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 Famer 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." 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." 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." 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."

When Weber stepped down as an assistant coach in 1958, he became a full-time recruiter for Michigan.

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. 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!" He retired in 1972 at the same time as Oosterbaan. They had a son, Robert Weber, who was a football coach at Kimball High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. Weber was still living in 1981 at the time of his induction into the Hall of Honor.