Bennie Oosterbaan Benjamin Gaylord " Bennie " Oosterbaan ( February 4 , 1906 – October 25 , 1990 ) was a three - time first team All - American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team , two - time All - American basketball player for the basketball team and an All - Big Ten Conference baseball player for the baseball team . Despite the fact that he last played in the 1920s , he is still widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in Michigan ' s history . 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 . 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 . 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 . Athletic career . 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 . 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 . 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 . Football . 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 . 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 University 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 . Basketball . 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 . He twice recorded double - double s in this low scoring era . Baseball . Oosterbaan was also an All - Conference baseball player who won the Big Ten batting title in 1927 . He played both First baseman and pitcher . Coaching career . After graduating , Oosterbaan declined offers to play professional football and baseball . According to friend and player Ron Kramer , Oosterbaan grew up in the Dutch Reformed Church and did not sign a professional football or baseball contract " because of his religious background and his mother . Dutch Reformed didn ' t play football on Sundays . " Instead , Oosterbaan stayed on at the University of Michigan as an assistant coach for the football and basketball teams . He began as an assistant football coach immediately after graduating , and he remained an assistant coach of the football team for twenty years before succeeding Fritz Crisler . After serving 10 seasons as an assistant coach , he also became the head basketball coach in 1938 and served in that capacity until 1946 . The basketball team had an 81 – 72 record while Oosterbaan was the head coach . Oosterbaan employed an uptempo style of play that differed from that of his predecessor Franklin Cappon . Oosterbaan was also head coach of the freshman baseball team . In 1948 , Oosterbaan took over as head coach of the football team at Michigan . Crisler named Oosterbaan as his successor after the 1948 Rose Bowl in which Michigan beat the USC Trojans by a score of 49 – 0 . Crisler described Oosterbaan as " the best offensive mind in college football . " Oosterbaan led the Wolverines to an Associated Press ( AP ) national championship in his first season and won Coach of the Year honors . His 1950 team won the 1951 Rose Bowl after Oosterbaan obtained consent from the Conference to hold extra practices . His teams won Big Ten championships in each of his first three seasons but did not win another under his tenure . He coached at Michigan until 1958 , compiling a 63 – 33 – 4 record . Oosterbaan believed success was fleeting . He once was quoted in " Time Magazine " as saying , " I ' m on top now , and there is a lot of backslapping . But what of seasons to come ? Let me lose the opener or a couple of other games next fall , and then watch how I ' m blasted . " As coach , he had a reputation as a mild - mannered man who aspired to live by the maxims of his own college football coach , Fielding Yost . Oosterbaan had an mild - mannered coaching style . " Poise " was his favorite word when it came to inspiring his team . He coached without using a lot of yelling and screaming . Oosterbaan motivated his players without using sarcasm or losing his temper , and rarely used locker room pep talks . Oosterbaan resigned as the head football coach in 1958 . At the time , he said : " The pressure finally got to me . Not the kind that comes from outside . Not from my bosses or the fans . I mean the pressure that builds up inside a head coach whether he wins or loses . " After Oosterbaan quit as football coach he was succeeded by Bump Elliott . In 1959 , Oosterbaan became Michigan ' s director of athletic alumni relations and held that position until he retired in 1972 . Personal life . Oosterbaan died in 1990 , having spent his entire career associated with the University of Michigan . As one of his obituaries noted , he " went to Ann Arbor as a freshman in 1924 — and never left . " All - American Ron Kramer said of his former coach : " Bennie Oosterbaan is the Michigan tradition . The man gave his whole life to Michigan . " When he died he was the most recent Michigan football coach to have a team ranked # 1 in the nation at the end of the season . Oosterbaan ' s wife of 57 years , Delmas , had predeceased him a few months earlier on July 23 . He was survived by his sister , Grace Hedner ; his daughter , Anna Wilson ; and two grandsons . Two of his brothers , Guy and Andy , died when Oosterbaan was a young man . Oosterbaan is no relation to John Paul Oosterbaan who was a member of the 1989 NCAA Championship basketball team . While at the University of Michigan he was a member of Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity . Don Lund , Michigan ' s associate athletic director for alumni relations who also played basketball for Oosterbaan said : " There ' s no question he was the greatest athlete we ever had here at Michigan . " Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Woody Hayes once said of Oosterbaan : " If he weren ' t from Michigan , I ' d like to have my own son play for him . " Honors and awards . Bennie Oosterbaan ' s jersey number 47 was the first Michigan football jersey number retired , and until 2011 , it was one of only five numbers retired by the Michigan football program . In 2012 , the Michigan Football Legends program led to the reissue of the No . 47 jersey to linebacker Jake Ryan , bearing a patch ( pictured at right ) honoring Oosterbaan . Each player to wear the jersey will also dress at a locker bearing a plaque with Oosterbaan ' s name and his time of tenure at Michigan . In 1954 , he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . He was a member of the fourth class of inductees into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1958 . Oosterbaan was a member of the inaugural 1978 class of inductees into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor . The Michigan football indoor practice facility was named Oosterbaan Field House . In 2000 , he was selected to the Michigan All - Century team . American sports - writer , Grantland Rice selected him and Don Hutson as the ends for the all - time All - American team of the first half of the 20th century . A poll of Michigan alumni and friends in 1979 selected Oosterbaan as Michigan ' s greatest all - time football player . In 1969 , " Sports Illustrated " named him to the eleven - man All - Century team for the period 1869 – 1968 . In 1999 , " Sports Illustrated " published a list of " The 50 Greatest Sports Figures From Michigan " ( in all sports ) , and ranked Oosterbaan fourth on the list behind Joe Louis , Magic Johnson and Charlie Gehringer . He was the highest ranked football player , ahead of Michigan Wolverines Ron Kramer ( # 7 ) , Fielding H . Yost ( # 9 ) , Rick Leach ( # 22 ) , Fritz Crisler ( # 31 ) , and Harry Kipke ( # 40 ) .