Michigan 2020 Hall of Honor: Welborne, Football's Two-Time Unanimous All-American
10/21/2021 9:00:00 AM | Football, Features
Michigan football's lone two-time unanimous All-American, U-M's single-season record holder in punt-return yardage, and a mutli-sport athlete for the Wolverines, Tripp Welborne will be inducted into the Michigan Athletics Hall of Honor during a Friday, Oct. 22 ceremony as part of the Class of 2020 along with Sarah Cain (women's gymnastics), Kelli Gannon (field hockey), Ty Law (football), Jim Paciorek (baseball), and Lexi Zimmerman (volleyball).
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Tripp Welborne is best known as the University of Michigan's only two-time consensus All-American to play safety. He also is the storied football program's only player over 122 years of selections to gain that distinction unanimously, doing so both in 1989 and 1990.
However, Welborne also was one of the most amazing multi-sport athletes the Wolverines have ever had.
He nearly accepted a basketball scholarship from Dean Smith at North Carolina, and was eventually granted permission to also play that sport at Michigan in what ended up being the national championship season of 1988-89. A thumb injury kept him from joining that team, and knee surgery made playing out of the question the following season.
He also played baseball briefly for the Wolverines as a freshman center fielder and was a sprinter on the indoor track and field team as a junior.
Welborne could do it all, but is being inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor on Oct. 22 for his great prowess in the secondary. He learned of the honor from Wolverine athletic director Warde Manuel, a defensive tackle who was his college teammate.
"It was a special moment coming from him," said Welborne. "We were great friends in college and very good friends today. We were also housemates. His roommate was (free safety) Vada Murray and mine was (strong safety) Otis Williams. We had a lot of blood, sweat and tears together. He was just so excited about telling me!"
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Tripp Welborne was a featured guest on the Oct. 21 edition of the Conqu'ring Heroes podcast, and spoke to host Jon Jansen about the family nature of the Wolverines' athletic department, the success of the program while he wore the Winged Helmet, and some of the individual highlights during his Michigan career.
Welborne won Dodge's "National College Football Defensive Player of the Year" award at a banquet in Detroit in 1990. He played on three Big Ten championship teams, and was voted MVP by his teammates as a senior.
"That was special," said Welborne. "To be voted the Most Valuable Player was a huge accomplishment, and I cherish that. And I'm so thankful for all the teammates, classmates I had, and the great advisors and counselors, and the great fans we had. So many people gave of themselves so a kid from Greensboro, N.C., could represent the University of Michigan in the best way possible.
"I tried to lead by example in practice and play as hard as I could so everyone knew they could count on me. The title of my senior speech at the beginning of the season was, 'Meet Me at the Ball.'"
Welborne had 16 tackles against Purdue in 1990 and made 238 in his career along with nine interceptions, four sacks and 11 tackles for losses.
"Tripp does more than any player we've ever had," Lloyd Carr, then the defensive coordinator, told me for a 1990 Detroit Free Press story. "He is an outstanding blitzer and ball-reactor, very intelligent. The only skill he had to refine was man-to-man coverage.
"I challenged him to be better at that, and when he came back this fall I could not believe how much he improved. I said, 'Tripp, what happened?' And he said, 'I worked every day this summer on my pass-defense techniques.' He might be fun off the field, but he's also fun to coach.''
What is Welborne proudest about?
"I'm proud to have been voted in as a unanimous All-American for two years," said Welborne. "I didn't know about that. It's one thing to be voted onto one team, and another to be a consensus pick, and another to be unanimous. It's very rare. I was proud then, but even more proud now to look back at something like that."
Welborne also set the school single-season record for punt-return yardage (455) as a senior in 1990, averaging 14.4 yards per attempt.
His last punt return against Minnesota in his final game at Michigan Stadium covered 31 yards and got the Wolverines to the Golden Gopher 20-yard line, setting up the go-ahead touchdown in a 35-18 victory.
However, Welborne suffered a serious injury on that play, and it plummeted his NFL Draft stock from the first round to eventual selection in the seventh round. His right knee buckled as he raced down the sideline and reconstructive surgery was required. Rehabilitation kept Welborne from playing his rookie season, but he played two games in 1992 for the Minnesota Vikings before tearing his lateral collateral ligament in the left knee.
"I expected to play 10 or 15 years," said Welborne, "and now, three years later, it's, 'You're not playing anymore.'"
Welborne, the son of two educators, took academics seriously as an engineering student at Michigan. He ended up graduating with a major in general studies (concentrating on mass communication) with an engineering minor before earning a Master's in Business Administration at Queens University of Charlotte, North Carolina. He worked for several national banking institutions before taking a job in financial and retail operations, rising to a director's position, with Target in Minneapolis.
Tripp was coaching youth teams and volunteering at Minneapolis high schools as a coach and teaching Junior Achievement classes, when his wife, Christy, made a point.
"She said, 'You know, the things that you like to do for free, working with and teaching kids and coaching, maybe you should coach or do something with athletics.' A classmate and close friend in Florida, his kids were in a private school in Florida that happened to be looking for an athletic director.
