Sport: The Specialist

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But the big fact was that, on a Saturday full of surprises, Michigan came through, still undefeated.* It was a day on which Purdue humbled unbeaten Illinois, last season's Rose Bowl champions, 14-7, and Columbia gave mighty Army its first defeat (21-20) in three years.

The grunting Gophers on Minnesota's line averaged 201 Ibs., outweighing Michigan's line 19 Ibs. per man. All afternoon they smashed into Michigan's pony backfield, frequently upsetting Crisler's delicately timed plays. Outrushed on the ground, Michigan could well be thankful for its prize specialist, 6 ft., 182 Ib. Halfback Bob Chappuis (rhymes with happy-us†). He is Crisler's triggerman. His job is to throw the forward passes, and there is no one in 1947 collegiate football who does it better. In the Minnesota game, it was his flat, sure, 35-yd. throw to Bump Elliott that gave Michigan its first score.

In Michigan's first five games, Specialist Chappuis was on the field less than one-third of the time, but of the 27 passes he threw, 19 were complete—five of them for touchdowns.

Born That Way. When Chappuis fades back to pass, he is a slow-motion study in coolness and concentration. To anxious Michigan rooters, it seems an agonizingly long time before he throws. Crisler, after 25 years of coaching (at Chicago, Minnesota, Princeton and Michigan), places Chappuis on the same lofty pedestal with deadeye Benny Friedman, a Michigan immortal of the 19203. Says Fritz: "You can't get much better than that."

Crisler believes that great passers are born, and that the difference between a great and a merely good passer is in the eyes. Chapp's brown eyes, in one panoramic glance, spot his receivers tearing downfield and the defenders rushing in to nail him. Chapp makes fine use of his blockers, sensing when to fade deep or step up inside to fire the ball. Like a good baseball catcher, he throws off his right ear, with a snap motion.

He throws what coaches call a "heavy ball." His passes are harder to handle than the "floaters" Benny Friedman used to pitch, but they are also harder for the other team to break up.

Last year, before the season began, Chappuis injured his right wrist, but put off getting an X-ray examination until after the last game. It turned out that his wrist was broken, but he set a new Big Nine passing record with 36 completions in 64 attempts.

As a runner, Chapp is much less shifty than his predecessor Tom Harmon, although last year his combined running and passing (for 1,235 yds.) far outstripped Harmon's best total. He is a heavy-legged, hippy runner along the lines of "Flatfoot Frank" Sinkwich, late of Georgia. He is a superb faker and a hard tackier. But he has one weakness—pass defense—which keeps him on the bench when the enemy has the ball. The way Chapp explains it": "You have to smell where to go on pass defense—and my sniffer's not too good."