Black and Blue: Creative Fiction about the 1934 Michigan vs. Georgia Tech Game, Fielding Yost and the Benching of Willis Ward

Black and Blue: The Story of Gerald Ford, Willis Ward and the 1934 Michigan-Georgia Tech Football Game was a misleading tale crafted and release on DVD November, 2011. It was written by Buddy Moorehouse, a Ypsilanti High School and University of Michigan graduate in 1982 who is Vice President of Public Relations and Media for Michigan  Association of Publics Charter Academies. The film was directed by Brian Kruger, Eastern Michigan graduate in 1985, and former High School Teacher in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor who started Stunt3Media in 2009 at Grosse Pointe. Many people were influenced negatively against the villain of the story, Fielding Yost, in the 57 minute documentary that should really be acknowledged as a docudrama.

Kruger and Moorehouse

The film begins with part of a speech by President George Bush during the funeral of former President Gerald Ford on January 2, 2007; Bush brought up the Willis Ward benching in 1934 that placed Gerald Ford in a moral dilemma during the first two minutes of its presentation.

University of Michigan Glee Club in 1915

The film cleverly crafts the use of the University of Michigan Glee Club throughout to endear the relationship between the two friends who met at Waterman Hall during freshman orientation; few people realize that the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club used to perform minstrel renditions throughout their history at the school. The club was an instrument of racial discrimination during those many decades of minstrel performances. Ann Arbor High School graduate, Willis Patterson, joined the University of Michigan faculty in 1968; he was the first African-American to direct the Glee Club, 1969-1975.

John U. Bacon

By the fourth minute of the film, the villain, Fielding Yost, is introduced; Ann Arbor Huron High School and 1986 University of Michigan graduate, John U. Bacon, then gives a three minute historical synopsis of Fielding Yost followed by Greg Dooley, University of Michigan graduate in 1993, athletic historian with MVictors.com who works in the medical field, with more comments on Yost. They both insinuate that Yost’s “all-white” football teams, and his West Virginia upbringing were indications of a prejudiced and discriminatory attitude without any evidence or substantiation for these assertions.

Greg Dooley

University of Michigan Football Coaches in 1934: Jack Heston, Ray Fisher, Wally Weber, Ray Courtright, Harry Kipke, Frank Cappon, Cliff Keen, Benny Oosterbaan, and Dr. Lyman

Then, the film introduces Harry Kipke, Michigan Head Football Coach, 1929-1937; it continues to cast Yost as a villain with John U. Bacon claiming erroneously that Yost was a “great coach, rotten boss.” It then misleads its audience stating that there was just one problem in “Yost’s mind” during the recruitment of Willis Ward with the “color of his skin.” The  film also creates a perception that there was a “rift” between Yost and Kipke; it also attempts to instill in its audience that while Kipke was a “fine man” that Yost was not. These are all unfounded accusations with no evidence to support these claims, and only the opinion of the authors.

By the ninth minute of the film, Historian Tyran Steward, an Ohio State graduate, is introduced to give more background into Willis Ward; it then states that Yost was “dead set” against Ward’s enrollment at Michigan with no evidence or substantiation to the claim. The enrollment of Willis Ward was in large part due to the efforts of Regent, Jim Murfin, and Detroit Businessman, Fred Matthaei. By the eleventh minute of the film, the friendship of Willis Ward and Gerald Ford is further developed using an interview of Ward in 1976.

University of Michigan Football Team in 1934

The film then goes through the two glory years of 1932 and 1933 when Michigan won two national titles; they only allowed 13 points in 1932 and 18 points in 1933; the film neglects to mention that they won four consecutive Western Conference Championships, 1930-1933 under Coach Kipke with 8 shutouts in 1931 and 6 shutouts in 1930. It then went into the scheduling of the Georgia Tech game by its thirteenth minute, and the “Jim Crow” practices of benching players in college athletics including football to appease Southern teams. It uses a letter written on January 3, 1933 from Georgia Tech Coach, William Alexander, read in full during the film in an attempt to further depict Yost as a rogue for not revealing what he would do in regards to the matter. The authors chose to leave out the fact that Yost notified Ward the Summer prior to the season that he wouldn’t be able to play in that game. The mantra of Ward’s “only crime was the color of his skin” became the theme of the film by the eighteenth minute.

The Willis Ward benching was not a public issue until the week of the game; Michigan started the 1934 campaign being shut out twice by Michigan State and the  University of Chicago with only 25,644 and 18,013 fans present during the Great Depression. The Ward story did become a big issue on campus, and made several national publications, but the “entire country” was not following the story as they film claimed. Several telegrams were flashed on the screen and read out loud to show the indignation of many by the 21st minute. After Pinkerton’s Detective Agency was hired in an effort to prevent violence that was threatened by students, and student groups that gathered a 1,500 student petition with threats to disrupt the game with field sit-down, the Board of Intercollegiate Athletics made the decision to sit Ward and not have him in the stadium. The film blames Yost and not the Board for this benching.

John Regeczi runs against Georgia Tech in 1934

 The game itself was very anti-climactic with a muddy, rain-drenched defensive struggle that ended with a 9-2 Michigan win, its only win of the season as they finished in last place in the conference. Ferris Jennings 70 yard punt return in the 3rd quarter for a touchdown was the difference in the game. Georgia Tech benched Hoot Gibson in exchange for the Ward benching. Michigan only scored 21 points in eight games, and was shut out five times; Georgia Tech finished their 1934 season, 1-9, and last place in their conference yet John Bacon states that the Yellow Jackets were a “good team.”

