Each week, The Detroit News will look back at events and people from past sports moments, enlarging on experiences that might have been forgotten with time, or revisiting behind-the-scenes drama that never made it into print or on airwaves.
Down on a field turned to slop from snow, rain, and freshly laid turf, winds blew at 50 mph and made this a November game Joe Roberson was happy to view from behind Michigan Stadium’s press-box glass.
But he was scared stiff by the scoreboard.
Michigan was leading Purdue, 5-0, in the fourth quarter. Six points, which could come quirkily on a day this evil, and the Boilermakers could steal a Big Ten game and ruin an athletic director’s plan to make Lloyd Carr more than the interim head coach he had been for the past six months.