Wally Weber Walter J . Weber ( February 27 , 1903 – April 14 , 1984 ) was an American football player and coach at the University of Michigan . He played halfback and fullback for the Wolverines in 1925 and 1926 on the same teams as Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan . He later became an assistant football coach at Michigan for 28 years from 1931 to 1958 . He continued to work for the University of Michigan in recruiting and alumni relations and as an instructor of physical education until his retirement in 1972 . He also provided color commentary on WPAG radio ' s broadcasts of Michigan football games with Bob Ufer . From 1927 to 1930 , he was football coach at Benton Harbor High School , leading the Tigers to the state championship in 1929 . He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1981 as part of the fourth group of inductees . Only seven football players were inducted into the Hall of Honor before Weber . Football player at Michigan . A native of Mount Clemens , Michigan , Weber played football at Michigan in 1925 and 1926 as a halfback and fullback in the same backfield with College and Pro Football Hall of Fame r Benny Friedman and College Hall of Famer Bennie Oosterbaan . In 1927 , Weber scored two touchdowns against Wisconsin in Fielding H . Yost ' s last game as Michigan ' s football coach ( also the last Michigan football game played at Ferry Field ) . Michigan won the game , 37 – 0 . The next week , Michigan played Ohio State in Columbus , and an anxious Weber was quoted as saying to Oosterbaan , " Ben , at this rate they ' re going to beat us 40 - 0 . " Oosterbaan reportedly replied , " Dammit , Wally , we haven ' t had the ball yet . " Having played with Friedman and Oosterbaan , Weber once modestly noted that " my sole function in the drama was to inflate the ball . " Weber later recalled that the 1925 and 1926 teams with Oosterbaan and Friedman helped build the demand for Michigan football : " We were so good , we created the demand for the new stadium . Ferry Field had a capacity of 45 , 000 and that wasn ' t nearly big enough to handle the crowds who wanted to see us play . So they had to build the new stadium . " In 1925 or 1926 , a rule change was instituted so that players did not need to pursue a fumble out - of - bounds attempting to gain possession . During a game after the rule change , Weber reportedly scrambled after a fumble out - of - bounds , across the track surrounding the gridiron at Ferry Field . Weber scraped his face , hands and arms with the cinders from the track . When he handed the ball to an official , the official said , “ Weber , you dummy , don ' t you know the rule changed this year and the ball belonged to Michigan when it went out of bounds ? ” Weber replied , “ Sure I knew , but I wasn ' t sure you did . ” Asked in 1977 about how modern football players differed from his era , Weber conceded that modern players were bigger and stronger , yet noted : " But players had more stamina in the old football game . A Harmon played it all the way . An Oosterbaan played it all the way . A Weber played it all the way . Sixty minutes , no breaks . " Football coach at Benton Harbor . After graduating , Weber was a high school football coach for four years at Benton Harbor , Michigan from 1927 to 1930 . His team lost only one game in 1928 and won the state football championship in 1929 , as the " Weber machine swept through the entire campaign . " Weber coached future All - American Chuck Bernard in high school at Benton Harbor and later coached him in college at Michigan . Another of Weber ' s players from Benton Harbor , Art Buss , went on to play at Michigan State and in the NFL from 1934 to 1937 for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles . When he left in 1931 to accept a job at Michigan , the Benton Harbor newspaper ran an article with a banner headline paying tribute to his accomplishments . In part , it noted : " Walter J . ' Wally ' Weber , former football star at the University of Michigan , today ends his successful and brilliant four year term as head coach of the Benton Harbor football team . . . . Weber passes from Benton Harbor but his shouts of ' Run , Run , Run , ' will always ring in the ears of his players and followers at Filstrup field . Wally came to Benton Harbor as a rookie coach , but leaves today as one of the greatest in the brilliant history of the gridiron sport at the local high school . . . . Since coming here four years ago , Weber gave Benton Harbor its first state championship in 26 years . . . Weber is passing from Benton Harbor in body , but his loyal and winning spirit will never be forgotten here . " Another article noted : " Benton Harbor probably never has boasted a coach as popular as Coach Weber , who has really put Benton Harbor on the football map . " On being invited to a reunion of his players in 1959 , Weber recalled fondly his days as a high school football coach : " Your fine invitation to break bread with the athletes of yesteryear at Benton Harbor has fallen upon the ears of a grateful coach . Without some of those magnificent boys of ' 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 my life might have been entirely different . Those boys by their valiant deeds on the gridiron at Filstrup field encouraged me to take up coaching as a lifetime career . " Football coach and raconteur at Michigan . In 1931 , Weber accepted a position as an assistant coach at Michigan and continued in that position for 28 years . Hercules Renda , a Michigan fullback in the late 1930s , said : “ Wally Weber was the ideal freshman coach . He would call you by the place you were from , and the state you were from . Can you imagine ? Think of the memory that man had ? He would also use those big words . That was Wally . You were perfectly at ease with him at any time . " When Weber stepped down as an assistant coach in 1958 , he became a full - time recruiter for Michigan . At the time , a Michigan sports columnist wrote of Weber : " For 23 years Wally has blown the whistle on freshman football players . . . . The polysyllabic Weber is Michigan ' s foremost representative on the banquet circuit . In fact , he ' s about the only one of the staff to get out and stump the state . . . " His official position was public relations , which one paper said " in blunt terms means recruiting chief . " In the 1950s and 1960s , Weber was a popular banquet speaker renowned for his " polysyllabic fluency , " " mind - - boggling after - dinner speeches , " and his often humorous talks about the history of Michigan football . It was noted that he would " regale with dubious rhetoric " audiences before whom he would thunderously and whimsically " expatiate upon " Michigan ' s storied history . Another described Weber ' s unusual speaking style this way : " He still sounds like an educated foghorn , and still flips that king ' s English around in a manner to amaze and apall old Noah Webster . " Praising a piledriver spotted among a current crop of Wolverines , the coach would exclaim , " When he hits ' em , generations yet unborn feel the shock of the impact ! " Jim Brandstatter wrote in his book " Tales from Michigan Stadium " that Weber was still a regular visitor at the football offices when he enrolled in 1968 . He recalled Weber as a master story teller and a favorite among the students at pep rallies : “ Who can forget Wally Weber rolling his pant legs up to his knees as the student body roared before he spoke so eloquently about his beloved Michigan ? ” Weber also held positions in the 1960s and early 1970s in alumni relations and the physical education department . Weber also provided color commentary on WPAG radio ' s broadcasts of Michigan football games with Bob Ufer for several years . He retired in 1972 at the same time as Oosterbaan . With the exception of four years at Benton Harbor , Weber had been a student or employee of U - M for 48 years at the time of his retirement . Family and later years . Weber was married to Frances L . Enders of Benton Harbor . His wife died before him in July 1965 . They had a son , Robert Weber , who was a football coach at Kimball High School in Royal Oak , Michigan . Weber was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1981 as part of the fourth group of inductees . Only seven football players were inducted into the Hall of Honor before Weber . Weber was still living in 1981 at the time of his induction into the Hall of Honor .