The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/201975
inside michigan athletics Correcting The Curtis Record Tom Curtis remains the most prolific pickoff artist ever to roam a Michigan secondary. He snagged 25 interceptions from 1967-69, seven more than the nearest challenger — 1997 Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson — managed from 1995‑97. Curtis' numbers speak for themselves, but at times someone has to speak up and make certain they're accurately rendered. They weren't properly presented in a sidebar in the October 2013 issue of The Wolverine, but that's because of some record-keeping housecleaning required inside Michigan athletics. Michigan's official record book has it right. Curtis secured 25 career interceptions, including a Michigan-record 10 in 1968. Chuck Lentz picked off nine passes in 1949, while Curtis and Woodson notched eight in 1969 and 1997, respectively. Curtis also snagged seven interceptions in 1967, a mark Barry Pierson matched in 1969. So Curtis factors into three of the top four greatest individual seasons ever at Michigan, in terms of pickoffs. The sidebar to the Blake Countess feature in the recent issue of the magazine correctly listed Curtis as one of four Tom Curtis is Michigan's all-time Michigan players with interceptions in interceptions leader, with 25 career the first three games of a season. But it picks, and the single-season record had Curtis for six pilfered passes in '69 holder as well, with 10 in 1968. Photo by Amir Gamzu/Wolverine Photo and 22 for his career. The piece also left Pierson off the list of players who had picked off three passes in a game, which he did against Ohio State in 1969. The issue? Michigan's record book does not, in all cases, match the website information presented for reference, a discrepancy of which the athletic department has been made aware. So some key numbers can occasionally fall through the cracks — something errant passes rarely did when Curtis served on the last line of Michigan's defense.