Ed Frutig

NFL player
Name=Ed Frutig

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ImageWidth=220
Caption=Fritz Crisler and Ed Frutig, 1940
DateOfBirth=August 19 1918
Birthplace=River Rouge, Michigan
DateOfDeath=
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Position=E
College=University of Michigan
Awards=
Honors=
DatabaseFootball=FRUTIED01
years=
teams=Green Bay Packers, 1941, 1945 Detroit Lions, 1945-1946
CollegeHOF=
HOF=

Edward C. Frutig (born August 19 1918cite book|author=Carroll, Bob|title=Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League, p. 808|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xwSsGBMMhu8C&pg=RA1-PA808&lpg=RA1-PA808&dq=ed+frutig+football&source=web&ots=7h9H4IlW2b&sig=4ATtsEIf1xsONOVolt74WZh31bw|publisher=Harper Collins|date=1999|isbn=0060392320] in River Rouge, Michigan) is a former American football end who played for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1938-1940. He was selected as a first-team All-American in 1940 by William Randolph Hearst's International News Service. A teammate of Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon for three years at Michigan, he was Harmon's main receiver. Frutig played professional football with the Green Bay Packers (1941, 1945) and Detroit Lions (1945-1946).

Early years

Frutig was born and raised in River Rouge, Michigan, the son of a River Rouge councilman.cite news|title=University of Michigan, Football All-American: Edward Frutig, End, 1940|url=http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aafrutig.htm|publisher=The Regents of the University of Michigan]

1938 season

Frutig attended the University of Michigan from 1937-1941. He came to Michigan with very little football reputation and is reported to have “barely made the freshman squad” in 1937. Frutig put himself through college by covering Ann Arbor for a Detroit newspaper. [cite news|title=Prices Better, Yield Smaller in Maple Syrup|publisher=The Evening News (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.)|date=1940-05-15]

As a sophomore in 1938, he was part of coach Fritz Crisler's first Michigan football team. This was the year that Crisler introduced the [http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/helmet/mhelmet.htm Winged Helmet] at Michigan. He was “just another varsity candidate as a sophomore” in 1938 but before the season was over, he was “the best end” on the team. “That’s real development,” said Fielding H. Yost. Going into the 1938 season, Michigan had not scored a touchdown against Ohio State in four years. On November 19, 1938, the drought ended as Michigan beat the Buckeyes, 18-0. In the fourth quarter, Frutig caught two passes from Tom Harmon, one a 22-yard pass to the 18-yard line and then a five-yard pass for a touchdown. [cite news|title=Touchdown Drought Brought to and End|publisher=Ironwood Daily Globe|date=1938-11-19]

1939 season

As the 1939 season got underway, former Michigan head coach Fielding H. Yost called Frutig the greatest Michigan pass receiver since Bennie Oosterbaan. Yost said, “He's got the grace and the speed. And the tips of his fingers appear coated with glue.” [cite news|title=Yost Calls Frutig Michigan's Best Pass Receiver|publisher=The Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News|date=1939-10-12] Frutig was also described as “a sweet defensive player.” [cite news|title=It Looks Like Wolverines' Year to Howl|publisher=The Wisconsin State Journal|date=1939-09-24]

In the Big Ten opener against Iowa, Frutig caught a 27-yard pass from Tom Harmon and was pushed out of bounds at the two-yard line to set up Michigan's first touchdown in a 27-7 win.cite news|title=Michigan Hands Hawkeyes First Defeat, 27 to 7|publisher=Waterloo (Iowa) Sunday Courier|date=1939-10-15] However, he suffered a twisted knee in the Iowa game and did not play against Chicago. [cite news|title=Michigan Has an Easy Workout|publisher=The Wisconsin State Journal|date=1939-10-17] [cite news|title=Ohio State and Minnesota Game Feature of Card|publisher=The Freeport Journal-Standard|date=1939-10-20] He came back in the Minnesota game but was injured again, with a dislocated ankle tendon, and did not play the rest of the season. [cite news|title=Wolves Lose Frutig|publisher=The Daily Herald – Circleville, Ohio|date=1939-11-14]

1940 season

Frutig finally put together a complete season as a senior in 1940. Michigan started all eight games at end for the 1940 Wolverines team that went 7-1 and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll. The only loss was a 7-6 defeat to Minnesota. The 1940 season was the year Tom Harmon won the Heisman Trophy and Frutig's accomplishments were largely overshadowed. In Michigan's eight games, Frutig had 12 receptions for 181 yards (over 15 yards per catch) and three touchdowns. He also blocked five punts and won a reputation as a superior defensive player.

