George Ceithaml George Frank Ceithaml ( ; February 10 , 1921 – May 24 , 2012 ) was an American football quarterback and coach . He was the starting quarterback for Fritz Crisler ' s University of Michigan football teams in 1941 and 1942 . Crisler later called Ceithaml " the smartest player he ever taught . " Ceithaml was selected as the quarterback on the 1942 All - Big Ten Conference team , the captain of the 1942 All - American Blocking Team , and was the 19th player selected in the 1943 NFL Draft . He later served as an assistant football coach at Michigan and the University of Southern California . Early years . Ceithaml was born in Chicago and raised on the city ' s South Side . He was an All - City quarterback two straight years for Lindbloom High School . University of Michigan . In 1939 Ceithaml enrolled at the University of Michigan and joined the football team at the beginning of the Fritz Crisler era . He was 6 - feet tall and weighed 184 pounds as a football player at Michigan . As a sophomore in 1940 Ceithaml was the backup quarterback to Forest Evashevski on a team the included All - American Tom Harmon . Ceithaml first saw substantial playing time in November 1940 leading the press to report : " George Ceithaml has ended Michigan ' s two - year search for a capable substitute for Forest Evashevski . Ceithaml , a 190 - pound sophomore , turned in a fine performance calling signals and blocking for the Wolverines against Pennsylvania . " Ceithaml received the 1940 Meyer Morton Award , established by the University of Michigan ' s " M " Club to recognize the underclassman who shows the greatest development and most promise as a football player . During his junior and senior years in 1941 and 1942 , Ceithaml started all 18 of Michigan ' s games and played on defense as well as offense . In 1941 , he started all eight games for a Michigan team that went 6 - 1 - 1 and finished the season ranked No . 5 in the final Associated Press poll . As a senior in 1942 , he started all ten games and was selected as the captain during a season in which the Wolverines finished with a record of 7 - 3 and were ranked No . 9 in the country in the final Associated Press poll . The 1942 team captained by Ceithaml has been called " Crisler ' s ' 42 Iron Men " : " What made the 1942 Michigan football season interesting was the great spirit shown by a club that lacked bench strength . The Wolverines had to play up to eight men both ways every Saturday , yet they finished with a 7 - 3 record . Three years later Coach Fritz Crisler invented two platoon football in a futile attempt to wear down the superior Blanchard - Davis Army team at Yankee Stadium , and from that time on ironman football became a memory that not too many of today ’ s fans still remember . . . . In the backfield George Ceithaml at quarterback and Bob Wiese at fullback rarely took a breather . " The 1942 season opened with a game against a military team from the Great Lakes Naval Station that featured 13 All - Americans and several professional players . Despite being rated as 35 - point underdogs , the Wolverines held the Great Lakes team scoreless and won 9 - 0 . The 1942 season also featured the first match between Michigan and Notre Dame since 1909 . Ceithaml led Michigan to a 33 - 20 win over the Fighting Irish and scored the Wolverines ' first touchdown on a quarterback sneak . In a 1993 interview , Ceithaml recalled that the 1942 Notre Dame match was " more than just a game . " He recalled : " We were so revved , we could have played two more quarters . The coaches never had to say a word to get us jacked up . We ' re Michigan . And the personal pride - - the pride of beating Notre Dame - - was intense . " Ceithaml had the responsibility to call the plays in Crisler ' s complex single - wing offense , and Crisler later called Ceithaml " the smartest player he ever taught . " After the plays were called , the quarterback in Crisler ' s offense was mainly a blocker . Before a 1942 game between Michigan and Harvard , the " Harvard Crimson " wrote : " Directing the team is Captain and quarterback George Ceithaml , who is a canny play - caller and rugged blocker . " Ceithaml developed a reputation as a fierce , " granite - shouldered " blocker , and some of his most important contributions came as a blocker for fullback Bob Wiese and halfback Tom Kuzma . Football Hall of Famers Red Grange and Elmer Layden called Ceithaml " one of the best blockers , signal callers , and defensive players in Michigan history . " Ceithaml ' s final game for Michigan was the 1942 season finale , a 28 - 14 win over Iowa . After the game , Associated