The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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The Second Battle of the Marne proved a stunning defeat for the Germans, and a counteroffensive three days later effectively disabled the lead attack dog of the Central Powers. Massive German casualties ended plans for an invasion to the north, deliver- ing a decisive turnaround in which the allies recaptured much of France and Belgium during the ensuing months. Only two months earlier, German U-boats had appeared in U.S. waters, after Germans captured ports at Calais, Dunkirk and Bou- logne in April. The war wasn't the only terror destroying lives and nations. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) electron microscopes didn't come about until the 1930s. The world stood ill equipped to battle a global pandemic, which spread quickly in the U.S., beginning in the spring of 1918. This wasn't like the COVID-19 virus, which has overwhelmingly affected the elderly. No fewer than half of what became known as the Spanish Flu deaths in 1918 involved 20- to 40-year-olds. The ACEP described it as an "acute viral infection that spread down the respiratory tree, [causing] severe tissue dam- age followed by secondary bacterial invasion." On March 11, an Army private at Fort Ri- ley, Kan., checked into the camp hospital in the morning in considerable discomfort. By day's end, 100 soldiers demonstrated similar symptoms. Forty-eight servicemen died of pneumonia at the fort that spring. The soldiers from Fort Riley were sent to Europe to engage in the conflict. The flu, noted the ACEP, spread through English, French and German fighters, its deadliness increasing as time went on. The virus became officially recognized in Spain — neutral during the war — in May. The Spanish press, even-handed and reliable at the time, reported it out and it thus took on the "Spanish Flu" tag. Soldiers returning from conflict also brought the virus back, increasing the spread back home. The Navy Radio School at Har- vard reported 5,000 cases of influenza in men studying radio communications. Back in Ann Arbor, the football team soldiered on, apparently unaffected by the plague. Michigan Stadium did not exist for almost another decade, so the Wolverines were prepping to play at their home Ferry Field, with a capacity of 21,000. They didn't do so wholly unencumbered by world events. The University of Michigan — which eventually lost 243 to the war — had to play by the rules of the U.S. War Department and other local governing authorities. That agency controlled college activities, setting travel restrictions, imposing quarantines, etc. It forced the cancellation of games, caused others to be rescheduled and limited prac- tices to only 90 minutes. Public gatherings were also limited. Michigan's campus featured the Student Army Training Corps and the Student Navy Training Corps, according to noted U-M his- torian Bob Rosiek. More than 3,000 Michigan students joined one or the other in 1918, with more than 12,000 Michigan students, alumni, faculty and staff involved in World War I. Season Of Conflict The period of 1917-18 featured the intro- duction of Service Football, with more than 100 military bases fielding teams in 1918. A couple of those were among the best in the nation, Rosiek noted. "A lot of those service teams were really good," he said. "They played against each other, but they also played against college teams. The two most prominent were the ser- vice teams from Great Lakes Naval Station and the Chicago Naval Reserve." The latter rolled through the 1918 season at 8-0, with three victories over Western Conference squads. Meanwhile, Great Lakes Naval Station went 7-0-2, beating Navy and Notre Dame, and playing four Western Con- ference teams along the way. Great Lakes actually participated in the Tournament of Roses East-West Game (eventually the Rose Bowl) that year, facing the Mare Island Marines, representing the western part of the country. Great Lakes shut down the 10-0 Marines, 17-0, in that contest. Michigan, meanwhile, experienced dramatic changes to its originally scheduled eight-game slate. Games regularly began in October in that era anyway, so what seems like a very late start in the modern era wasn't back then. The Wolverines managed to play their opener against Case on Oct. 5, but after that the schedule went off the rails. The Oct. 12 contest against Camp Custer got canceled, and Yost couldn't get a hoped-for replace- ment game against Mt. Union (Ohio). The Oct. 19 contest against Michigan Ag- ricultural College (Michigan State) had to be rescheduled, under a directive that nixed October contests. The same happened with the Oct. 26 Ohio State contest — setting up Fullback Frank Steketee was U-M's lone All-American during the 1918 season, despite being a freshman. First-year students weren't normally eligible to play back then, but were able to do so because of the war. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ATHLETICS 32 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW