Although Jim Brandstatter didn’t stray, in miles, too far from home,
symbolically he left to the other end of the earth by going from East Lansing
to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Don’t forget that Jim’s father was an All-American for
the Spartans and was a member of their faculty as Jim was progressing through his
developmental stages. And, older brother Art Jr. played for Duffy Daugherty;
and Jim got to know many of Art’s Spartan teammates during those illustrious
and football dominating seasons.
Yes, Jim left home and headed south- east to Ann Arbor. In spite of
being a terrific athlete in football, basketball and baseball in high school,
Jim had to work hard and prove to himself and coaches that he belonged, and
could contribute to the team. He got into Bo’s doghouse early because he
weighed over the magic number of 250 pounds. Bo put a lot of pressure on this
young man over and over again. Bo even unfairly accused his offensive lineman
of missing a block that resulted in a blocked punt. Despite coach Schembechler’s
mistake, as pointed out by one of his position coaches, Schembechler was unable
to admit his mistake. To make matters worse, Schembechler rationalized and
sarcastically added “He needed it anyway.”” It” pertained to a tongue lashing
by this excitable coach.
Many players left the team, and many had a hard time with Schembechler’s
abrupt, harsh, aggressive language. Jim’s father had a military and law
enforcement background; Jim’s mother dealt with four older brothers and didn’t
put up with nonsense; Jim attended a parochial elementary school and had his
ear lobes tugged during the process. So by the time he got to Bo, Jim knew how
to survive and could take the verbal tongue lashings.
In 1969, Jim played behind, All-American, future Hall of Fame tackle
Dan Dierdorf. Jim simply put in the time
and effort, worked hard and practiced, practiced, practiced to become a more efficient
football player. It took the game against the University of Arizona for Jim to
feel more secure about his ability to play on the gridiron. With the game on
the line, Jim came in and replaced injured Jack Harpring, made a key block,
enabling Billy Taylor to score the winning touchdown. The bone crushing block
against the Wildcat’s cornerback felt terrific. Not only that, Jim knew and the
coaches knew they could count on Jim regardless of game circumstances.
Another significant event in Jim’s life, was to change his
Architectural Design major. Both Jim and roommate and teammate Mike Keller, enrolled in a speech
class and the rest became history. One speech, radio, TV broadcasting class,
etc. led to other unique experiences. After receiving Big Ten honors for his
football exploits, Jim, followed another passion-broadcasting.
From a local Michigan TV station, WEYI, Jim worked his way up to
larger stations. In fact, he is the voice of the Michigan Wolverines and the
Detroit Lions. Not only that, he has a coaches radio show, during the football
season. In fact, coach Schembechler must have enjoyed hassling his former
player, who was now the interviewer. During one radio show interview Bo said
sarcastically “I thought that you knew more about the game of football, Jim, I
still have the right to hire and fire.” I didn’t ask Jim about his reply to his
coach at the time, but I will later. Further, and interesting is that, Jim’s
former teammate Dan Dierdorf joined him in 2014, in the radio booth for
Michigan football.
Make sure you catch this Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and Michigan
Sportscaster of the year character this fall. And do not forget to listen to
his radio talk show with Jim Harbaugh. In the 1980s, Jim described quarterback
Harbaugh’s exploits on the field and will have an opportunity to do it again.
Go Blue Go!
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