The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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20 THE WOLVERINE APRIL 2019 Rumeal Robinson (prior engagement), whose two free throws won the cham- pionship game — weren't in atten- dance. Robinson, however, sent well wishes from his home in Florida. "I loved every minute with my teammates, especially that year," he said. "It was the best four years of my life, and the support we got from the fans was incredible." Robinson had returned for the 20- year reunion a decade ago, the first time he saw the 1989 national champi- onship banner hanging in the rafters. "Seeing that banner up there was amazing," he said. "The only thing that would top it would be to see these guys win another one. We'd like some company up there." Beilein and Co. have made it to two national championship games, and Fisher also took two other teams to the last day, but the Wolverines came up short each time. That's kept the 1989 squad unique, though they're all root- ing for this year's team to win another. It's a tough task, as the 1989 national champions would attest. They didn't have an easy road, falling 89-73 to Il- linois in the final regular-season game before ripping off six straight victories. They defeated Xavier, South Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia on their way to the Final Four, where they got revenge over the Illini on forward Sean Higgins' put-back basket with one sec- ond remaining. They then beat Seton Hall in overtime to claim the title. Losing their coach just before the tournament started, right after the home loss to Illinois, was a stunner, Higgins recalled. "We got two massacres that just happened to us," he said. "How do we pick ourselves up from this? Just having senior leadership and the type of talent and the type of character we had on our team, it really got us over the hump. "Coach Fisher was basically telling us to stay focused and take care of business in practice every day." It helped that Rice found another gear. He scored 184 points in six games (30.7 average), still the record for most points scored in the tournament. "That performance really propelled me to the top of the class in the NBA Draft," Rice said. "I'm very thankful for that." Still, winning the national title was one of his favorite moments, and the '89ers credit Fisher for guiding them. Rob Pelinka, now the general man- ager of the Los Angeles Lakers, was a true freshman on that team, but he has the same memories as those who played in the Final Four. What Fisher said to the team before the game against Seton Hall will be forever etched in their memories. "He said, 'When you guys go out and warm up for the game, I want you look up in the rafters and look at those banners and I want you to know that 1989 is going to say the University of Michigan Wolverines,'" Pelinka said. "That was just one of those goose bumps moments for us." A FAMILY AFFAIR That special feeling returned when they all reconvened in Ann Arbor. However, it wasn't easy to arrange, Beilein noted. "[Administrative assistant] Lisa Nicholson put this whole thing to- gether and even helped get [former starting forward] Loy Vaught here, so don't give me any of the credit," he said with a laugh. "We kept texting Loy, and he finally responded one morning at 2:30 a.m. and said he was coming." Though there were a few absences, most of the faces from the '89 club were back in town. Beilein explained why he felt it was so important to get as many of them back as possible. "I got a call from one of our basket- ball guys a while back, and he told me how they had tried to get everyone here on a football alumni weekend," Beilein recalled. "The football reception wound up having about 300 people there and they were all singing the fight song, while the basketball side of things only had about six. There has been some controversy with how some of the bas- ketball guys left here, but never any with football. "Basketball hasn't been connected enough, and it hit me that we have to welcome these guys back and not stop in doing so. The number of peo- ple who have returned has risen ever since." This one, though, was a bit differ- ent in that it reunited several guys from the same team. It was a night he wouldn't soon forget, Fisher added. "Story after story after story — it Sharpshooter Glen Rice (holding trophy) led the Wolverines to the 1989 national title by scor- ing 184 points in six games (30.7 per contest), a tournament record that still stands today. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY