Milo Sukup Milo Frederick Sukup ( July 9 , 1917 – January 3 , 1983 ) was an American football player and coach . He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 , where he was the running guard and a key blocker for Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon . He sustained a head injury late in his senior year that ended his football career . He was the head football coach and athletic director at Union High School in Grand Rapids , Michigan from 1942 to 1971 . Family . Sukup was born in Muskegon Heights , Michigan in 1917 . His parents , John and Anna Sukup , spoke Slovak and identified their homeland in the 1910 Census as " Hun Slovakia . " His mother emigrated to the United States in 1897 and his father in 1899 . His father worked as a core maker in an iron foundry . Sukup had a brother , John , who was seven years older and two sisters , Anna and Lilian . High school . Sukup attended Muskegon Heights High School where he won 12 varsity letters in football , basketball , baseball and track and was selected as an all - state player in both basketball and football . As the fullback for his high school football team , Sukup led Muskegon Heights to 27 consecutive wins and three state titles from 1933 to 1936 . University of Michigan . In 1937 , he enrolled at the University of Michigan where he played college football as a guard for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1938 to 1940 . As a sophomore in 1938 , he was alternated with All - American Ralph Heikkinen and garnered attention after the Penn game in which he recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown and made what was described as " a thundering block " that freed Paul Kromer to return another punt for a touchdown . Sukup became a starter in the 1939 and 1940 seasons . In games in which Sukup was a starter , the Wolverines outscored opponents 349 to 107 and compiled a record of 11 wins and 2 losses . Sukup was the running guard and blocker for three backs who were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame : Tom Harmon , Forest Evashevski and Bob Westfall . During Harmon ' s Heisman Trophy - winning season , he publicly praised Sukup and fellow guard Ralph Fritz as " two big reasons for Harmon . " While taking no credit away from Harmon , Michigan ' s head coach Fritz Crisler noted that " Harmon gets exceptional blocking " from Evashevsi , Fritz and Sukup . Walter L . Johns , sports editor of the Central Press Association , called Fritz and Sukup " two husky boys who could make any college team in the country . " In a November 1940 game against Illinois , Sukup suffered a blow to the head while blocking for Harmon . He was knocked unconscious , suffered from temporary amnesia and was later hospitalized for several days after suffering recurring headaches . Sukup was propped up in a bed at University Hospital when the Wolverines left to play Minnesota and listened by radio from his hospital bed as the team suffered its only loss of the season . He missed the last three games of the season due to the concussion and did not compete further as a football player . Some have concluded that Sukup was on track for selection as an All - American until the injury ended his season . Later years . Sukup became the football coach and athletic director at Union High School in Grand Rapids , Michigan from 1942 to 1971 . At Union High , Sukup ran the single wing offense he had learned from Fritz Crisler at Michigan . In 1948 , Sukup led Union High to an undefeated season and a Class A state championship . Upon his retirement in 1972 , the Michigan House of Representatives passed a resolution of tribute to him . Sukup died in January 1983 at Grand Rapids , Michigan . He was posthumously inducted into the Muskegon Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 .