John Wangler John " Johnny " Wangler ( born c . 1958 ) is a former American football quarterback . He played for the University of Michigan from 1977 to 1980 . During the 1979 and 1980 seasons , Wangler and Anthony Carter formed one of the most successful pass ing combinations in Michigan Wolverines football history . Wangler ' s game - ending touchdown pass to Carter in the 1979 Indiana game led Michigan ' s famed radio announcer , Bob Ufer , to exclaim , " Johnny Wangler to Anthony Carter will be heard until another 100 years of Michigan football is played ! " After suffering what appeared to be a career - ending knee injury in the 1979 Gator Bowl , Wangler came back and led the 1980 Michigan Wolverines football team to a Big Ten Conference championship and its first victory in the Rose Bowl Game since the 1964 season . Upon completing his career at Michigan , Wangler ranked second all - time among Michigan quarterbacks in most career passing statistics , including passing yardage , touchdown passes , yards per completion and completion percentage . Shrine High School . Wangler attended Shrine Catholic High School in Royal Oak , Michigan , where he starred in both football and basketball . Wangler later recalled , " There is a great tradition and pride in putting on the Shrine basketball jersey . You represent the generations of players , teams and coaches every time you step on that court . " In 2009 , Wangler was one of the initial inductees into the Shrine High School Hall of Fame . University of Michigan . Early years at Michigan . Wangler enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1976 . As a true freshman , he was considered a contender to be the backup to Michigan ' s starting quarterback , Rick Leach . However , he appeared only briefly in three games in 1976 , completing one of two passes for eight yards . In 1977 , Wangler made two brief appearances as a substitute for Leach . In a 63 – 20 victory over Northwestern , Wangler threw only one pass , and it was good for 34 yards and a touchdown to Alan Mitchell . Wangler missed the 1978 season due to a pinched nerve in his neck or shoulder . 1979 season . Rick Leach was Michigan ' s starting quarterback in 47 of 48 games from 1975 to 1978 . With his graduation , considerable media attention was focused on the competition to replace him in 1979 . The leading contenders were Wangler and B . J . Dickey . Dickey won the starting assignment , though Wangler was given substantial playing time as a backup and was the starting quarterback in four games . During the 1979 season , Wangler completed 78 of 130 passes for 1 , 431 yards . His 60 % completion percentage set a new single - season record for Michigan quarterbacks with at least 25 pass attempts . Dickey started the season opener against Northwestern , but Wangler played in the second half . Wangler completed five of six passes for 67 yards . In the third quarter , Wangler connected with Anthony Carter for a 12 - yard touchdown pass - - the first of many touchdown passes from Wangler to Carter during the 1979 and 1980 seasons . Wangler also played as a substitute for Dickey in a 12 – 10 loss to Notre Dame . Wangler replaced Dickey in the final two minutes of the game . He completed three passes for 29 yards and took the Wolverines from their own 42 - yard line to the Notre Dame 20 - yard line before Michigan running back , Stanley Edwards , was thrown for a five - yard loss . Michigan ' s attempt at a game - winning 42 - yard field goal was blocked with one second left in the game . After nearly leading a come - back against Notre Dame , Wangler was given the starting assignment against Kansas . Wangler led the Wolverines to a 28 - 7 win as he completed 12 of 18 passes for 195 yards , including an eight - yard touchdown pass to Doug Marsh . The following week , Wangler played the entire game at quarterback in a 14 – 10 come - from - behind win against California . He completed 9 of 21 passes for 210 yards , including a 58 - yard pass to Doug Marsh . In its game coverage , the " Associated Press " wrote that " John Wangler brought alive a sluggish Michigan offense . " Against Minnesota in the sixth game , Wangler came into the game as a substitute for Dickey and completed three of five passes for 39 yards , including a one - yard touchdown pass to Lawrence Reid . In Michigan ' s eighth game against an unranked Indiana team , Wangler had his most replayed moment in a Michigan uniform . Dickey started the game , and Wangler entered the game as a substitute . The game was tied at 21 – 21 in the fourth quarter . There was no overtime in college football , and Michigan fans would have regarded a tie as the equivalent of a defeat . With six seconds left on the clock , Michigan had the ball on the Indiana 45 - yard line . Wangler dropped back to pass from his own 45 - yard line , and his pass hit Anthony Carter at the 23 - yard line . Carter ran into the end zone as time ran out to give the Wolverines a 27 – 21 victory . The play was made famous by Bob Ufer ' s colorful and emotional radio narration as the play unfolded . A portion of Ufer ' s oft - replayed call follows : " Under center is Wangler at the 45 , he goes back . He ' s looking for a receiver . He throws downfield to Carter . Carter has it . [ unintellibible screaming ] Carter scores . . . . I have never seen anything like this in all my 40 years of covering Michigan football . . . . I hope you can hear me – because I ' ve never been so happy in all my cotton - picking 59 years ! . . . Johnny Wangler to Anthony Carter will be heard until another 100 years of Michigan football is played ! . . . Meeeshigan wins , 27 to 21 . They aren ' t even going to try the extra point . Who cares ? Who gives a damn ? " Wangler completed 10 of 14 passes for 163 yards in the Indiana game . The game - ending pass from Wangler to Carter has been called " the greatest single play in the 100 - year history of Michigan football . " The following week , Wangler got the start for only the second time in his career . He led Michigan to an impressive 54 – 0 win over Wisconsin . Butch Woolfolk rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns , and Wangler completed 10 of 13 passes for 219 yards , including a 71 - yard touchdown pass to Doug Marsh . The Gannett News Service wrote : " Michigan , riding the arm of quarterback John Wangler and the fancy footwork of tailback Butch Woolfolk , rolled all over hapless Wisconsin here Saturday afternoon , 54 – 0 . " Wangler got his third start in a 24 – 21 loss to Purdue . Wangler was intercepted four times in the game , twice in the first quarter . After allowing Purdue to take a 14 – 0 lead , Wangler nearly led the Wolverines to a come - from - behind victory . Late in the third quarter , Wangler led a 69 - yard drive that was capped by a touchdown pass to Doug Marsh . Purdue responded with a field goal , and on Michigan ' s first drive in the fourth quarter , Wangler gave up his fourth interception . Purdue took a 24 – 6 lead with 10 : 27 to play . Roosevelt Smith scored for Michigan with 8 : 21 left , and Michigan recovered a Purdue fumble with 7 : 09 left . Wangler ' s passing led the Wolverines to the Purdue three - yard line , and Woolfolk scored with 5 : 34 left . After Andy Cannavino intercepted a Mark Hermann pass , Wangler led Michigan to the Purdue two - yard line , but he was sacked on fourth down , allowing Purdue to run out the clock . Wangler completed 14 of 28 passes in the game for 159 yards . In the final game of the regular season , Michigan lost to Ohio State , 18 – 15 . Freshman Rich Hewlett got the start at quarterback , as Schembechler tried to surprise Ohio State with an option offense . The strategy did not work , and Wangler was brought into the game with 3 : 48 left in the first half . After entering the game , Wangler led the Wolverines 80 yards in seven plays for their first score . The big play of the drive was a 66 - yard pass from Wangler to Carter who took the ball to the Ohio State 19 - yard line . Wangler completed four of nine passes for 133 yards and added 25 rushing yards . 1979 Gator Bowl and knee injury . Michigan ended the regular season with an 8 – 3 record and accepted an invitation to play against North Carolina in the Gator Bowl . Wangler started for Michigan in the Gator Bowl and got the Wolverines off to a quick start . He opened the game with a 47 - yard pass completion to Carter . In the first quarter - and - a - half of play , Wangler completed 6 - of - 8 passes for 203 yards . Michigan ' s first score came on a field goal in the first minute of the second quarter . With 9 : 47 left in the half , Wangler threw a 53 - yard touchdown pass to Carter who was open at the North Carolina 20 - yard line and ran untouched into the end zone . On the next drive , with Michigan leading , 9 – 0 , Wangler was sacked by North Carolina ' s Lawrence Taylor midway through the second quarter . Following the sack , Wangler reportedly screamed in agony . The hit resulted in torn ligaments in Wangler ' s knee , and he was unable to return to the game . North Carolina outscored Michigan , 17 – 6 , after Wangler left the game . Despite the loss , Wangler was named co - MVP of the game . After the game , Schembechler said , " Wangler hit some big plays . Losing him was one of those things . A good football team has to overcome that . " Dr . Gerald O ' Connor , Michigan ' s team physician , operated on Wangler ' s knee . He reported that two cross ligaments in Wangler ' s knee were completely ruptured , and there was also torn cartilage . O ' Connor later recalled , " Usually , that type of injury is not compatible to coming back to the level that Wangler did . . . " Schembechler added , " I never thought he ' d play again . It was a courageous and remarkable comeback - - and a great job of surgery . After he got the cast off , he just about never left the weight room or the training room . " Schembechler did not include Wangler in his plans for the 1980 season , but Wangler spent the summer in Ann Arbor working with offensive guard Kurt Becker to rehabilitate the knee . Becker recalled that Wangler ' s recuperation was difficult : " There was so much pain involved that there were tears in his eyes . " Wangler described his rehabilitation as follows : " Maybe I was naive , but I never had a doubt I ' d play again . I wasn ' t ready to end my career . I ' d do anything to play . The cast came off March 1st and by August 1st I knew I ' d be able to play . I worked out four to five hours every day with weights , running , bicycling and swimming . " In his book , " " , Michael Lewis cited Taylor ' s sack of Wangler as an example of the vulnerability of quarterbacks . Taylor later ended Joe Theisman ' s career as well . Lewis wrote , " Before Taylor hit him , Wangler had been a legitimate NFL prospect . " Wangler told Lewis , " I was invited to try out for the Lions and Cowboys , but everyone was kind of afraid of the severity of my injury . " 1980 season . As a fifth - year senior , Wangler came back from knee surgery to start 10 of 12 games for the 1980 Michigan Wolverines football team that finished the season 10 – 2 ( 9 – 1 with Wangler as a starter ) and ranked No . 