Nisha Rathode (Editor)

Bob Ufer

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
Bob Ufer

Died
  
October 26, 1981


Bob Ufer wwwuferorggalleryphotosuferpng

Tribute to bob ufer


Robert Pormann Ufer (April 1, 1920 – October 26, 1981) was an American track and field athlete and radio broadcaster. As an athlete, he set the world indoor record of 48.1 seconds in the indoor 440-yard (quarter mile) run and was selected as an All-American in 1943. As a broadcaster, he served as the lead broadcaster for the Michigan Wolverines football team for 36 years, starting in 1945. He was in the first group inducted in 1978 into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor along with Gerald Ford, Bill Freehan, Tom Harmon, Ron Kramer, Bennie Oosterbaan, and Cazzie Russell.

Contents

Bob Ufer Bob Ufer Memorabilia Merchandise

Bob ufer voice of michigan football


Early years

Bob Ufer Bob Ufer39s call of 1979 MichiganMichigan State game to

Ufer was born Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. His father was a lumber broker. An outstanding track and field athlete at the University of Michigan, Ufer set eight freshman records. At the Big Ten Conference track meet in 1942, he set a new world indoor record of 48.1 seconds in the 440-yard dash, breaking the old record of 48.2. He was a three-time Big Ten Conference champion in the indoor 440-yard dash. In 1946, a year after he began broadcasting Michigan football games on WPAG radio in Ann Arbor, Ufer came down with ulcerative colitis. Doctors ordered him to give up his broadcasting career. He agreed on the condition that he could continue to call Wolverines football games.

Broadcast career

Bob Ufer Bob Ufer Voice of Michigan Football YouTube

Ufer called Wolverines football on WPAG from 1945 to 1976 and on Detroit's WJR from 1977 to 1981. He is remembered for his exuberant, partisan broadcasting style, openly rooting for Michigan.

Personal life

Bob Ufer The Bob Ufer Donor Fund

Ufer was also a life insurance salesman who founded his own company, Ufer & Co. Insurance, in 1947.

Ufer lost a long battle with cancer October 26, 1981, nine days after his last broadcast; at Ufer's funeral, former Michigan defensive coordinator, Jim Herrmann, said, "Bob Ufer was Michigan football. That's what he lived and died for. I think he would have liked being described that way." Ufer is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor.

In 1983, the parents of Ann Arbor-raised musician Andrew W.K. purchased the Ufer home. He grew up there until moving to New York City 14 years later.

Ufer's son, also named Bob Ufer, was the commissioner of the International Hockey League.

In July 2011, the offices of Ufer & Co. Insurance, which had been sold by Ufer's sons in 2009 to Kapnick Insurance Group, were moved to a location adjacent to Briarwood Mall to a building renamed "The Ufer Building" in his honor.

References

Bob Ufer Wikipedia