Bentley Historical Library

University of Michigan Gymnastics Rosters

1999 Gymnastics Team

Information About the Men's Gymnastics Roster Website

This website attempts to compile as complete a roster as possible of all individuals who have been part of the varsity men's gymnastics program at the University of Michigan, 1902-1908, 1931-1933 and 1948-present. It includes varsity and reserve letterwinners as well as non-letterwinners, members of the freshman team.

The database contains over 1,600 player/year records, i.e., one record for each year an individual was a member of the team.

The roster information is derived from a number of sources:

Notes on Database Fields

Name
Names are entered in separate database fields for last name and first name-middle name/initial. The results are displayed in last name, first name order. Variant spellings of last names have been standardized. Shortened versions of first names and nicknames have been standardized based on the most commonly used form. (Jim to James for example). Middle names/initials are included when available or necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same first and last names. For some years, rosters gave only last names. In most cases it was possible to determine the first name from other sources. Last names followed by question marks indicate either that the name did not appear in any of the other sources or could not be definitively identified among several possibilities. Question marks following a first name indicate it is probably correct, but not certain.
Year
Gymnastics season (Winter/Spring Term)
Letter
Indicates the letter the individual was awarded. The field is blank for non-letterwinners. A variety of letters have been issued over the years:
  • af - All-Freshman numeral or letter (1931-1933, 1948-1972)
  • r -- Reserve (1948-1960)
  • sa -- Secondary award (1933)
  • jv -- Junior varsity (1933)
  • v -- Varsity M (1931-1933, 1948-present, Gymnastics was not an official varsity sport 1902-1908 s letters were not awarded
Class
The class field usually gives the player's current class status as Freshman (FR), Sophomore (SO), Junior (JR) or Senior (SR), fifth year Senior (5th SR). In some case class status and eligibility may be indicated, e.g. SO/FR Sophomore Class/Freshman eligibility.
Hometown, State
Player's hometown as listed in Media Guides or Game Programs or in other sources (usually the university General Catalog, Student Directory or the Alumni Association Necrology File). US states use standard postal abbreviations. Canadian provinces are abbreviated as: ONT = Ontario, QUE = Quebec.  other foreign countries are three or four letter abbreviation -- NOR=Norway Occasionally Media Guides and Game Programs listed different hometowns for a player in different years.  The student directories and other sources were used to determine the correct hometown, though in a few cases players (or their families) did change "hometowns" during their college careers.
 
High School
Player's high school is listed when the information was present in media guides, game programs or other sources. For most smaller towns, the presumption is that the name of the high school is the hometown name. Many records, particularly for earlier years, do not include high school information.

 

Some Known Deficiencies

While every effort has been made to make the database as complete as possible, the rosters are known to be incomplete in several respects. For most of the years between 1931-1933 the main source of information is the Official List of Letterwinners which typically lists only letterwinner. The source for 1902-1908, unofficial varsity team, is the Michiganensian.

Before preseason team rosters become available in 1948, some non-letterwinning athletes may not listed. For example, a player may have won a freshman letter and then did not won a varsity letter until his senior season. He may not be listed in the database for his sophomore and junior years though it is probable he was a member of the team.

The "All-Freshman" letter was awarded in 1931-1933 and 1948-1971. The letter award was changed to the "Freshman Numeral" in 1927. The freshman award was discontinued in 1971 when freshman became eligible for varsity letters. The freshman letterwinner rosters do not, in most cases, include all individuals who were members of the freshman team.

Walk-ons and other non-roster players who were with the team for all or parts of seasons, but did not make it into a meet program, media guide roster, or a team photo are likely not included.

Efforts to fill the deficiencies and update the database continue as time permits. If you find an error in an entry or know of a player who is not included in the database, please contact me with the information and any supporting evidence at gkinney@umich.edu.