4 in both the AP and UPI polls . During the 1980 season , Wangler completed 117 of 212 passes for 1 , 522 yards and 16 touchdown passes . He was intercepted nine times . His 16 touchdown passes in 1980 was the second highest total in school history at the time , trailing Rick Leach ' s total of 17 in 1978 . His total of 1 , 522 passing yards was the third highest in school history , trailing Dick Vidmer ' s 1 , 609 yards in 1966 and Dennis Brown ' s 1 , 562 yards in 1968 . In part because of uncertainties over Wangler ' s knee , Michigan entered the 1980 season picked to finish third in the Big Ten behind Ohio State ( led by Art Schlichter ) and Purdue ( led by Mark Herrmann ) . Michigan played Northwestern in the season opener . Sophomore Rich Hewlitt got the start at quarterback in a game played in a heavy rain during the first half . Early in the fourth quarter , Northwestern scored a touchdown to tie the game , 10 – 10 . The Michigan fans began chants of " We Want Wangler . " Wangler entered the game briefly and completed three of four passes for 36 yards , but Schembechler stuck with Hewlett in the fourth quarter . Hewlett responded with a 23 - yard touchdown pass to Anthony Carter to give Michigan a 17 – 10 win . After the game , Hewlett said he tried not to pay attention to the chants calling for Wangler , and Schembechler said , " I don ' t care who they call for . You know that won ' t dictate what I do . " In the second week of the season , Michigan played Notre Dame in South Bend . Hewlett again started the game for Michigan . After a scoreless first quarter , Notre Dame took a 14 – 0 lead in the second quarter . Wangler replaced Hewlett in the second quarter , throwing two touchdown passes ( to Lawrence Ricks and Norm Betts ) in the span of 1 : 19 to tie the game , 14 – 14 , at halftime . In the third quarter , Notre Dame took the lead on a 49 - yard interception return of a Wangler pass . In the fourth quarter , Michigan drove to the Notre Dame four - yard line with less than a minute to play . Wangler threw a pass to Butch Woolfolk in the endzone that was tipped and caught by Michigan tight end , Craig Dunaway , giving Michigan a 27 – 26 lead with 41 seconds left . Notre Dame drove to Michigan ' s 41 - yard line and won on a 51 - yard field goal as time ran out . In the third game of the season , Michigan faced a South Carolina team led by 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers . Wangler got the start and threw two touchdown passes to Carter to give Michigan a 14 – 3 lead . South Carolina scored 14 points in the second half and held the Wolverines scoreless to win the game 17 – 14 . After starting the season 1 – 2 , Michigan beat California 38 – 13 . Wangler started the game and completed 8 of 14 passes for 109 yards , as Michigan kept the ball on the ground most of the day and tallied 388 rushing yards . Michigan improved to 3 – 2 with a 27 – 23 win over Michigan State . With the game tied 13 – 13 in the second half , Wangler threw a touchown pass to Carter . Wangler completed a second touchdown pass to Craig Dunaway in the fourth quarter . Wangler completed 9 of 19 passes for 122 yards . In the sixth game of the season , Wangler led Michigan to a 37 – 14 road victory over Minnesota . Wangler threw for a personal - high 227 yards on 16 - for - 22 passing , and Carter caught nine passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns . Michigan defeated Illinois 45 – 14 in week 7 on the strength of 376 rushing yards . In the first half , Wangler completed five passes to Carter for 129 yards and a touchdown . Carter and Wangler did not play in the second half . Following the Illinois game , the " Associated Press " took note of Michigan ' s passing attack , reporting that " Michigan will take a sophisticated passing attack to Indiana on Saturday led by quarterback John Wangler who ranks No . 1 in the Big Ten in passing efficiency . " " The New York Times " also took note : " Statistically , the conference ' s leading passer going into last weekend ' s games was John Wangler of Michigan , one of the runningest teams of the 1970 ' s . " The Wolverines defeated Indiana , 35 – 0 . Wangler threw a 34 - yard touchdown pass to Carter in the first quarter , but he also threw two interceptions . Michigan kept the ball on the ground for most of the game , gaining 373 yards rushing . For the ninth game of the season , Michigan played on the road against Wisconsin . Michigan won , 24 – 0 , as Carter caught a touchdown pass from Wangler to set a Michigan school record for touchdown receptions in a single season . Wangler drew praise for his handling of the crowd noise on a fourth down play at the Wisconsin four - yard line facing the student section at the north end of Camp Randall Stadium . The referee twice stopped play because Wangler ' s signals could not be heard . The Wisconsin fans were warned twice and responded with even more noise . The referee allowed Wangler to back off five more times , and each time the referee assessed penalties against Wisconsin . The first three times , Wisconsin had time outs taken from them , and on the next two occasions delay - of - game penalties were assessed . The penalties took the ball to the one - yard line , and on the eight attempt Wangler handed the ball to Butch Woolfolk who ran for the touchdown . In the tenth game of the season , Michigan faced a Purdue team led by senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Mark Herrmann . Michigan won the game , 24 – 0 . Wangler completed 12 of 20 passes for 165 yards , including touchdown passes of 22 and 20 yards to Carter . In the final game of the regular season , Michigan defeated Ohio State , 9 – 3 , in a game dominated by the defensive units . Michigan ' s only touchdown came late in the third quarter on a pass from Wangler to Carter . Wangler also threw two interceptions in the game . The errors led coach Schembechler to say , " It may not be the prettiest win and its wasn ' t the most explosive offensive show you ' ve ever seen , but we won it . " Following the 1980 season , Wangler was selected as the first - team Academic All Big Ten quarterback and the second - team Academic All - American quarterback . He also won the Big Ten Medal of Honor as the Michigan student in the graduating class of 1981 who had best demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and athletics . 1981 Rose Bowl . As the Big Ten Conference champion , Michigan advanced to the 1981 Rose Bowl game against Washington . The " Associated Press " ran a feature story on Wangler ' s coming back from adversity to lead Michigan to the Rose Bowl . The story opened as follows : " John Wangler looks exactly like the kind of kid you ' d want central casting to send over to play the role of the nice kid who overcame great hardships and went on to become a Rose Bowl quarterback . In fact , that ' s exactly what Wangler is . " The " Chicago Tribune " also published a feature story on Wangler ' s comeback in which Roy Damer wrote that Wangler ' s comeback " typifies the Michigan team . " In comments to the " Tribune " , Schembechler added : " John Wangler ' s really been an unbelievable story this year . He came back from so much to succeed . In many ways , his story is also the story of this year ' s team . Both had to prove themselves when others questioned them . Both are winners . " In the Rose Bowl Game , the Wolverines beat the Huskies by a score of 23 – 6 to give Schembechler his first victory in a bowl game . Wangler completed 12 of 20 passes in the Rose Bowl for 145 yards , including a seven - yard touchdown pass to Anthony Carter in the third quarter . Career statistics and legacy . During his Michigan football career , Wangler completed 197 of 346 passes , for 2 , 994 yards and 26 touchdowns . He also had 16 interceptions . At the end of his career , he ranked second in Michigan history ( trailing Rick Leach who was a four - year starter ) in most career passing statistics , including passing yards , touchdown passes and yards per completions . And his 56 . 9 % completion percentage was second in school history behind Bob Ptacek . Wangler has been cited as the quarterback who began a passing tradition that led to Michigan ' s being considered one of the legitimate claimants for the title of " Quarterback U . " Jim Harbaugh noted , " Bo started to adapt from an option - based offense to more of a balanced attack when he had John Wangler at QB and Anthony Carter at receiver in the early ' 80s , and I benefited from that greatly . . . . Once quarterbacks saw that they would have a chance to throw the ball , the best started going to Michigan from all over the country . " Professional football . After graduating from Michigan , Wangler attended training camps with the Dallas Cowboys , Detroit Lions , and New York Jets , but never made an NFL roster . In January 1983 , he was signed by the Michigan Panthers in the USFL . As the Panthers also drafted Anthony Carter , the signing led to interest in the Wangler - Carter pass combination being reunited . However , the Panthers cut Wangler before beginning training camp . Later years . In the mid - 1980s , Wangler formed John Wangler Association , a subcontractor for the sporting goods and athletic apparel company , Nutmeg Mills . In 1988 , Wangler was engaged to Suzanne Marie Pagella , a former Ohio State cheerleader who became a television news anchor in Detroit , Lansing and other Michigan cities . Wangler and his wife divorced in 2001 . Wangler has been in the sports apparel and footwear business for 25 years . Since approximately 2000 , Wangler has owned and operated Top Cat Sales , a wholesale distributor of licensed apparel and footwear for Reebok and Adidas . Wangler ' s company printed several hundred championship T - shirts for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals . When the Red Wings lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins , Wangler said that , in those circumstances , the losing team usually sends the shirts back to Wangler , and " we end up sending them to a third - world country . "