 However, Heikkinen did not win a starting spot on the 1936 team and was not even ranked among the top sophomore guards on the team. At the end of the 1936 season, the highest praise Coach Kipke could muster was to call him “ one of the better defensive linemen on the squad. ” Assistant coach Bennie Oosterbaan said Heikkinen had “ the right attitude, ” and coach Wally Weber described him as “ a hard worker. ” However, the Michigan Daily noted: “ The only weakness of the Ramsay boy is his lack of speed. Speedy guards are needed to pull out of the line and lead the interference, and Heikkinen hasn ’ t quite shown that he is fast enough to move in Big Ten competition as yet. ”
