Looking at The Year Michigan Last Won a National Championship
The University of Michigan Wolverines have won their 12th College Football National Championship in the school’s long and storied history, beating the Washington Huskies 34-13. The last time Michigan were National Champions was in 1997, close to 30-years ago. They beat Washington State 21-16 at the Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1998 and they’re victory secured them the National title which was shared with Nebraska (this was in the era before the college football playoffs).
The 1997 Wolverines went 12-0 on the season and were led by College Football Hall of Fame Coach Lloyd Carr and featured Heisman Tropy-winning cornerback Charles Woodson and quarterback Brian Griese. Griese’s backup was a then-unknown QB you may have heard of named Tom Brady.
1997 was a unprecedented year in history as well. Here are some moments you may have forgotten that happened that year.
In the year 1997…
The first episode of “South Park” was broadcast on Comedy Central.
“The Crocodile Hunter”, starring Steve Irwin, debuted.
“The Lion King” musical made its debut on Broadway.
The very first book in the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling was published. It went on to sell over 120-million copies worldwide.
Netflix was founded by Marc Randolph and Reece Hastings in California. It started out as an online DVD rental service.
“google.com” was first registered as a domain name.
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland announced that they had successfully cloned a sheep.
39 bodies were discovered by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department in a house in Rancho Santa Fe, California. They were all members of Heaven’s Gate, a UFO religious cult.
O.J. Simpson was found liable in the deaths of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman in a civil court action.
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. He becomes Sir Paul McCartney.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in a car crash in Paris, France. She was 36-years old.
87-year old missionary and nun Mother Teresa died in Calcutta, India.
The Notorious B.I.G. was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. He was only 24-years old.
The Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots 35-21 in Super Bowl XXXI.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers for their first Stanley Cup in 42-years.
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov had his playing career cut short at the age of 30 due to a limousine accident six days after the 1997 Stanley Cup finals.
The Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 4-games-to-2 to win the NBA Championship.
Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during their match in Las Vegas and was suspended from boxing and fined $3-million.
Martina Hingis wins the Women’s Title at Wimbledon, at the age of 16. This made her the youngest Wimbledon winner in 110 years.
Pete Sampras wins the Men’s Title at Wimbledon, making it his 10th Grand Slam title.
At 21-years old, Tiger Woods became the youngest ever golfer to win the Masters.
Movies released in 1997 included “Titanic” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, “Men in Black” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, “Boogie Nights” starring Mark Wahlberg and Heather Graham, “Good Will Hunting” starring Robin Williams and Matt Damon, “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” starring Mike Meyers, “The Fifth Element” starring Bruce Willis, “I Know What You Did Last Summer” starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, “Face/Off” starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage, “Con Air” starring Nicholas Cage, “Batman and Robin” starring George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the 18th James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” starring Pierce Brosnan, “Air Force One” starring Harrison Ford, “Private Parts” starring Howard Stern and “Cop Land” starring Sylvester Stallone and Harvey Keitel.
Albums that dropped that year included Metallica’s “Reload”, Radiohead’s “OK Computer”, Deftones’ “Around The Fur”, Green Day’s “Nimrod”, The Prodigy’s “The Fat of the Land”, Oasis’ “Be Here Now”, David Bowie’s “Earthling”, blink-182’s “Dude Ranch”, Rammstein’s “Sehnsucht”, Limp Bizkit’s “Three Dollar Bill, Ya’ll”, Incubus’ “S.C.I.E.N.C.E.” and Foo Fighter’s “The Colour and the Shape”.