* George Blaha, legendary Detroit Pistons and Michigan State football broadcaster

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jack keambling here with my good friend Matt Sloan a
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Speaker 1 (00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
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Speaker 1 (00:27):
Papacy, Matt in the gang here on West Grand riverd Okamitz.
They're making friends. Want to welcome in George Blaha, Hall
of Fame, NBA, Voice of the Detroit Pistons, and a
guy who started doing Michigan State games fifty four seasons ago.
But George, I always like to let our listeners know

(00:48):
that your relationship with Michigan State started a long time
before that. It was at actually seventy two years now
since you saw the Spartans play the Iowa Hawkeye in
Iowa City and I.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Was not pulling for Michigan State that day, and I
was disappointed at the end of the day, Michigan State
twenty one, Iowa seven. Two great coaches, Bigie mun and
for s Avyshewsky went head to head. Anybody who knows
those names is either around my age or they've been
doing a good job of studying football history. But though

(01:23):
they were great coaches, obviously, Hey.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Rob, I don't know exactly what it means. We are
not going to try to revoke George blajas Spartan Hall
of Fame card. But he was rooting for Iowa against
Michigan State in spartans first Big Ten game, and I
think he was rooting for Notre Dame in nineteen sixty six.

(01:47):
You're a proud domer and when you think about the
game of the century, that was before you established your
link to MSU.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Right, Absolutely correct. But I was in the SAMs with
my future father in law and a former Notre Dame
football player. I think we are in about the thirty
yard line, maybe twenty rows up on the press box
side of Spartans Stadium, and you could hear the thuds

(02:21):
like at no other football game I ever attended, except
for maybe one Denver Bronco game when I was very,
very close to the field because a buddy of mine
from high school owned the Broncos at the time.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Wow, I've talked to players on both of those teams,
national champion teams. They split the MacArthur Bowl and Notre
Dame took the rest that year. But I've talked to
enough players to say, what a fierce game that wasn't
at the end, George, they weren't exactly sure what to

(02:57):
make of it because ten ten and then players just
kind of walked off the field. There was no overtime,
nothing like that. And it was also an armactic for
all of the build up. Where you were sitting, did
you understand then that hey, this is going to go
down forever as a time and we'll be talking about
it sixty years later.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you know what, Jack, I knew this. The whole country,
the entire country was talking about that game for two weeks,
maybe three, prior to the kickoff. I mean, every newspaper
columnist in America at least did one column before the

(03:39):
game ever started, and probably two or three. There was
so much build up to that game, and rightfully so,
if you look back on I don't have the numbers
in front of me, but all the guys from those
teams who played in the pros. It was unbelievable. And
of course we all know that Michigan State had four
of the first eight picks I believe in the NFL

(04:03):
Draft that year, and nobody, not Miami with all their arrogance,
and certainly not Michigan with all theirs, can say anything
close to that four of the top eight in the
NFL draft. And Notre Dame had a bunch of pros.
They might have had more total pros than the Spartans had,

(04:26):
but both teams had great players. And you're looking at
George Webster and Jim Lynch, two of the all time
best linebackers, and on and on. It goes. So great game.
And from my perspective as a Notre Dame graduate who
broadcast Michigan State and has so many friends that played
for the Spartans and a few that played for the

(04:47):
Irish too, I'm glad it entered in a ten ten tie,
and I think, yeah, both those programs should be happy
that it did end that way. If somebody wins by
one or what ever, and then wins the national championship,
this thing has gone away long before. Now, well, we
could keep talking about it forever. It was a ten

(05:10):
ten time and that'll never go away. And I think
it was good for both schools. It really was, Yeah,
and I think.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
A lot of the players. George realized that it took
him a while. Clinton Jules always said that was the
best thing that ever happened. But you talk about the
magnitude of that game, and it's the only game I
know where. Seriously, they could have sold two hundred thousand tickets.
They had that many requests from people all over the country.

(05:38):
Question was whether President Johnson would show up. Bob at
Pisa tells the story. It's the first live sporting event
shown in the Hawaiian Islands. Everything was tape delayed because
of the five hour difference, but they put this baby
on live. And they also change WoT rules, George, because
you could only appear on national television once in the year.

