Kornacki: Harbaughs Come Full Circle at Orange Bowl
12/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 29, 2016
By Steve Kornacki
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Jim Harbaugh sat on a chair in a luxury suite at Michigan Stadium on the day he was hired two years ago and held his youngest son, Jack, in his lap.
It was minutes before his introductory press conference, and Harbaugh hugged "Jack the Quarterback," as he referred to him, while looking out at the green field where he once was a ball boy, once was the All-America quarterback, and was about to become the University of Michigan's football coach.
I'll never forget the look of joy and gratitude in Jim's eyes. He saw his past, present and future all wrapped up into one wonderful moment.
That scene flashed back to me this week at the resort hotel in Miami where the Wolverines are staying.
Jim came out of the hotel's banquet room building headed to the team bus for practice, and in his arms was Jack, now four and getting bigger.
Jack got to sit in the right front seat on the bus bearing his father's image along its side as well as those of team stars Wilton Speight, Jake Butt, Jourdan Lewis, Jabrill Peppers and Chris Wormley, and they roared away from the hotel down a palm-tree-lined street with full police escort, sirens blaring and lights flashing.
Jim now sat in the seat once occupied by Bo Schembechler, who hired his father to coach the team's defensive backs. Jack Harbaugh and his lovely wife, Jackie, brought Jim and his siblings, John and Joani, to this same Orange Bowl for a game with Oklahoma on Jan. 1, 1976.
Now, on a sun-splashed south Florida day, the whole thing had come full circle. Jim was able to bring his children here to share the experience with him, while his pregnant wife, Sarah, remained home. Oldest daughter Grace had a water polo tournament to play in, but youngest daughters Addison and Katherine are here. James Jr., a Michigan student, is here along with oldest son Jay, who coaches the Wolverines' tight ends and special teams.
I asked Jim about carrying on the family's tradition here Thursday (Dec. 29) on the eve of the Orange Bowl game with Florida State.
"Yeah, five of my six children are here, and it's been amazing," said Harbaugh, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach. "My daughter couldn't come; she had water polo games yesterday and then a tournament starting today. It's been great watching them run around the hotel. My son Jack coming out to practice yesterday and having a ball. We talked last night, asked him what the best part of his day was, and he said it was coming to practice. So that was -- yeah, it warmed my heart. You know, just watching our families, not just mine but other coaches' sons, daughters that have come to practice or been around the team meals interacting with the team, watching our players interact with my kids is great. They've been awesome.
'I remember that feeling as a kid when a Michigan football player would notice me as a nine- or 10-year-old and pat you on the back or toss you a ball, and to see Jake (Butt) or John O'Korn tossing the ball with my kids, it's like, you fight back the tears. You get very sentimental. I do. It's as good as it gets."
Jim smiled and his eyes twinkled. He paused to soak in the generational grandeur and his family fortune. This is what he left the NFL for, but some people just don't get that. He is paid in millions, but there is so much more that goes beyond that, the priceless stuff.
Jim Harbaugh with (from left) James Jr., Jack, Sarah, Katherine and Addison
His father was on that team bus with his son and namesake for one of those moments that can't be bought.
"That was the first practice Jack and I went to," Grandpa told me. "So, there is Jack sitting on Jim's lap on the ride. He's throwing the ball and diving into things at practice, grabbing a Gatorade. The players are high-fiving him. Then he grabbed (a relative's) camera, taking pictures of Jim and the players. And I want to tell you that his photography is outstanding.
"After practice, I put him up on my shoulders and he's got a camera, taking a photo of an (award) presentation to Jake. It was such a throwback to our times."
"Jack the Quarterback" even got to finish off a walk-through practice in the team huddle.
"Jim had him break the team down," said Grandpa. "Jack shouted, 'One, two, three -- win!' The players were just great with him, just as our players in 1976 were with Jim and John (now head coach of the Baltimore Ravens).
"This is a special time for Jackie and myself. The Orange Bowl is so significant to us because we had been at Michigan for two years, but you had to be the conference champion in those days to go to the Rose Bowl and there were no at-large bids. This was the first bowl game we ever went to."
The Big Ten changed the at-large bowl rule as a result of three great Wolverines teams led by quarterback Dennis Franklin being denied playing in a bowl, and the 1976 Orange Bowl bid was historic in that sense.
"Bo was so excited about getting the families here that he chartered an airplane from Miami to Orlando to take the players and families to Disney World," said Jack. "That great time resulted in a great story.
"The kids wanted to ride one more ride, one they'd already ridden five times. I told them, 'The bus (to the airport) is going to leave at seven o'clock, and Bo would leave without us if we weren't on it. John and Jim both said, 'I swear we can make it.' I gave them my watch and told them, 'If you are not on the ride by 6:30, you have got to get out of line and come back.'"
Jack told them he'd be waiting for them at a tree next to the exit to "The Happiest Place on Earth," and you can probably guess what happened at 7 p.m.
"They're not there and they're not there," recalled Jack. "About 7:10, here they come: 'Dad, we're so sorry!' We ran to the bus and there's Bo in the front seat, looking down. I figured any minute now he's going to turn to me: 'It's seven o'clock! We leave at seven o'clock!' But he didn't, and he never looked up. I thought, 'Wow! That's showing a lot of character for Bo.'
"We waited another five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and then here come Millie and Shemy onto the bus. I looked around at Jim and John and said, 'You two guys have drawn the long straw! You have dodged a big bullet. "
There were only two people Bo ever let run the show -- his wife and his mother -- and whenever Millie and his youngest son got on the bus was the real deadline to arrive.
Jack Harbaugh with grandson Jack on Dec. 30, 2014, the day Jim Harbaugh was introduced as U-M head coach
"My favorite moment on this trip came when I was sitting beneath these palm trees and beautiful landscaping they have here at our hotel," said Jack. "There, running down the path is this 3-foot-7 body. He's sprinting as fast as he can."
Little Jack's siblings and cousins were chasing him and couldn't catch him after one lap of the grounds. Even Grandpa joined the merry chase.
"Jack the Quarterback would be a whole lot more fun if I hadn't lost a step," said Jack, chuckling. "He's looking over his shoulder, laughing at us. He still has the lead and we're not gaining on him, and he disappears into the palm trees and shrubs. I thought to myself, 'We have come full circle. I swear I have seen this scene before.'
"You know, this whole thing is like seeing an old black-and-white movie, and then they redo it in color. That's the experience I'm having, and it's like I'm seeing our family in black and white, and then Jim's family doing the same things in color.
"It's like the same story."
A never-ending story.