Ferris Jennings 70 yard punt return was the difference in the Georgia Tech win; the 135 lbs. Quarterback and Safety was the hero of the day for Michigan on November 20, 1934

Much was made about Gerald Ford quitting the team prior to the game in the film, and that Ford was encouraged by Ward to play in the game. Ford played and intentionally hurt a Yellow Jacket player, Charley Preston, who was trash-talking with racial slurs during the game; the film then uses the incident with a 1976 interview from Ward smiling in the 32nd minute of the film after the block that was dedicated to Ward forced Preston out of the game.

Ward played the next week in a 7-6 loss to Illinois, but nothing was mentioned about that; instead, the film uses John Bacon by the 33rd minute to state that the Georgia Tech game according to Gerald Ford “cut the soul” out of the team, and “ruined the whole season.”  The film further erroneously claims that the season was a “pivotal one” in Michigan Football History “all because the Georgia Tech game;” there is no truth to that statement and it is only the opinion of the authors. In truth and reality, the 1934 Michigan Football squad was shut out 5 times, and scored only 21 points in 8 games with 2 touchdowns; the 1934 season was the lowest attendance in the history of Michigan Football Stadium with just over 122,000 attending 5 home games.

By the 35th minute of the film, it has John Bacon ranting about how the next three seasons of losing were due to the Georgia Tech game; he states, “that’s how the soul of the team gets yanked out of the team forever.” Bacon then asserts that the program was “destroyed” due to “one game and one player being pulled out.” This is shear fantasy on Bacon’s part, and there is no evidence or substantiation to these claims.

Tyran Steward

By the 36th minute of the film, it then blames the Georgia Tech benching on Ward’s inability to earn a spot on the 1936 Olympic Team with Tyran Steward piping in with an attempt to substantiate this claim. The facts are clear on this issue:Ward didn't tryout for the 1936 Olympics held at Randalls Island, New York on July 11-12 in sweltering heat; Michigan was represented by Sam Stoller. Ward tie for 4th with 5 other contestants in the 1932 Olympic Trials in the high jump with a leap of 6'5.625", and recorded a 25' long jump which may have qualified him had he participated. This is just another example of many claims that this film uses to mislead the public, and places this film into a docudrama instead of a documentary based on facts.

The next sequence of the film depict how Ford and Ward’s lives evolved after college through their service in World War II by the 40th minute as both men got into politics; both were Republicans. Ford had a  long history of voting against Civil Rights issues throughout his political career, but this film covers up that fact. In the 1976 election, Ford only gained the votes of 16% of Black voters across America while Jimmy Carter earned 82% of their votes.

By the 43rd minute of the film, the authors state without evidence or substantiation that Yost’s views on race “softened” after the Ward benching using a conflict at the Palmer House in Chicago when Yost told the hotel staff that Michigan would not use their facilities again unless negro athletes would be allowed to room there. Bacon even asserts that Yost “surprisingly” made these statements as if he had intimate knowledge of Yost which he doesn’t.

Ward’s grandson, Samuel “Buzz” Thomas, who became a U.S. Congressman, 2003-2010, and Ford’s grandson, Steve Ford, an actor, were both interviewed and both spoke to their grandfathers remaining as “Michigan Men” and loyal to the University, highlighted their 1976 reunion visit at the Oval Office.

John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde stories dominated the headlines in 1934

The film overexaggerated the Willis Ward benching story in 1934 as one of the biggest stories in the United States at that time in the 48th minute; the truth is that Americans including Michiganders had a lot of other things to worry about during the Great Depression. Here are some major stories in 1934 that the film they overlooked:

Midwest Dust Storms and Strikes were significant new stories in 1934

The film showed a 1996 interview with Gerald Ford, and discussed how Ford wrote an Op-Ed piece supporting Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan for college admissions in 1999; later,  the Supreme Court voted to affirm Affirmative Action in 2003. Ford used the Willis Ward story in his support of Affirmative Action; the legislation first appeared in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

The film concluded with highlighting the unveiling of the statue of Gerald Ford in 2011; it then goes on to show how each of these men in the film have been honored by the University of Michigan with buildings, streets named after them except Ward. As a result, the Michigan Union now has a room named in Ward’s honor in 2015, and the football team had a Willis Ward Day in 2012. Ward scored 3 touchdowns in three seasons, 1932-1934, with two field goals; he started 19 games.

In summary, this film’s obvious attempt to discredit and defame Fielding Yost has influenced many people to believe that Yost was a prejudiced, racist bigot who not only mishandled the situation by benching Ward, but should also not be honored at the University that he worked so hard to build over a 40 year period. This is an unfair characterization of Fielding Yost.

On January 7, 2014, Douglas M. Smith, a retired Pathology Professor at the University of Michigan posted, Presidential Myth: The Real Story of Gerald Ford, Willis Ward, and the 1934 Michigan/Georgia Tech Football Game. Smith is an expert child abuse prevention advocate, and started a blog, Washtenaw Watchdogs. Smith made several important points including that the role claimed for Gerald Ford in this film is “untrue,” and that this story is “more myth than reality.” He brought up a Ford article published in the New York Times in 1999 stating that Ward volunteered to sit out the game so as not to cause the University any embarrassment. He pointed out that Ford never discussed quitting the football team with Ward as the film erroneously asserts. Smith also states convincingly that while Ford did discuss quitting to football team with his step-father that there is no evidence that he went to Coach Kipke stating, “I quit” as the film purports. Smith goes on to state that after the Ward benching, Ford applied and was initiated into Michigamua December, 1934; the organization never accepted any black members since it was founded in 1902.