"And so before I knew it, after 15 years, I had changed careers. I decided to go into education and my parents were excited (father Sullivan was a North Carolina A&T chemistry professor and administrator, and mother Gloria taught kindergarten). And my kids (daughter Dylan, now 19, and son, Rayce, 16) still consider themselves Floridians. It was fantastic living there; we could see the Gulf (of Mexico) from our backyard."
Welborne was the athletic director at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg from 2009-15, when he was recruited for the same position at The Lawrenceville School located midway between Trenton and Princeton, N.J.
Former Michigan starting offensive tackle Grant Newsome, who suffered a career-ending injury, was a senior at The Lawrenceville School when Welborne arrived.
"I had an opportunity to meet with him, and because he had done so well at the school he was part of the student committee that was interviewing the next athletic director," said Welborne. "So, I came in and we sat down and had a long talk with him and several of his classmates. And since then, I've had the opportunity to speak with him on several occasions. And, of course, we were all devastated when he got hurt. But then he's done well, and he's a smart kid with a fantastic family."
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, who died in 2006, also was the athletic director during Welborne's time here. And so I asked him what Bo would think of the job he was doing as a high school athletic director.
Welborne said, "I think that he would be proud that I pay attention to all of the kids. I tell our kids, 'This is like 'Cheers.' Everyone here knows your name.' It's not a factory we're just putting kids through. Everyone here has a unique story, and I know who you are. It has less to do with your athletic ability, and more to do with yourself because I'm taking the time to learn who you are. Bo knew who we were and where we were from.
Bo, as a coach, helped me hone my skills, and bring out the toughness that is Michigan. And I bought into being something bigger than me. That made me who I am today. We were provided the opportunity to win, and that's what I try to do today -- provide those opportunities. And when they have those opportunities, I want them to be prepared. No one is entitled to these opportunities, but when they come, you have to be ready."
Welborne was the top-rated receiver in the nation at Greensboro Page High, but the Wolverines were loaded at receiver with John Kolesar, Greg McMurtry and Chris Calloway, all future NFL Draft picks. Schembechler and Carr had needs in the secondary, though, and moved him there after Welborne caught two passes for 45 yards in 1987.
"I thought it was temporary and that they were going to move me back to offense," said Sullivan Anthony Welborne III, nicknamed "Tripp" for being the third in his family to carry on the name.
His first practice as a defensive back cemented the position change. He sniffed out a passing play, having been on the offense and understanding their playbook, and "blew up" the receiver as he caught the ball out of the backfield. The ball went flying.
"Everybody on the defense was going crazy!" said Welborne. "They come and jump on me and it's a big pile ... I have just sealed my fate as a defensive player."
Desmond Howard, the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner, came to Michigan in 1988, adding yet another dynamic receiver, and developed a quick and lasting friendship with Welborne.
"I went with Tripp to see Michael Jackson at the Palace (of Auburn Hills)," Howard told me then. "Michael is the ultimate entertainer, and we were all dancing in the crowd."
"Well, Michael throws his black hat into the crowd while singing 'Billie Jean.' Me and Tripp both grab it. People are grabbing and pushing for it, but Tripp gives it to me and shouts: 'Leave him alone! It's his hat!'"
Welborne said recently, "And Desmond still has the hat sitting in a glass case in his house. He jokingly sends me pictures of it so I know it's still in good care. We were supposed to exchange it every month, but once it got to his house, it never changed."
Welborne also met Michael Jordan -- the other international star then known by that first name -- through a mutual friend. Welborne visited his house and worked his basketball camps.
I covered the NBA some then, too, and asked Jordan about Welborne. "He can play," Jordan said. "He's very talented in football and basketball, and is a good friend."
Carr noted: "It's like all our players say, Tripp's a trip.''
Welborne, 30 years later, laughed at the comment, and said, "That's exactly right."
Yet, the player and coach had a serious bond, too.
"Lloyd knew what he wanted to get out of the players," said Welborne, "and he was a relationship guy. Lloyd was a remarkable coach, and, more importantly, his heart was in the right place at all times. I loved him for it."
He said Carr was a "big reason" for his success, but also mentioned Gary Moeller, who went from offensive coordinator to head coach in 1990, and assistants Billy Harris, Cam Cameron, Les Miles, Tom Reed and Jerry Hanlon. Reed was the head coach at North Carolina State and had recruited his younger brother, Keith Welborne, to the Wolfpack. Reed played a big role in building trust with Tripp.
Welborne visited UCLA, Florida State, Alabama and South Carolina before taking his final trip to Ann Arbor. He arrived in sub-zero temperatures in the middle of a blizzard, and decided there was no way he was coming to the Wolverines. He sat around the Campus Inn because he didn't care to venture out, and read several books available at the hotel that detailed the strong academics and culture at Michigan. That began a change-of-heart that concluded when he was taken to Michigan Stadium.
"All I saw was the outline of a big block M in snow," said Welborne. "My first reaction was: 'These people must be crazy about football up here. Who would come out here in the snow and walk around the field to put a block M in it?'
"And now I know why Michigan football is special. I would be the one now, walking out in the snow to make a block M, because I believe in it that much. So, things can change your life, and Michigan sure changed mine."
