Whitey Wistert

**Francis Michael "Whitey" Wistert** (born February 20, 1912 in Chicago,  Illinois, died April 23, 1985 in Painesville, Ohio) was an American football and baseball player. He played college football for the University of Michigan Wolverines. He was added into the College Football Hall of Fame after he was elected to it in 1967. He and his two brothers are three of the seven players who have had their uniform numbers retired by Michigan Wolverines football. While at college, Wistert helped Michigan win the Big Ten Conference football championship in 1931, 1932, and 1933. He was also Big Ten Most Valuable Player in college baseball. He later played for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball.

## College athletics 
Wistert graduated from Chicago's Schurz High School in 1929. He  the University of Michigan where he was an athlete in both football and baseball in 1931, 1932, and 1933.

### The Wistert brothers of Michigan 
Wistert played for the Michigan Wolverines before his two brothers, Al Wistert and Alvin Wistert, did. All three Wistert brothers  the number 11 for the Wolverines football team, and all three were members of the College Football All-America team, which is the best players through all of the United States.  When interviewed by the *Detroit News* in 2004, brother Alvin Wistert said, "And if I'm not  I think this is unprecedented in the  of college football: that three brothers all would go to the same school, all played football.  All played tackle, all wore the same number 11, all made All-American.  Two of us played on four national championship teams. They all made it into the College Football Hall of Fame."

The Wistert brothers grew up on the northwest side of Chicago and were the sons of a Lithuanian family.  Their father was a Spanish-American War veteran, who later died while working for the Chicago Police Department.  and was a chosen All-American in 1933. The 1934 University of Michigan yearbook, the *Michiganensian*, had this to say by Grantland Rice: "Wistert was ly selected as the best tackle in the Middle-West this year.  He was an important part of Michigan's defensive line play.  He was a very good  and it was nearly  to  him on  plays.  He was , quick, and  in finding out how a play would happen." Wistert and Chuck Bernard were the leaders of the 1933 offensive line when the team went 7-0-1 with a  to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. In 1936, he was a  Michigan football coaching  of Coach Harry Kipke.

## Baseball 
Wistert  varsity letters in baseball three years. He was chosen as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference in 1934.  The 1934 *Michiganensian* yearbook wrote that the final game of the baseball season was a 4–0 shutout by Wistert against the University of Chicago Maroon. It wrote, "Wistert, for the Wolves,  only five well- hits during the game. Although Whitey Wistert walked four men, he more than off-set this by striking out nine of the Maroons to face him."  Wistert also allowed, as the pitcher, Ohio State four hits in a game.

### Professional baseball 
Wistert, still being a minor league baseball player, played for a short while in Major League Baseball, playing in three games for the Cincinnati Reds between September 11, 1934 and September 25, 1934.  In two times he pitched, Wistert let only one run in eight innings, for a career earned run average of 1.13.  Though, in the three times he batted, he went did not hit the ball, so he struck out twice.  Although he only played for a short while in Major League Baseball, Wistert played five years of professional baseball.

## Honors 
Wistert became part of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967, one year before his brother Albert did so.

## Non-athletic 
Wistert became a New York lawyer after he retired from sports. He went on to become a vice president of an industrial relations in Toledo, Ohio. He was United States Navy lieutenant in World War II.

## Notes 
## Other websites 
*Whitey Wistert at baseball-reference.com
*Whitey Wistert at baseball-almanac.com
*College Football Hall of Fame Bio 
*Top 100 Michigan Football players