Bo's Warriors Chapter 1 Go Blue Go

Part 2       Continued               Go Blue Go

And with team bonding, team unity also influences positively the kind/type of personality each player was is developing. These players became less self-centered, and more caring and giving. These young men became less full of themselves. They cared a lot about each other.  Membership in the group was paramount for security, achievement, competitiveness   and status. As” the team” became more and more of a positive attraction, it became more cohesive and turned toward a collective “we.” Forget about “I” or “me.” Even when Fritz Seyferth, a starting fullback (had a Rose Bowl scoring touchdown) began sharing duties with a sophomore, he didn’t complain or say “poor me.” Fritz worked hard for the team.  Reggie McKenzie told the story about Preston Henry during one spring practice. During that particular practice, Henry, a running back, had to practice offensive maneuvers for both the first and second string offense for some 130 plays or so. After practice, everyone ran sprints, even Preston Henry.” We all felt sorry for him. “Absolutely no one on the team would have been upset if Preston Henry was excused from running wind sprints.” It’s highly unusual (unheard of) for one player to run that many plays in one practice or scrimmage session.

With cohesiveness, this team was able to mobilize its energies in their support of the group goals, which were to prepare self physically (even if doing exhausting, unintelligible exercises i.e. .slap and stomp), so that on the field performance (a win) would be second to none. Solidarity was important and expressed by the final core players that didn’t quit or leave the team. There was a sign, on the wall, that attempted to reduce the number of players from quitting and keeping only the toughest. It read   “those that stay will become champions.” A player (Pru man) who left the team added “those that leave will become captains of industry, lawyers and doctors.” Roughly, 75 or so players stayed with the team. They may have complained about some of the tactics employed by Bo, but stayed. In fact, a player or two would be talked out of quitting the team-Reggie McKenzie for one. Reggie went through a spell thinking that Bo was unfairly on his back. He was told” McKenzie men do not quit.” From that point on, Reggie showed Bo his character. His self-talk was something like” I’m not going to let Bo beat me. “

These young men became strongly motivated to contribute to the team’s welfare and advance its objectives versus me / my individual goals. As a team they became more cohesive; the more the individual players wanted to become part of the team, the more they liked/bonded with each other. They roomed/lived  together, took the same classes , socialized , partied,  got fixed up on dates by teammates, worked  at the same off season jobs   ,pledged the same fraternities , boycotted the same classes  and became inspired together.  They had common interests and belonging was important as they identified with something much bigger/larger than themselves (University of Michigan’s gridiron history).  Bo told them during the racial unrest on the campus that, according to Brandstatter, “we are one race-Michigan football; you guys are not about race; no one from the outside is going to get between us; race is not an issue. “ Keller remembered “son of a bitch you’re not red, you’re not white, you’re not blue-you’re Michigan.” Even Bo supported the Mellow Men’s (seven black football players) stand on boycotting (shutting it down) the Economics building during a campus demonstration.

As desirability of membership and being part of the team Increased, the greater the value of expectations or outcomes became apparent. It was significant that their need state for achievement, affiliation, competitiveness, recognition and security were being realized through team membership.

To be continued