The 1919–20 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate basketball during the 1919–20 season. The team compiled a record of 10–13, and 3–9 against Big Ten Conference opponents. The University of Chicago won the Big Ten championship with a 10–2 record in conference play. Michigan finished in seventh place out of ten teams.

E. J. Mather Edwin J. Mather (June 4, 1887 – August 26, 1928) was an American football and basketball player and coach. He was selected as an All-Western football player while playing for Lake Forest University in 1909 and went on to a coaching career at Ka ...

was in his first year as the team's coach, and Ralph O. Rychener was the team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

.1920 Michiganensian
page 363
The 1920 '' Michiganensian'' wrote that Jack Williams was "the outstanding individual player of the 1920 season" and noted that he led a late season rally.

Arthur Karpus Arthur Joe Karpus (January 16, 1898 – March 15, 1983) was an American football, basketball and baseball player. He attended the University of Michigan from 1917 to 1923, winning a total of seven varsity letters, three in basketball, t ...

was the team's leading scorer with 75 points in eight conference games on 22 field goals and 31 free throws. R. Jerome Dunne was the second leading scorer with 54 points in 12 games on 27 field goals and zero free throws. Walter B. Rea scored 47 points in 12 conference games on 18 field goals and 11 free throws. Benjamin Weiss ranked fourth in scoring with 18 points on seven field goals and four free throws in seven conference games. In November 1919, ''The Michigan Alumnus'' announced the hiring of E. J. Mather as the new head basketball coach and assistant coach in football and baseball. Mather had been a three-sport athlete at Lake Forest College in Illinois and thereafter became the athletic director at Kalamazoo College. His basketball teams won the M.I.A.A. championship in all five seasons that Mather was there. With the hiring of Mather, Elmer Mitchell became Michigan's director of intramural athletics and athletic editor of ''The Michigan Alumnus''. Mitchell published an article titled, "The Game of Basketball" in the January 1920 issue of the ''Alumnus''. Mitchell wrote that basketball was Michigan's newest varsity sport and ranked fourth in popularity behind football, baseball, and track. He noted that basketball at Michigan was "fighting an uphill game to strengthen its prestige" and had features that were "practically unknown to the Michigan following." Mather began pre-season workouts in November with a squad of approximately 35 candidates.

Schedule

Players

*Borinstein - aMa letter winner *Hugh Cook, Grand Rapids, Michigan - forward and aMa letter winner * R. Jerome Dunne, Chicago, Illinois - center and varsity letter winner *Milton B. Gevirtz (sometimes Gervirtz), Whiting, Indiana - forward and aMa letter winner *William P. Henderson, Detroit, Michigan - forward and varsity letter winner *

, Grayling, Michigan - forward and varsity letter winner *Mason *Charles C. Merkel, Ann Arbor, Michigan - guard *Robert S. Peare, Rockville, Indiana - guard and varsity letter winner *Charles L. Pearman, Verona, New York - forward and aMa letter winner * Walter B. Rea - forward and varsity letter winner *Edward E. Ruzicka, Chicago, Illinois - scored two points on one field goal in a conference game. *

Ralph O. Rychener Ralph Orlando Rychener (March 1, 1897 – February 12, 1962) was an American physician and basketball player. He was born in Archbold, Ohio in March 1897. While attending the University of Michigan, he played three years on the school's basket ...

, Archbold, Ohio - guard and varsity letter winner *Benjamin Weiss,Benjamin Weiss, born February 26, 1898, in New York City. Educated in the Newark, New Jersey public schools. Graduated from Michigan in 1921. Engaged in private practice as an orthodontist. Died February 12, 1963, at Tucson, Arizona. Newark, New Jersey - guard and varsity letter winner *Jack G. Williams - guard and varsity letter winner *Wilford C. Wilson - guard and varsity letter winner

Scoring statistics

*The scoring statistics do not include games against Oakland Motor (12/31/1919), Champion Ignition (1/1/1920), Illinois (1/26/1920), Michigan Agricultural (2/28/1920), Ohio State (3/13/1920), and Indiana (3/16/1920).

Coaching staff

- coach *Clayton S. Shoemaker - manager * Philip Bartelme - graduate director

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1919-20 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team Michigan Michigan Wolverines men's basketball seasons

Michigan Wolverines basketball The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...