Press sports writer Paul Chandler credited Ceithaml for his play - calling and " clever " blending of reverses , laterals and forward pass es . At the end of the 1942 season , Ceithaml was named as the first - team quarterback on the Associated Press All - Big Ten Conference team and the captain of Wirt Gammon ' s 1942 All - American Blocking Team . In January 1943 , Ceithaml was a starter for the East All - Stars in the 1943 East - West Shrine Game . He intercepted three passes in the game and helped the East to a 13 - 12 win . Military service and post - war football . Ceithaml was the 19th player selected in the 1943 NFL Draft , taken as the third round pick of the Brooklyn Dodgers . However , he joined the United States Navy after graduating in June 1943 rather than sign with the National Football League . Ceithaml reached the rank of lieutenant and participated in the January 1944 landing at Anzio Beach and the June 1944 D - Day landing at Normandy . After returning from military service , Ceithaml was employed by the Ford Motor Company . In 1946 , Ceithaml was chosen to play for the holdover College All - Star team in an annual match against the NFL champions . Ceithaml was reunited with former Michigan teammate Tom Harmon on a College All - Star team that defeated the NFL champion Rams by a score of 16 - 0 . Ceithaml intercepted a pass off Kenny Washington in the fourth quarter of the game to stop a late drive by the Rams . In August 1946 , the Detroit Lions engaged in a trade with the Boston Yanks to obtain the right to sign Ceithaml , but Ceithaml opted not to play professional football . Coach at Michigan . In March 1947 Fritz Crisler hired Ceithaml to return to the University of Michigan as an assistant coach . He was initially assigned as the coach of the junior varsity squad , but was promoted to the position of backfield coach . Ceithaml was an assistant coach on Michigan ' s 1947 and 1948 championship football teams that compiled a two - year record of 19 - 0 and outscored opponents by a combined two - season total of 646 - 97 . In 1949 , the University of Michigan yearbook credited Ceithaml as being " the man behind the famous Michigan single - wing attack . " Ceithaml continued to serve as an assistant football coach at Michigan through the 1952 season . While staying in Southern California for the 1948 Rose Bowl between Michigan and USC , Ceithaml met Joan Kalmbach , a graduate of Pasadena City College and former Rose Bowl queen semifinalist . Kalmbach , an ardent USC fan , was working for Los Angeles radio station KXLA , and the two became acquainted on a pre - Rose Bowl trip to Catalina Island . Ceithaml proposed to Kalmbach on New Year ' s Eve - - the night before Michigan beat USC 49 - 0 in the Rose Bowl . The couple were married in Ann Arbor in April 1948 , four months after they met . Coach at USC . In 1953 Ceithaml moved with his wife and son , George W . Ceithaml , to Los Angeles after accepting a position as the backfield coach for the USC Trojans . Having lost badly to Michigan ' s single - wing offense in 1948 , USC head coach Jess Hill told reporters , " We had to have a man who knew the single wing . " Hill checked with Crisler , and Crisler recommended Ceithaml . Based on the recommendation , Hill hired Ceithaml " sight unseen . " The " Los Angeles Times " expressed their hope that Ceithaml would teach USC ' s backs Michigan ' s " fullback spinner " and other " hocus pocus " plays . Ceithaml served as USC ' s backfield coach from 1953 - 1956 . In January 1956 San Diego State University sought to lure Ceithaml away from USC by offering him a head coaching position and faculty status . Ceithaml opted to remain at USC for the 1956 season . In February 1957 Don Clark was hired as USC ' s new head coach ; and one week later , Ceithaml announced his retirement from the coaching profession . He told the press at the time , " I intend to retire from coaching and seek an opportunity in another field . " Hall of Fame football coach George Allen credited Ceithaml as one of his influences in his book , " How To Scout Football . " Later years . In April 1957 Ceithaml was hired as the divisional manager in the Pasadena area for Investors Diversified Services , Inc . , then the world ' s largest investment management firm . By 1971 , he was the company ' s regional vice president and shortly thereafter moved to the company ' s headquarters in Minnesota to become the company ' s senior vice president for marketing . Ceithaml retired in 1983 and moved back to California with his wife Joan . He died on May 24 , 2012 , at the age of 91 in Dana Point , California .