Michigan football program covers have occasionally made reference to contemporary events - the marching soldiers on the 1918 MAC program, the bald eagle delivering a football on the 1942 Iowa Naval Pre-Flight School cover, even George Lichty's allusion to Charles Lindbergh's historic flight in 1928.

Not since November of 1963, when the Ohio State game was postponed following the assassination of President Kennedy, have outside events imposed themselves on a football weekend as they did on September 11, 2001.

The terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania shocked the nation and brought the entire campus community together to mourn the loss of lives and seek some understanding of what had occurred.

Martin Vloet, photographer for the University News and Information Service, recorded the somber mood on campus as 1,000 students, faculty, and staff gathered on the Diag for an impromptu vigil and memorial for the victims. The Athletic Department created a special cover wrap for the postponed Western Michigan game program to go along with a number memorial events at the game played on September 22. Proceeds from sales of the program and separate reproductions of the cover, totaling more than $30,000, were donated to relief funds in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania.