Whitey Wistert
Encyclopedia
Francis Michael "Whitey" Wistert (February 20, 1912 – April 23, 1985) was an American football
and baseball
player. He played college football
and college baseball
at the University of Michigan
. Wistert was the first of the three Wistert brothers—he was succeeded by Albert (Al)
and Alvin
—who were named All-American
tackles
at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He and his brothers are three of the seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football
program. During his time at Michigan, Wistert played on three consecutive Big Ten Conference
football championships teams, including two that won back-to-back national championships. He was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball in college and later played for Major League Baseball
's Cincinnati Reds
.
Wistert's father was shot while on duty and pursuing a robbery suspect in July 1926. By the spring of 1927, Wistert's father, who had served in the U.S. Army from 1898 to 1901, was disabled due to "chest emphysema with draining sinus" and was admitted to the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
. He died in June 1927 when Whitey was 15 years old.
At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Wistert's family continued to live at 5647 Waveland Avenue in Chicago. The household at that time consisted of Wistert's mother, Josephine, and five children: Josephine (age 22, employed as a bookkeeper), Francis (age 18, employed as a tube maker for a radio company), Evelyn (age 16, employed as a "saleslady" at a variety store), Alvin (age 13), and Albert (age 8).
in 1929, Wistert attended the University of Michigan where he was a star athlete in both football and baseball from 1931 to 1933.
and Alvin Wistert
. All three Wistert brothers wore number 11 for the Wolverines football team, and all three were All-Americans. Interviewed by The Detroit News
in 2004, Alvin recalled: "And if I'm not mistaken I think this is unprecedented in the annals 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. And all were inducted 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 was later killed in the line of duty while working for the Chicago Police Department
. According to brother Alvin Wistert, their father "was born Casmir Vistertus and he Anglicized it when he came to America to Wistert."
The story of the Wistert brothers at Michigan began when Whitey's Carl Schurz High School classmate John Kowalik
was invited to visit the University of Michigan. At the time, Whitey Wistert "was working in a factory building Majestic radios." Kowalik took Whitey with him on his visit to Ann Arbor
, and according to Alvin, "that's how it started: the Wisterts of Michigan."
: "Wistert was unanimously selected as the best tackle in the Middle-West this year. He was the key to Michigan's defensive line play. He was a sure tackler and it was next to impossible to fool him on trick maneuvers. He was keen, quick, and accurate in diagnosing plays."
Wistert and Chuck Bernard
were the leaders of the 1933 offensive line when the team went 7–0–1 with a tie to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
One of Wistert's teammates on the 1932 and 1933 Michigan football teams was future U.S. President
Gerald Ford
. In an interview in the February 1974 issue of "Michigan Alumnus," Wistert said of Ford: "He was a real good competitor - a real bulldog type. Even during a losing year, he was voted MVP by his teammates. They felt he was one guy who could stay and fight for a losing cause."
In 1936, he was a member Michigan football coaching staff under Coach Harry Kipke.
s in baseball three years and was selected as the Most Valuable Player
in the Big Ten Conference
in 1934. The 1934 Michiganensian yearbook reports that the final game of the baseball season was a 4–0 shutout by Wistert against the University of Chicago
Maroons. "Wistert, for the Wolves, allowed only five well-scattered 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 pitched a four-hitter against Ohio State.
in Major League Baseball
, appearing in three games for the Cincinnati Reds
between September 11, 1934 and September 25, 1934. In two appearances as a pitcher, Wistert allowed only one run in eight innings, for a career ERA
of 1.13. However, in three plate appearances, he went hitless and struck out twice. Although he only played briefly at the major league level, Wistert played five years of professional baseball. Fellow 1933 Michigan Wolverines football All-American, Ted Petoskey
also debuted for the Reds in September 1934.
lawyer
. He went on to became a vice-president of an industrial relations firm in Toledo, Ohio
. He served in the United States Navy
as a lieutenant
during World War II
.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
player. He played college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and college baseball
College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. Wistert was the first of the three Wistert brothers—he was succeeded by Albert (Al)
Al Wistert
Albert Alexander "Ox" Wistert is a former All-Pro American football offensive tackle in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played his entire nine-year NFL career for the Eagles and became their team captain. He was named to play in the NFL's first Pro Bowl as an Eagle...
and Alvin
Alvin Wistert
Alvin Lawrence "Moose" Wistert was an American football player. A native of Chicago, Illinois, he played college football at the tackle position for Boston University in 1946 and at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1949...
—who were named All-American
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
tackles
Tackle (American football)
Tackle is a playing position in American and Canadian football. Historically, in the one-platoon system a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, offensive tackle and defensive tackle are separate positions....
at Michigan and later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame
College Football Hall of Fame
The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He and his brothers are three of the seven players who have had their numbers retired by the Michigan Wolverines football
Michigan Wolverines football
The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history...
program. During his time at Michigan, Wistert played on three consecutive Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
football championships teams, including two that won back-to-back national championships. He was also Big Ten Conference MVP in baseball in college and later played for Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
's Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
.
Early years
Wistert was born in 1912 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Kazimir J. Wistert and Josephine (Shukis) Wistert, immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1894 and were married at Chicago in 1907. His father was a policeman in Chicago from at least 1910 to 1927. At the time of the 1920 United States Census, Wistert's family lived at 5647 Waveland Avenue in Chicago's 27th Ward and consisted of parents, Kazimir and Josephine, and five children: Josephine (age 11), Isabelle (age 10), Francis (age 7), Evelyn (age 6), and Alvin (age 3-1/2).Wistert's father was shot while on duty and pursuing a robbery suspect in July 1926. By the spring of 1927, Wistert's father, who had served in the U.S. Army from 1898 to 1901, was disabled due to "chest emphysema with draining sinus" and was admitted to the U.S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
. He died in June 1927 when Whitey was 15 years old.
At the time of the 1930 United States Census, Wistert's family continued to live at 5647 Waveland Avenue in Chicago. The household at that time consisted of Wistert's mother, Josephine, and five children: Josephine (age 22, employed as a bookkeeper), Francis (age 18, employed as a tube maker for a radio company), Evelyn (age 16, employed as a "saleslady" at a variety store), Alvin (age 13), and Albert (age 8).
College athletics
After graduating from Chicago's Schurz High SchoolSchurz High School
Carl Schurz High School is a public secondary school located in the old section of the Irving Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.This school is named after German–American Carl Schurz, a statesman, soldier, and advocate of democracy in Germany....
in 1929, Wistert attended the University of Michigan where he was a star athlete in both football and baseball from 1931 to 1933.
The Wistert brothers of Michigan
Wistert was the first of three brothers to play for Michigan. The other two are Al WistertAl Wistert
Albert Alexander "Ox" Wistert is a former All-Pro American football offensive tackle in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles. He played his entire nine-year NFL career for the Eagles and became their team captain. He was named to play in the NFL's first Pro Bowl as an Eagle...
and Alvin Wistert
Alvin Wistert
Alvin Lawrence "Moose" Wistert was an American football player. A native of Chicago, Illinois, he played college football at the tackle position for Boston University in 1946 and at the University of Michigan from 1947 to 1949...
. All three Wistert brothers wore number 11 for the Wolverines football team, and all three were All-Americans. Interviewed by The Detroit News
The Detroit News
The Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on February 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
in 2004, Alvin recalled: "And if I'm not mistaken I think this is unprecedented in the annals 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. And all were inducted 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
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
veteran who was later killed in the line of duty while working for the Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
. According to brother Alvin Wistert, their father "was born Casmir Vistertus and he Anglicized it when he came to America to Wistert."
