Bob Ufer

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American track and field athlete and radio broadcaster

title: "Bob Ufer" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1920-births", "1981-deaths", "20th-century-american-sportsmen", "american-men-middle-distance-runners", "american-men-sprinters", "american-radio-sports-commentators", "burials-at-forest-hill-cemetery-(ann-arbor,-michigan)", "college-football-announcers", "deaths-from-cancer-in-michigan", "michigan-wolverines-football-announcers", "michigan-wolverines-men's-track-and-field-athletes", "ncaa-division-i-outdoor-track-and-field-championships-winners", "sportspeople-from-ann-arbor,-michigan", "sportspeople-from-mt.-lebanon,-pennsylvania", "track-and-field-athletes-from-cleveland", "world-record-setters-in-the-sport-of-athletics"] description: "American track and field athlete and radio broadcaster" topic_path: "technology/web" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ufer" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American track and field athlete and radio broadcaster ::

::data[format=table title="infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Bob Ufer
image	Bob_ufer_1978.png
caption	Ufer in 1978
birth_name	Robert Pormann Ufer
birth_date
birth_place	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
education	University of Michigan (A.B.)
occupation	Broadcaster
years_active	1945–1981
::

Robert Pormann Ufer ( **; April 1, 1920 – October 26, 1981) was an American track and field athlete and radio broadcaster. As an athlete, he set the world indoor record of 48.1 seconds in the indoor 440-yard (quarter-mile) run and was selected as an All-American in 1943. As a broadcaster, he served as the lead broadcaster for the Michigan Wolverines football team for 36 years, starting in 1945. He was in the first group inducted in 1978 into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor along with Gerald Ford, Bill Freehan, Tom Harmon, Ron Kramer, Bennie Oosterbaan, and Cazzie Russell.

Early years

Ufer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. His father Clarence was a lumber broker who had been on the track team during his time at the University of Michigan. Ufer was a track star at Mercersburg Academy, competing under coach Jimmy Curran, and was part of the 440 yard relay team that broke the world scholastic record with a time of 42.2 seconds. This feat earned Ufer and his relay teammates—Jack Watt, Austin Kellam, and Paxson "Pax" Gifford—a place on the Penn Relays Wall of Fame.

At the University of Michigan, Ufer set eight freshman school records in track. At the Big Ten Conference track meet in 1942, he set a new world indoor record of 48.1 seconds in the 440-yard dash, breaking the old record of 48.2. He was a three-time Big Ten Conference champion in the indoor 440-yard dash. Ufer won the 1942 NCAA Track and Field Championships in the 4 × 400 meter relay. He also played halfback on the Michigan freshman reserve football squad in 1939. He graduated with an A.B. in history in 1943.

Broadcast career

Ufer called Wolverines football on Ann Arbor radio station WPAG from 1945 to 1976 and on Detroit's WJR from 1977 to 1981. He is remembered for his exuberant, partisan broadcasting style, openly rooting for Michigan. Ufer's trademarks included pronouncing "Michigan" as "Meee-chigan," in the style of Fielding Yost, and honking a horn that had been used on General George Patton's jeep after every Michigan score.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2661402 |title=From the sound of it, Ufer remains a Wolverine legend |last=Wojciechowski |first=Gene |date=2006-11-14 |website=ESPN |access-date=2021-01-14 |quote=In fact, I'm not sure whether some station managers even would hire Ufer these days. Think about it: He referred to himself in the third person, pronounced Michigan, "Meeee-chigan," and he honked a horn after every Wolverine extra point, field goal and touchdown.}}

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Bob_Ufer_grave_Forest_Hill_Cemetery.JPG" caption="Ufer grave"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Ufer_Building_Ann_Arbor_Michigan.JPG" caption="Ufer Building"] ::

Outside of broadcasting, Ufer was a life insurance salesman who founded his own company, Ufer & Co. Insurance, in 1947. The offices of Ufer & Co. Insurance, which had been sold by Ufer's sons in 2009 to Kapnick Insurance Group, were moved to a location adjacent to Briarwood Mall to a building renamed "The Ufer Building" in his honor.

On October 26, 1981, nine days after his last broadcast, Ufer died at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit after a three-year battle with cancer. He was survived by his wife Phyllis and seven children. Former Michigan defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann told The Michigan Daily in 1995, "Bob Ufer was Michigan football. That's what he lived and died for. I think he would have liked being described that way."{{cite web |url=https://www.michigandaily.com/content/andy-reid-rodriguez-using-bob-ufers-game-calls-practice-%E2%80%94%C2%A0you-really-think-he-doesnt-underst |title=Andy Reid: Bob Ufer at practice? Rodriguez definitely 'understands' this rivalry |last=Reid |first=Andy |date=2009-11-18 |website=The Michigan Daily |access-date=2021-01-14 |quote="Bob Ufer was Michigan football," former defensive coordinator Jim Herrmann told the Daily in 1995. "That's what he lived and died for. I think he would have liked being described that way."}} Ufer was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor.

Ufer's son, also named Bob Ufer, was the commissioner of the International Hockey League from 1994 to 1998.

References

Luke Pasch. (September 13, 2012). "The Voice of Michigan Football: Remembering Old Man Ufer". The Michigan Daily.
"Bob Ufer – The Voice of Michigan Football". Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.
Gene Wojciechowski. (November 14, 2006). "From the sound of it, Ufer remains a Wolverine legend". ESPN.
(October 27, 1981). "Bob Ufer Dead". The Argus Press (AP story).
(October 26, 1981). "Bob Ufer". [[Toledo Blade]].
Peterman, Cy. (1939-04-30). "Curran's Biography More Exciting Than Fiction". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
(March 10, 1944). "Ufer Favorite in Big Ten Meet: Bids for Third Triumph Tomorrow at Chicago". Chicago Tribune.
(February 2, 1944). "Bob Ufer, Michigan, Bids in Hollis '600'". Boston Globe.
(November 14, 1981). "Bob Ufer obituary". The Sporting News.
(2008). "Two Thousand Eight Michigan Men's Track & Field". Frye Printing Company.
"Men's 4x400m relay at the NCAA Track and Field Championships".
Block, Woody. (1939-11-28). "Blues Whip Favored Reds, 7-6, In Freshman Intra-Squad Game". The Michigan Daily.
(1943). "Michiganensian". The University of Michigan.
(January 1, 1977). "Ufer's maize-and-blue boosterism to go nationwide". Chicago Tribune.
Rosenberg, Michael. (October 17, 2001). "Michigan's Epic Poet a Homeric Homer, Ufer Chronicled a Football Odyssey". Detroit Free Press.
"Bob Ufer - The Voice of Michigan Football". The University of Michigan.
"The Ufer Group".
(July 21, 2011). "People & achievements in the greater Ann Arbor area, including McMullen Properties and Interim HealthCare". [[AnnArbor.com]].
"A2Y Chamber - News".
Lapointe, Joe. (1981-10-27). "Voice of Wolverines, Bob Ufer, Falls Silent". [[The Detroit Free Press]].
Lapointe, Joe. (1981-10-27). "Voice of Wolverines, Bob Ufer, Falls Silent". [[The Detroit Free Press]].
Vukelich, Liz. (2013-11-27). "'We know how it's been since the man left us': The graveyard walk to honor Michigan football history". [[The Michigan Daily]].
"Robert P. Ufer - Ufer, Spaniola & Frost P.C.".

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