ANN ARBOR, MI - Shirtless 300-pound linemen. Cowboy hats. A Toucan Sam mascot, for some reason.
Most importantly, accolades from Michigan football's national championship season, including running back Blake Corum's "Business is Finished" shirt.
The Wolverines, fresh off Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship Game victory, paraded through Ann Arbor near campus on Saturday, Jan. 13, to celebrate the title with thousands of cheering fans.
The parade started at 4 p.m. at President Santa Ono's house on South University, turned onto South State Street and ended after a little less than an hour at the team facility at Schembechler Hall.
With police escorts bookending the parade, the celebration was led by the Michigan Marching Band only a couple of weeks removed from their performance at the Rose Parade in Pasadena before the Rose Bowl.
In between the escorts were members of the football team standing on the backs of pickup trucks as they slowly moved down the street. Some of the vehicles were vintage firetrucks from the Michigan Firehouse Museum in Ypsilanti.
With wind and snow swirling, offensive linemen, such as Trevor Keegan, Giovanni El-Hadi and Karsen Barnhart, opted to brave the conditions without shirts. Keegan caught a beverage thrown to him by a fan and chugged it amid roars from the crowd.
Keegan was in one of the final cars at the back of the parade alongside Corum, defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, head coach Jim Harbaugh and others. Some of the loudest cheers came with this group, as well as Harbaugh's signature "Who's got it better than us...Nobody!" chant.
For fans such as Stephanie Frankel, the parade was a throwback to the one she attended as a freshman at University of Michigan after the program's last national championship in 1997. That team split the title with Nebraska, while the 2023 team won the title outright, making Saturday's parade more special.
"It was different then also because we didn't know until the next day that we were national champions," she said, pointing to the coaches and Associated Press polls that decided champions at the time.
"It's also amazing to be celebrating now with my family versus when I was a freshman," she said, surrounded by numerous children, family and friends.
Some of Frankel's children are old enough to understand the Wolverines have come a long way to reach this pinnacle of success. It was 10 years ago that former coach Brady Hoke's last team was 5-7, and it was less than four years ago in 2020 that the team went 2-4.
"This has been what we've been waiting for," her husband Andy Frankel said. "To be able to experience these last six weeks, from the Ohio State game to the Rose Bowl to the national championship, with your children with the joy and excitement in their eyes, it was exciting."
Adam Kellman was a cheerleader in the 1980s when Harbaugh was the Wolverines' quarterback. Those years under Bo Schembechler were successful, including a Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl appearance, but this year's title is on another level, he said.
"Unfortunately my family and I couldn't make it to Pasadena or Houston," Kellman said, referring to the College Football Playoff semifinal and final. "I felt I needed to see (the team), and I'm happy and proud to be here."
Fans such as Terrance Still dressed up for the occasion in his trademark maize and blue "Medicine Man" attire. His horned headdress is a nod to his Native American roots, he said, plus it helped him with the elements.
"I'm definitely feeling warm," he said.
Alongside his wife and children, Still reveled in the chance to share a special day with them.
"My younger kids probably don't know what's going on," he said with a laugh. "But they'll appreciate it later on."
The parade ended at Schembechler Hall, and fans either opted to either head home or wait in line for extra tickets to Crisler Center for the indoor celebration starting at 7 p.m. That event will be televised on Big Ten Network.
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