ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Today is the 85th anniversary of one of the funniest moments in Michigan football history.
If you aren’t familiar with Tom Harmon, he’s one of the greatest players the program has ever seen. In three seasons from 1938-1940, he earned All-Big Ten honors three times, All American honors twice, and won the 1940 Heisman Trophy.
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Harmon rushed for 2,134 yards and 33 touchdowns while also throwing 16 touchdown passes during his career. On top of that, he was a kicker, punter, and played defense.
More than once Harmon literally played every single minute of a game on all sides of the ball, according to the University of Michigan’s official athletic site.
A member of Michigan’s “Hall of Honor,” Harmon’s jersey No. 98 is retired.
So, back in 1940, the Wolverines opened their season on Sept. 28 at Cal Berkeley. Apparently, a Cal fan got so frustrated that Harmon kept scoring against his team that he told his friends he was going to go on the field and make the tackle himself.
When Harmon broke off another huge run, sure enough, that fan apparently ran on the field and tried to make the tackle. Unfortunately, Harmon dodged him and scored anyway.
Click here to watch video of the play, from WolverineHistorian.
Michigan won the game 41-0, and the fan, Harold Brennan, was escorted off the field by two police officers. He has done interviews about that moment, and seemed to take it with good humor.
Click here for a further breakdown of what happened, from historian MVictors.
Fans running onto playing surfaces clearly wasn’t taken quite as seriously then as it is now.
Anyways, that’s a hilarious moment in Michigan football history, and we’ll probably never seen anything like it again.
Michigan went on to finish the 1940 season with a 7-1 record, beating Ohio State 40-0, and losing only at Minnesota, 7-6. The Golden Gophers went 8-0 that season and finished No. 1 in the AP Poll.