As the 1940 season was about to start, Yost said that Frutig was the best pass catcher he had seen in ten years, though he admitted Frutig was "not the best wingman" in other areas of play.cite news|title=Bears Lose Star Back for Michigan Game on Saturday|publisher=Oakland Tribune|date=1940-09-25]

In the season opener against the California Bears, Michigan won, 41-0, and Frutig blocked one of Reinhard’s punts, setting up Harmon's fifth touchdown. [cite news|title=Michigan Swamps California Bears, 41 to 0|publisher=Oakland Tribune|date=1940-09-29] In the second period against Illinois, Frutig caught a Harmon pass at the 25-yard line and ran untouched across the goal line. On the next possession, Illinois drove the ball to the Michigan 12-yard line, but Frutig intercepted a Pfeffer pass to end the threat. [cite news|title=Michigan Trims Illini 28-0|publisher=Ironwood Daily Globe|date=1940-10-19]

Against Pennsylvania, Frutig made a “leaping catch on the goal line” for a touchdown on a pass from Harmon, as the Wolverines won, 14-0. [cite news|title=Harmon-ized Michigan Topples Penn, 14 to 0|publisher=The Port Arthur News|date=1940-10-27] Frutig played all 60 minutes against Penn and said afterward he could have played 60 minutes more. “Of course,” Frutig added, “I'd need that boy Al Wistert right by me if I had to play much more than the regulation time.” [cite news|title=Could Have Played More|publisher=The News Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.)|date=1940-11-19]

The season's only loss came to Minnesota in a close 7-6 game. Frutig nearly won the game for Michigan as he blocked a George Franck punt, which Alex Kelto recovered on the Minnesota three-yard line. But Minnesota intercepted Harmon's pass in the end zone, and Michigan lost by one point. Harmon had also missed a point after touchdown kick earlier in the game. [cite news|title=Wolverines Fail to Take Advantage of Scoring Chances|publisher=Lima News|date=1940-11-10] Despite the loss, one columnist said of Frutig's performance against Michigan: “The best end I saw all year I saw in this game. That was Frutig of Michigan and that goes for offense and defense. He ruined about six coming in there trying to block those Gopher punts. He did block one.” [cite news|title=Roundy Says . . . |publisher=The Wisconsin State Journaldate=1940-11-10]

Against Northwestern, Frutig blocked a punt from the end zone to set up Harmon's 30th touchdown of the season. [cite news|title=Michigan Holds Off Late Surge by Northwestern to Win 20 to 13|publisher=San Antonio Express|date=1940-11-17] In his final game in the Michigan uniform, a 40-0 win over Ohio State, Frutig caught his third touchdown pass of the season. [cite news|title=Michigan Hands Ohio Worst Beating, 40-0|publisher=The Wisconsin State Journal|date=1940-11-24]

Aside from his pass receiving and defense, Frutig won praise as a punt blocker. In Michigan's eight games in 1940, Frutig “personally blocked five punts, all of them at a crucial moments.”cite news|title=Sports Briefs|publisher=The Wakefield News|date=1940-11-29] cite news|title=Frutig Was Demon on Defense, Too|publisher=The Wisconsin State Journal|date=1940-12-03] Oddly, despite numerous accounts referencing his punt blocking exploits, Frutig is not listed among NCAA Division I players to have blocked as many as three punts in a season.cite web|url=http://www.ncaa.org/library/records/football/football_records_book/2007/2007_d1_football_records_book.pdf|title=Official 2007 NCAA Division I Football Record Book (pg. 52)|publisher=National Collegiate Athletic Association|accessdate=2008-01-12|year=2007|month=August]

Frutig was a first-team All-American pick by Hearst Publications' International News Service [cite news|title=Kimbrough Named Fullback on Hearst All-American Team|publisher=The San Antonio Light|date=1940-12-01] and football writer Maxwell Stiles. [cite news|author-Stiles, Maxwell|title=Albert Only Coast Man on Stiles' All-American|publisher=Oakland Tribune|date=1940-12-07] Frutig was selected as a third-team All-American by UP, AP and Central Press.