(06:02):
And finally Congress got involved.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
In this thing.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
That's usually dangerous, but Congress got involved and said, you
know what, we can't do it. We're getting so many
calls from our constituents. We got to change this. So
the nation got to see it.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
And one more thing, my friend George Gedicky told me
and maybe I've shared this with you and your listeners before,
but it's worth repeating. Michigan State could not go to
a bowl game because of the Big Ten rules they
had been in the year before, and Notre Dame did
not go to bowl games in those days.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
So they all these guys played in All Star games,
and a bunch of them played on Christmas Day in Miami,
and on Christmas Eve, George Gedicky and a couple of
other domers and some of the some of the Spartan's

(07:00):
including Bubba Smith and I believe Charlie Thornhill, got together
at their hotel, got a couple of cases of beer,
and sang Christmas carols. True story, true.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Story of the video of that one.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
That's great. Oh man, that's great. So those guys respected
each other, and they should have and we all should
respect all those guys for all the blood, sweat and
tears over all those years. Everybody had tailgate parties, everybody
had a good time, everybody having good stories each and

(07:37):
every Saturday of our lives. But you got to take
your hat off to the players who had to practice
every day and get in shape and put their life
on the line. In the Big Ten anyway, playing college football.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
George, those teams will meet again now they've they've done
away with the annual matchups at least for now, but
they will meet next year the sixtieth anniversary of the
ten ten tie. That one will be in South Bend,
and then in twenty twenty seven, Notre Dame will come
to East Lansing. So looking forward to that. But I

(08:13):
want to talk about twenty twenty five and what we're
going to see beginning one week from tonight against Western Michigan.
What's your take on this team?

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Well, Western hand, I've been doing a little research on
the Broncos as best I can, and yeah, they've got
a two quarterback race going. Ar'm down there. Both young
men have stellar resumes and they haven't played at Western
until this year. One's a great athlete and can run

(08:45):
the ball, and the others of elite passer who was
about sixty three, So they won't be without weapons. But
they did lose a ton of players from last year's
squad that was a Bowl game team. And the Spartans
are nineteen and a half point favorite. Somebody told me so. Obviously,

(09:08):
people figure that Spartans have more players than they did
last year, and Western has fewer players with experience anyway
than they had last year. I don't know if five
Jonathan Smith and the Spartans. I just want to play
well and win. Who cares if you blow them out
or don't. But I always think this is a great

(09:29):
tradition at Michigan State and I hope we keep it
because you'll get a chance to be in Spartan Stadium
on what's almost always a beautiful Friday night and watch
your team for the first time during the season. And
I think it's great when they play somebody from the
state of Michigan that's had success. This is not an

(09:50):
unknown school. This is Western and they've won their share.
And when you play Central the same way. So I
think it's a great way to start the season.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
What about this Michigan State team and the biggest difference Georgia.
You've seen probably more practice than I have. But looking
at where this team is with Aidan Childs as a
second year starting quarterback, lots of portal additions, but a
little bit more familiarity for the coaching staff. They understand

(10:23):
where to park their cars now, So this team's going
to be a little different. It certainly looks different, looks
much more like a Big ten team.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Well, when Jonathan Smith got the job, he suddenly went
halfway across the country, or even maybe two thirds of
the way across the country. Yeah, changed leagues, changed from
a little more finesse league to a nat and potatoes
type of football, and this guy had an awful lot

(10:54):
of catching up to do, and they did the best
they could. And he brought along a heck of a
quarterback who did a lot of great things and made
more than his share of mistakes unfortunately. And now they've
had a chance to assemble the kind of team that
they like and they want, And it seems to me
that did a nice job in the portal, a very

(11:16):
nice job. And you know, now they actually have enough
offensive linemen and they have maybe enough guys to rush
the passer so they won't spend the last month and
change of the season without a sack. So this is
going to be a far more representative Jonathan Smith team
than we saw last year. And I know he's excited

(11:40):
about it, and I don't blame him. I think they
put an awful lot of hours trying to get this
Spartan program up to speed and up to their kind
of speed. Everybody, all coaches want to play the way
they want to play, and hopefully they could now play
some legitimate Jonathan Smith football and to work.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Out, George, is there an area, position group, or an
individual player you're most excited about seeing or that you
think is going to take a quantum.

Speaker 4 (12:12):
Leap this season.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
There's a position group I think at rush end that
is exciting. These guys. They're all coached by Chad Wilt.
They're not coach, but the D line coach, and I'm
sure they all fall one of the auspices of the
defensive coordinator Joe Rossi. But this is a group under

(12:38):
its own and their job is to pressure the quarterback
and change what happened last year into a new day.
And they got four or five guys over there that
look the part and so, and I think two or
three of them are fighting to be the number one guy,
and I don't Sometimes when that happens, it means nobody's

(13:01):
good enough. But I think in this case, it means
two or three guys are good enough, and so I'm
excited about that. I'm excited about the additions at wide
receiver with all the speed, take a lot of the
heat off Nick marsh and and and the offensive line
I think can help uh Aiden Childs avoid mistakes. And uh,

(13:25):
you know, when you're when you're running for your life, Uh,
it's uh it's easy to lose your concentration. And uh
so the uh the fact that he's got guys who
can block uh and keep him semi safe. You're never

(13:47):
safe on a football field, but semi safe. Uh, it's
going to make a difference. And if if Aiden Childs
plays solid football, I don't mean mistake free. If you
have legs and you you them, sometimes you're going to
make a mistake. If you're just purely a pocket guy
and ready to throw it away if you have to,

