Old School Maize & Blue

Last week while searching eBay for U of M memorabilia I came across a really cool old cross stitch pattern. As soon as I saw it had a buy it now, I couldn't click buy fast enough, especially since it was only $4.95. I've never seen it before, it looks like it's from the 80s and the main design is the vintage U of M wolverine logo that I call "Biff". The back has a U of M basketball design and a maize & blue rose design. I started the pattern on Sunday and it is a lot larger than I expected. So far I've managed to stitch his right eye, around the nose and some of the space between the other eye. I'm going to stitch just the head and not the block 'M' behind it.

The wolverine face logo was originally from the 1922 and was used again for some merchandise, such as t-shirts and pennants, in the late 80s and early 90s. He has made sort of a comeback in the last few years thanks to Adidas College Vault merchandise. I have several shirts, a hat and a hooded sweatshirt with Biff's face on it. Because the image is rarely used and popular with big U of M fans the stuff is hard to find, most stores that carried the Adidas College Vault clothing sold out. I purchased all of my stuff in Ann Arbor through out the last football season and am glad I did because most of it I haven't seen available since.

I call the old wolverine logo Biff because that was the name of one of the live wolverines from the 1927 season. Michigan doesn't have an actual mascot, they are just called "The Wolverines". They actually use the block M as their logo. During the 1927 season though they had 2 live wolverines from the Detroit Zoo brought to the stadium for big games and they were named Biff and Bennie. They were only used for that one season, and they have never had wolverines in the stadium since. Since then many fans, including myself, refer to wolverines that appear in merchandise as Biff.

Bennie & Biff being carried into the Big House - Bentley Historical Library

Hope everyone had a great weekend & enjoyed the mini Michigan history lesson. Nick