Far be it for me to duplicate the dedicated efforts of our SIDs, so here's a link to this week's release on the honorary captains (PDF). In short:
- Pete Elliott, 1945-48 Bump Elliott's brother, a QB. Later head coach at Nebraska, Cal, and Illinois and a College Football Hall of Fame inductee in 1994.
- Ron Simpkins, 1976-79 A 1979 consensus All-American linebacker, Simpkins posted 150+ tackles in three consecutive seasons, including a mind-boggling 174 in '78 and another 168 the year after.
- Dick Caldarazzo, 1968-69 Caldarazzo only lettered two years, but he blocked for Ron Johnson (Original Recipe) as he broke most of Michigan's rushing records and helped Michigan to its first Big Ten title in five years.
It should be mentioned here that two of the first six honorary captains were members of the '48 national championship team and two (plus Dierdorf) were on the '69 team. And all three of those are named by Rodriguez in a Detroit News article about learning from the 1969 players that Brian excerpts. Dierdorf and Caldarazzo are also mentioned in this Antoine Pitts article citing their disappointment over the Les Miles fiasco. As for the other two, Ron Simpkins was one of the prime movers behind the former players' rally to support Lloyd Carr at the tunnel prior to last year's Notre Dame game, and Ron Kramer has been deeply involved with the team for years. I like this from Rodriguez, and his first sets of honorary captains have been very well-chosen from both historical and political perspectives.
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