind.' "
That's a phrase Jim used a few times before spring practice began.
"Oh, it's my dad's line," assured John. "It's not Jim's line. And Jim knows that. But one thing about Jim that you'll find is he will take a line and claim it as his own. He's not giving attribution very often."
Michigan interim athletic director Jim Hackett, who lettered for the Wolverines in 1976 as a center, had a casual conversation with John during practice.
John said, "Jim Hackett said, 'The last time I saw you two, you were fighting in front of the Huntington Sheraton (in Pasadena, California) at the Rose Bowl. And I said, 'Well, which time was that?' It's a blur. All we ever did was fight."
And get into trouble with Schembechler.
"One day we were playing catch on the sidelines during Ohio State week," said John. "We were with Andy Moeller (son of Michigan coach Gary Moeller and Jim's Michigan co-captain in 1986) and some other guys, and the ball got onto the field. We convinced Jim to be the one to run onto the field to get it."
Jim said, "Bo kicked me off the field, saying, 'Get those kids out of here!' "
It was their mother who convinced Millie Schembechler, Bo's wife, that the boys should be allowed to attend practices in order to be around their fathers, who worked long hours. And in that moment during the biggest practice week of the year, it had come back to haunt Bo.
But now the Harbaugh boys are the ones running Super Bowl teams and Bo's own program.
John said his message to the 800-plus coaches attending on Friday will be the importance of high school football coaches and, "The team, the team, the team."
He said, "When I first got hired by the Ravens, they said, 'What's the most important thing?' I said, 'I'll give you three things: the team, the team, the team.' That was an easy one for me."
That slogan, originated by Schembechler, is stenciled around the Ravens' training complex. And it is posted in bold letters around the Michigan football offices, training facilities and fields.
It was a message about what matters most that Jim and John Harbaugh took to heart before approaching the coaching profession with "enthusiasm unknown to mankind."
