Michigan vs Ohio State 1950

Transcript

00:00 The northern half of the United States was paralyzed this particular day.

00:03 Telephone lines were down in New England, commuter trains were stalled in New York.

00:07 The city of Cleveland was at a dead standstill.

00:09 And in Columbus there raged a blizzard that will grow with the years.

00:13 Hundreds of volunteer workers tried to find where grass once grew in the Ohio Stadium.

00:18 No sooner was the tarpaulin cleared, snow immediately blanketed the field.

00:22 And through it all, more than 51,000 fans turned out for this epic snow fight.

00:27 Never in man's recollection has a Big Ten football game been called off because of weather.

00:31 And the record was not broken this day.

00:33 Watch Vic Janowis here as he tries to run and slips and skids and slides on that frozen gridiron.

00:39 Michigan tackler's hand's too cold to hold on to him.

00:42 And he spins his way out of the grasp of tackler after tackler, finally getting his forward pass away.

00:48 The snow almost blanking out the scene.

00:50 The kick is sent through the air and the kick is good.

00:52 And Ohio State has moved into a 3-0 lead.

00:56 The snow's gone away. It's a high, twisting kick finding its way through the snow into the arms of Leo Kucheski

01:01 who picks it up on the bounce and goes to the season's softest tackle.

01:04 Bill Troutline dumps him into a 3-foot snow bank along the sidelines, behind his goal line.

01:10 And this time Michigan's captain Al Wall blocks the punt.

01:13 They're chasing after that football, but he can't recover it before it goes out of bounds.

01:17 So instead of a touchdown, it's a safety for Michigan.

01:20 Our snow-covered cameraman grinds away, recording an almost unbelievable football game.

01:26 Pass from center is a little wide. Janowis hurries his kick and his kick is blocked by the Wolverine center,

01:31 Tony Monson, and Monson goes for that football, has it in the end zone for a Michigan touchdown.

01:36 Michigan has scored a touchdown.

01:39 Chuck Ortman, who's kicking in a 30-mile-an-hour blizzard, ranks as one of football's greatest efforts.

01:45 Ortman holds the ball and Harry Ellis kicks and Michigan captures the 1950 Big Ten football championship

01:52 by a 9-3 victory over Ohio State.

01:55 After this particular November 25th, there's little question that the weather and the football are two unpredictable things.

02:04 All in all, it was a fitting climax to one of the most interesting, upset-minded football seasons of all time.

02:10 Michigan, overcoming injuries that hampered it most of the season, captured the conference title.

02:14 And from this freezing, paralyzing blizzard, the Wolverines travel to the sunny warmth of California.

02:19 This couple looks like they'd like to go to sunny California, too.

02:23 [Music]