Bennie Oosterbaan

Benjamin Oosterbaan (February 24, 1906 – October 25, 1990) was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, twice All-American basketball player for the basketball team, and an All-Big Ten Conference baseball player for the baseball team.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in Michigan history.

In his junior year (1923), he led the Muskegon basketball team to a state championship and was named a High School All-American in basketball.

He was also an All-State baseball player and state champion discus thrower.

As a sophomore in 1925, Oosterbaan led the Big Ten with eight touchdowns.

That year, the Wolverines outscored their opponents 227–3.

The team shut out every team they faced, except a 3–2 defeat to Northwestern at Soldier Field late in the season.

Oosterbaan's defensive play was outstanding as well, and he was key in shutting out the Fighting Illini and Red Grange 3–0 in 1925 a year after he scored four touchdowns in the first twelve minutes.

Five players from the 1925 team were named All-Americans, including Benny Friedman and Oosterbaan.

He was briefly kicked off of the team during the year by an assistant coach for lining up incorrectly before coach Fielding H. Yost brought him back.

In 1926, Friedman and Oosterbaan were both named All-Americans after leading the Wolverines to a 7–1 record and their second consecutive Big Ten Conference championship.

That year, his 60-yard run with a recovered fumble helped Michigan to a 7–6 victory over Minnesota in the annual Little Brown Jug game.

The Wolverines outscored their opponents, 191–38, and suffered their only loss to Navy, 10–0, in front of 80,000 fans at Baltimore Stadium.

The following year, Friedman had moved on to the NFL, and Oosterbaan was named the team's captain and Most Valuable Player.

Oosterbaan was a skilled passer, once throwing for three touchdowns passes in the Michigan Stadium dedication game against rival Ohio State on October 22, 1927.

Oosterbaan was also selected as an All-American for the third consecutive season.

He is one of only two players at Michigan ever to receive consensus All-American honors three times—Anthony Carter being the other.

The Wolverines went 20–4 in Oosterbaan's career at Michigan.

In addition to football, Oosterbaan was an All-American basketball forward.

He led the Big Ten Conference in scoring (178 points) in his senior year.

He was named All-American in both 1927 and 1928 and was a member of Michigan's first back-to-back Western conference champions under E. J. Mather during the 1925–26 and 1926–27 seasons (the latter being Michigan's first outright champion and Oosterbaan's first basketball All-American selection).

Oosterbaan was the first Michigan All-American in basketball.

According to a Michigan Today article, he probably could have made the 1928 Summer Olympics team in the discus.

At Michigan, Bennie Oosterbaan earned nine letters—three apiece in football, basketball, and baseball.

In its obituary of Oosterbaan, The Sporting News described him as a phenomenal student-athlete who in his senior year at Michigan "was captain of the football team, led the Big Ten Conference in scoring in basketball and was the league's leading hitter in baseball, a sport he had not pursued while in high school."

Oosterbaan was both a scholar and an athlete.

In 1928, he was awarded the Western Conference Medal of Honor for proficiency as a scholar-athlete.

That season, he was captain, most valuable player, and an All-American in football; Big Ten scoring champion and All-American in basketball; and Big Ten batting average champion in what may be the most dominant three sport performance in any conference in a single year.

After a year on the freshmen football team, he was invited to varsity tryouts.

A star receiver and defensive end in a time when the forward pass was still evolving, Oosterbaan united with quarterback Benny Friedman as a passing combination.

Oosterbaan's 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team won an Associated Press national championship, and his 1950 squad won the 1951 Rose Bowl.

He later served as the director of athletic alumni relations.

Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Oosterbaan began his athletic career at Muskegon High School where he was selected by the Detroit News as an All-State end.

After his playing career ended, Oosterbaan spent several decades working for the University of Michigan Athletic Department until the 1970s.

Oosterbaan served as the football, basketball, and baseball coach for the university.

He was selected by Sports Illustrated as the fourth greatest athlete in the history of the U.S. state of Michigan in 2003 and one of the eleven greatest college football players of the first century of the game (ending in 1968).

During his collegiate athletic career he was a Big Ten batting champion in baseball, Big Ten scoring champion in basketball, and Big Ten touchdown leader in football.

He was the first University of Michigan athlete to become a first-team All-American in basketball and the first three-time first-team football All-American.

In high school, he had been an All-American basketball player, a state champion in track and field, and an All-state player in baseball and football.

In addition to his All-American collegiate performances as an end, Oosterbaan threw three touchdown passes in the dedication game of Michigan Stadium.