The story of the Wistert brothers at Michigan began when Whitey's Carl Schurz High School classmate John Kowalik
John Kowalik
John F. Kowalik, Sr. was an American football player. He played college football for the University of Michigan from 1931 to 1933. During Kowalik's three seasons as a starter, the Michigan football team compiled a record of 23–1–2, including consecutive national championships for...
was invited to visit the University of Michigan. At the time, Whitey Wistert "was working in a factory building Majestic radios." Kowalik took Whitey with him on his visit to Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
, and according to Alvin, "that's how it started: the Wisterts of Michigan."
Football
As a football player, Wistert played for consecutive undefeated national championship teams in 1932 and 1933 and was a consensus All-American in 1933. The 1934 University of Michigan yearbook, the Michiganensian, included the following quote from Grantland RiceGrantland Rice
Grantland Rice was an early 20th century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio.-Biography:...
: "Wistert was unanimously selected as the best tackle in the Middle-West this year. He was the key to Michigan's defensive line play. He was a sure tackler and it was next to impossible to fool him on trick maneuvers. He was keen, quick, and accurate in diagnosing plays."
Wistert and Chuck Bernard
Chuck Bernard
Joseph Charles "Chuck" Bernard was a professional American football center who played for the Detroit Lions in 1934 and was a two-time All-American at the University of Michigan. He was born in Chicago, Illinois....
were the leaders of the 1933 offensive line when the team went 7–0–1 with a tie to the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
One of Wistert's teammates on the 1932 and 1933 Michigan football teams was future U.S. President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. In an interview in the February 1974 issue of "Michigan Alumnus," Wistert said of Ford: "He was a real good competitor - a real bulldog type. Even during a losing year, he was voted MVP by his teammates. They felt he was one guy who could stay and fight for a losing cause."
In 1936, he was a member Michigan football coaching staff under Coach Harry Kipke.
Baseball
Wistert also earned varsity letterVarsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
s in baseball three years and was selected as the Most Valuable Player
Most Valuable Player
In sports, a Most Valuable Player award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests...
in the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
in 1934. The 1934 Michiganensian yearbook reports that the final game of the baseball season was a 4–0 shutout by Wistert against the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Maroons. "Wistert, for the Wolves, allowed only five well-scattered 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 pitched a four-hitter against Ohio State.
Honors
Wistert was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967, one year before his brother Albert. In 1981, he was named to the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in the fourth class of inductees alongside his brothers. Only five Michigan football players earned this honor before him.Professional baseball
Wistert had a short cup of coffeeCup of coffee
A "cup of coffee" is North American sports terminology for a short time spent by a minor league player at the major league level. The idea behind the term is that the player was only in the big leagues long enough to have a cup of coffee before being returned to the minors, or simply to describe a...
in Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, appearing in three games for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
between September 11, 1934 and September 25, 1934. In two appearances as a pitcher, Wistert allowed only one run in eight innings, for a career ERA
Earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine...
of 1.13. However, in three plate appearances, he went hitless and struck out twice. Although he only played briefly at the major league level, Wistert played five years of professional baseball. Fellow 1933 Michigan Wolverines football All-American, Ted Petoskey
Ted Petoskey
Frederick Lee "Ted" Petoskey was a three-sport athlete at the University of Michigan, a Major League Baseball player, a collegiate coach in three sports and an athletic director....
also debuted for the Reds in September 1934.
Late life
After retiring from sports, Wistert became a New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
. He went on to became a vice-president of an industrial relations firm in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
. He served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
as a lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
See also
- 1932 Michigan Wolverines football team1932 Michigan Wolverines football teamThe 1932 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1932 college football season. The team's head football coach was Harry Kipke...
- 1933 Michigan Wolverines football team1933 Michigan Wolverines football teamThe 1933 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1933 college football season. The team's head football coach was Harry Kipke...
- List of Michigan Wolverines football All-Americans
- University of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorUniversity of Michigan Athletic Hall of HonorThe University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...