Frutig, Harmon and Forest Evashevski teamed up one last time in the 16th annual East-West Shrine Charity Football Game in San Francisco on New Year's Day 1941. Evashevski and Frutig scored the East's only touchdowns, with Frutig scoring on a 21-yard pass from Harmon into the end zone. [cite news|title=Freak Score Helps West Defeat East: Johnson Runs to Touchdown Without Huddle or Signal|publisher=Syracuse Herald Journal|date=1941-01-02] Frutig leaped high to grab Harmon's pass “while boxed in between two West defense men.” [cite news|title=Paul Christman Leads West 20-14 Triumph|publisher=The Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio)|date=1941-01-02]

Professional football and military service

Frutig was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 1941 NFL Draft, and played for the team in 1941. However, when the United States entered World War II, Frutig enlisted in the United States Navy where he earned his wings as a pilot. While serving in the Navy, Frutig was named to the All-Navy All-American football team in 1942. He also played for the Navy's Corpus Christi Flyers team that compiled a 4-3 record playing against southwest college teams. [cite news|title=All-Navy All-American Football Team 1942|publisher=The Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pa.)|date=1942-12-26] He also played for the Navy's Corpus Christi Flyers team that compiled a 4-3 record playing against southwest college teams.cite news|title=Frutig Transferred|publisher=The Sheboygan Press|date=1942-12-18] In 1942, he was transferred from Corpus Christi to the naval air base at Grosse Ile, Michigan where he served as an instructor. [cite news|title=Big 10 Stars Are Making Good Mark|publisher=The Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pa.)|date=1942-05-16]

Later years

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Frutig served as the end coach at Washington State College. Former teammate Forest Evashevski was the head coach who recruited Frutig to Washington State. Frutig was credited with developing Ed Barker, Washington State's end who broke two Coast Conference pass-catching records in 1951. [cite news|title=Ed Frutig, Cougar End Coach, Quits|publisher=Walla Walla Union Bulletin|date=1951-12-05] He resigned in December 1951 to take a job with an advertising firm in East Lansing, Michigan and went on to become successful in the advertising business. In 1967, Frutig and Bob Westfall were the leaders of the Alumni for Evy Committee, organized to bring Evashevski to Michigan as both head football coach and athletic director. [cite news|title=Michigan Alumni Bid for Evashevski in Dual Capacity as AD, Grid Coach|publisher=Tucson Daily Citizen|date=1967-11-30] Instead, Bo Schembechler and Don Canham were hired to the jobs.

Frutig's daughter, Suzy Bales, has published 13 books about gardening, including "The Garden in Winter" published in 2007. [cite news|title=Winter garden gets pick-me-up in Detroit native’s latest book|publisher=McClatchy-Tribune|url=http://www.gmtoday.com/news/gardening/topstory16.asp|date=2007-11-14]

Honors and accolades

*Selected a first-team All-American by the Hearst newspaper syndicate in 1940.
*Inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1988. [cite web|title=University of Michigan Hall of Honor|url=http://www.letterwinnersmclub.com/hallofhonor.html]
*In 2005, Frutig was selected as one of the 100 greatest Michigan football players of all time by the "Motown Sports Revival," ranking 87th on the all-time team. [cite web|url=http://motownsportsrevival.blogspot.com/2005/08/100-greatest-michigan-football-players.html|title=100 Greatest Michigan Football Players of All-Time |accessdate=2007-12-09|publisher=Motown Sports Revival]

ee also

*University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor

Notes

See discussion on this article's talk page regarding controversies as to Frutig's birth year, listed in some sources as 1920, and concerning conflicting sources as to whether Frutig blocked five punts in 1940.

Reflist|2 Ed Frutig was born in 1918. I am his eldest daughter so I should know. We will celebrate his 90th birthday tomorrow.

External links

* [http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aafrutig.htm Bentley Library Profile and Photograph of Edward Frutig]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/F/FrutEd20.htm Pro Football Reference Profile of Ed Frutig]
* [http://www.universitysportsinc.com/products/171 Ed Frutig Michigan Letterman Base Card]