Frank Beckmann to Retire as Voice of Michigan Football After the 2013 Season

Beckmann interviewing Johnny Wangler following the 2012 spring game.

Longtime Michigan Football radio broadcaster Frank Beckmann has announced, via an IMG release per UM media relations, that he will retire from the Maize & Blue airwaves after the 2013 season.

Ann Arbor, Mich. (August 9, 2013) -- Frank Beckmann, the legendary voice of University of Michigan Football and a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, has announced his retirement effective the conclusion of the 2013 football season. Beckmann began calling play-by-play for the Wolverines in 1981. He is only the second person to handle play-by-play duties for the flagship network broadcast of Michigan football in the past 65 years.
"We appreciate all that Frank has done for Michigan football for the past 33 years,” said Dave Brandon, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics at the University of Michigan. “Frank has dedicated his Saturday afternoons to telling the story of Michigan football through the radio to our fans. His voice has become synonymous with some of the great calls in the history of our football program. We look forward to enjoying one more season of Frank being the voice of Michigan football before he begins his well-deserved retirement. We thank Frank for all the years of talent, travel and support of Michigan Athletics. We look forward to celebrating his contribution to our football program as the 2013 season unfolds.”
“It has been a pleasure for all of us at the IMG Audio network and our marketing staff at University of Michigan to work with Frank,” said Chris Ferris, VP of Audio for IMG College, the school’s multimedia rights partner. “While we will miss Frank’s distinctive call, we are very grateful to have his continuing involvement in our broadcasts this season as well as in consulting the IMG operation and participating in broadcasting features for IMG in the future.”
Beckmann, who has hosted a daily weekday talk show on WJR-AM in Detroit since 2004, will continue in that role.
A Michigan native, Beckmann took his first radio job in 1969 at an AM station in Alpena, working as a one-man news staff. Six months later he landed at WPON-AM in Pontiac, where he did play-by-play for the Midwest Football League’s Pontiac Arrows.
After stints at WKNR-AM in Dearborn, WDRQ-FM and Channel 2, Beckmann joined the WJR news staff in 1972. As news reporter he specialized in the kind of hard-hitting reporting that won him numerous awards, including the National Headliner. He also received a citation for “Best Coverage of a Single News Event” ... the Hoffa Disappearance.
Three years after joining the news team Beckmann switched to the WJR sports staff. He would become sports director, lead announcer for the Detroit Lions and, in 1981, he succeeded Bob Ufer as the play-by-play announcer for University of Michigan football. Here, too, he has won numerous awards. The Associated Press and United Press International have named him “Top Michigan Sportscaster,” and the National Association of Sportscasters voted him “Michigan's Sportscaster of the Year.”

Also announced earlier this week although we're just getting around to weighing in on it...For 33 going on 34 years, Bruce Madej has served the Michigan athletic department as sports information director as well as associate AD. His career speaks for itself, but on a personal level, he was instrumental in granting me the access to the program that I have. I will always remember him as the reason I began to cover Michigan Football in a peusdo-professional manner.

Via UM media relations...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. –Bruce Madej, the longest serving Sports Information Director in the history of the University of Michigan Athletic Department (1982-2010) and now U-M’s Associate Athletic Director for Special Projects, announced (Wednesday, August 7) his retirement effective June 30, 2014.
At that time, Madej will complete 34 years of service to Michigan Athletics. “I have had the privilege to be an integral part of many of the greatest moments in Michigan Athletic history, yet those achievements rank a distant second to the friendships and the relationships I have been able to build and maintain with student-athletes, coaches, department team members, ‘M’ letter winners, alums, supporters, fans and the media through the years,” said Madej. “I have been especially blessed with those who have been close to me on a daily basis—my family and the outstanding group of public relations and publication experts – who made this career and lifestyle so rewarding.”
“Bruce has been a part of Michigan Athletics history for over 30 years,” said Director of Athletics Dave Brandon. “His contributions are many and we look forward to celebrating his well-deserved retirement in 2014.”

Between Jon Falk, Frank Beckmann and Bruce Madej, that's an incredible 107 years of combined service to Michigan athletics that will be retiring within the next year. Truly the end of an era at Stadium and Main.

My hat's off to these Michigan Men.