(14:08):
then maybe you won't make many. But we like the
fact that at Shaws can run and will run. We
like the fact that he'll take a chance now and then.
So if he just gets back to mainstream, relatively mistake
free football, this could be a very interesting team. And
they've got they got players, and they've and I'll tell

(14:30):
you another group that interests me, and that is the secondary.
I mean, if you're ready to do your two deeps
from Michigan State at safety in corner, you better have
an awful lot of room on your spot board. There
are a number of kids that transferred in. The kids
from last year are going to get a better shot,

(14:50):
and the two safeties Martinez and Spencer are probably the
guys you can write down as season long starters minus injuries.
But everywhere else they're all kinds of players, and there's even
depth that safety. I like the linebackers, and you know

(15:12):
ven Sumer is going to be very good up front.
He was already very good last year, So there's nothing
not to like about the guys who actually play. I'm
a little worried about who's going to be healthy enough
at place kicker, but in a week or two, I
don't think that'll be a problem. So let's don't get
into the game that comes down to one field goal.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Right exactly, and we know that that can be the
difference between making a bowl game or making a better
bowl game, can come down to one kicker or even
one snatch. Sure, George, as you get ready for yet
another season, you got new broadcast partner. We all know
Jay Hugh Caulcrick. We've all seen him in the end

(15:56):
zone a lot. Can you talk a little bit about
Jay Hugh and what he brings to the team.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Well, I told him last night in Michigan State function.
The last running back that I worked with was Sherman Lewis,
but he was also a defensive coordinator in college. He
also won Super Bowl rings as an offensive coordinator and
as a running back coach and had a zillion long runs.

(16:23):
But Jay, you've had a zillion touchdowns. So it's a
different perspective. And I thought I did a very good
job last year on the sidelines. This is a different animal,
But I think we got to give him a chance
to grow a little bit and see how he does.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
What do you tell him in terms of the actual broadcast,
you just have to do practice broadcast do You just
have to get the feel of it for the first
few weeks. There's got to be a rhythm there, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
I think he wants to make sure that he he
gets out before I or doesn't start his uh his
analysis until I've finished the play call. That's not the
easiest thing in the world to do. But we'll see
how he does it. At times, you can't avoid that,
and you're going to get excited if you're a Michigan

(17:19):
State guy. So uh, you know, if you just come
came into a regional TV broadcast, you don't care that
this team scores or that team scores personally anyway, you
just want to do a good broadcast. But in this case,
you got you got. You got two jobs here. Root
for your team and not make it too obvious, and

(17:41):
shut up when you need to shut up. So uh,
I think he'll do just fun. He wants to do
the right thing.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
I'll say that one difference for you, George, your longtime
broadcast partner. Jason Strahorn didn't score a touchdown for Michigan State.
But Jay, you've scored so many that when you say
a touchdown MSU, he's going to think you're talking about him.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Let's tell you what Jason had. The kind of a
job with a team that makes you understand everything is
going on. You've got to call those offensive line signals
versus the defense, and all the intricacies of your offense
and the intricacies excuse me of the other guy's defense

(18:27):
are things you have to know if you're the center.
So and I thought Jason did a great, great job.
I'm going to miss him. But let's see what happens, George.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
The next guest we have on is someone you know
very well. Maybe the greatest offensive player. Some would say
the greatest player, but I'll say the greatest offensive player
in Michigan state history. Lorenzo White is going to join us.
A favorite moment of Lowe's career at MSU.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
I just remember the Indiana game, Yeah, the Clinton Rose Bowl. Yeah,
and he absolutely pounded the Hoosiers. I can't even I
couldn't tell you how many times he carried him taking
thirty five and how many yards. He gave fifty six carries.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
For two hundred and ninety two yards. And George was
mad because the NCAA record was fifty seven. He found
that out after the game, and he wishes he'd had
him in instead of taking him out in three plays
and putting Blake Ezor in. He wanted to get the record.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
And Blake deserved his time. But when you sign up
to play behind Lorenzo White, you're not gonna get as
much time as you with someplace else. A great running
back and a great guy. I'm anxious to hear what
he has to say, George.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
It was two years before that. It was in Lowe's
sophomore year when he set the NCAA record two thy
sixty six yards and he actually carried the football. People
don't believe this, but you can look it up one
hundred and two times in eight.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Days and tell me about it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
His mom he had fifty three and then he had
forty nine. And his mom, the Great Gloria Golden, called
me and said, mister Ebling, I'm worried about Lorenzo. I said, well,
you have to worry about I'm getting in trouble because
he didn't doing any dance after these games.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
Do it all exact field? Yeah, George, thanks answer.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Great to have you with us as always, and we'll
see you at Spartan Stadium.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
All right, Thanks Jack.

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(21:04):
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Speaker 3 (21:19):
Jah.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Gambling here with my good friend Matt Sloan a graph
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Speaker 2 (21:24):
That's right, Jack. We got the summer savings going on
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Great deals. We're offering zero percent financing on select vehicles
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