title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg is a longtime supporter of Barack Obama. Reportedly "smitten" by Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Katzenberg pledged his full support to Obama in 2006 if he decided to run for president. During his campaign, Obama praised Katzenberg for his "tenacious support and advocacy since we started back in 2007."


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg has been an avid fund-raiser for Obama, doing so while much of Hollywood was still supporting the Clintons. His fund-raising prowess has reportedly allowed him to become an "informal liaison" between Hollywood and the White House. Katzenberg co-hosted a fund-raiser for President Obama at the home of actor George Clooney in May 2012. Katzenberg said that the event raised almost $15 million, which would make it the most profitable presidential fund-raiser in history. It was reported that Obama campaign officials were not happy about some of the requests that Katzenberg had made. In particular, they were bothered that Katzenberg, who reportedly had made himself "indispensable to Obama", required that the President spend time talking at each of the 14 tables.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: When the details of Oriental DreamWorks emerged, Jennifer Rubin noted that the Obama Administration's potential involvement in the deal would not be an issue if not for Katzenberg's May fund-raiser for Obama and his "huge campaign donations." It was reported that Katzenberg was Obama's top "bundler", who, along with Andy Spahn, had collected at least $6.6 million in combined donations for both of Obama's campaigns. In an MSNBC interview about the donations, Nicholas Confessore noted Katzenberg's desire to build movie studios in China, saying that he would need help from the Obama administration to get this done and that "[e]veryone has interests at stake." Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation suggested that Katzenberg's long history of financial support for Obama may have influenced the movie deal being "fast-track[ed]" by the White House, noting that DreamWorks Animation "never registered to lobby the federal government."


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: It was reported that Obama arrived in Los Angeles on October 7, 2012, where he joined Bill Clinton at Katzenberg's Beverly Hills home for a private meeting with several deep-pocketed Democratic donors. Obama's campaign indicated the meeting was to thank supporters, but some members of the campaign finance committee said that it involved the pro-Obama PAC Priorities USA Action. Members of the White House press corps who had traveled to California with Obama were kept in the garage of Katzenberg's mansion and one reporter called the meeting "unusual". Katzenberg, who had previously donated $2 million to the pro-Obama PAC Priorities USA Action, donated an additional $1 million in October 2012. He donated $1 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. In October 2016, he hosted a $100,000-per-person fund-raiser at his Beverly Hills residence with President Barack Obama as the main attraction.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: In 2018, following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Katzenberg pledged $500,000 to the March for Our Lives gun-control demonstration.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation in April 2012 into accusations that Katzenberg had bribed Chinese officials in an effort to obtain distribution rights, as Joe Biden was negotiating a deal to increase film quotas.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg took a leading role in pushing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA); Hollywood reportedly saw piracy as "an existential threat". When the White House announced its opposition to the bill in January 2012, Chris Dodd, the former Senator and head of the Motion Picture Association of America, the film industry's lobbying organization, contacted Katzenberg to obtain more information about the president's plans. When Dodd reportedly asked him to intervene, Katzenberg declined, but "sought to soothe hurt feelings and lay the groundwork for a deal more friendly to Hollywood". Katzenberg's office contacted Obama and urged him to contact other studio chiefs in order to reaffirm their support. Obama would take the advice, making Katzenberg one of the few Hollywood executives working on brokering a compromise with Silicon Valley.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced in September 2012, that the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award would be presented to Katzenberg at the Oscar ceremony in 2013, in acknowledgment of his role in "raising money for education, art and health-related causes, particularly those benefiting the motion picture industry."


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: During the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, the jury awarded Katzenberg an honorary "Palme d'Or", the festival's highest prize. Katzenberg compared the distinction to the earlier Academy recognition.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg married Marilyn Siegel, a kindergarten teacher, in 1975. They have twin children, Laura and David, born in 1983. David is a television producer and director.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg and his wife have been highly active in charitable causes. They donated the multimillion-dollar Katzenberg Center to Boston University's College of General Studies, citing that the school gave their two children the "love of education." They also donated the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center for Animation at the University of Southern California.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: In addition to serving as Chairman of the Board for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation, Katzenberg sits on the boards or serves as a trustee of AIDS Project Los Angeles, American Museum of the Moving Image, California Institute of the Arts, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Geffen Playhouse, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and The Simon Wiesenthal Center. Together with DreamWorks Animation, Katzenberg founded the DreamWorks Animation Academy of Inner-City Arts in 2008. In recognition of his efforts, Katzenberg received the 85th Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2012 American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governors Awards Presentation on December 1 at The Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: Katzenberg has an estimated worth of US$900 million (2016) and is reported to have donated over $3.5 million in political contributions since 1979: 33% ($1.171+ million) to Democrats, 66% ($2.33+ million) to special interest groups without party affiliations, and less than 1% ($7,000) to Republicans.


title: Jeffrey Katzenberg

text: He was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Arts from Ringling College of Art and Design on May 2, 2008.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its distinctive winged helmet, its fight song, its record-breaking attendance figures at Michigan Stadium, and its many rivalries, particularly its annual, regular season-ending game against Ohio State, known simply as “The Game,” once voted as ESPN's best sports rivalry.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan began competing in intercollegiate football in 1879. The Wolverines joined the Big Ten Conference at its inception in 1896, and other than a hiatus from 1907 to 1916, have been members since. Michigan has won or shared 44 league titles, and since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936, has finished in the top 10 a total of 39 times. The Wolverines claim 11 national championships, most recently that of the 1997 squad voted atop the final AP Poll.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: From 1900 to 1989, Michigan was led by a series of nine head coaches, each of whom has been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame either as a player or as a coach. Fielding H. Yost became Michigan's head coach in 1901 and guided his "Point-a-Minute" squads to a streak of 56 games without a defeat, spanning from his arrival until the season finale in 1905, including a victory in the 1902 Rose Bowl, the first college football bowl game ever played. Fritz Crisler brought his winged helmet from Princeton University in 1938 and led the 1947 Wolverines to a national title and Michigan's second Rose Bowl win. Bo Schembechler coached the team for 21 seasons (1969–1989) in which he won 13 Big Ten titles and 194 games, a program record. The first decade of his tenure was underscored by a fierce competition with his former mentor, Woody Hayes, whose Ohio State Buckeyes squared off against Schembechler's Wolverines in a stretch of the Michigan–Ohio State rivalry dubbed the "Ten-Year War".


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Following Schembechler's retirement, the program was coached by two of his former assistants, Gary Moeller and then Lloyd Carr, who maintained the program's overall success over the next 18 years. However, the program's fortunes declined under the next two coaches, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, who were both fired after relatively short tenures. Following Hoke's dismissal, Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh on December 30, 2014. Harbaugh is a former quarterback of the team, having played for Michigan between 1982 and 1986 under Schembechler.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The Michigan Wolverines have featured 87 players that have garnered consensus selection to the College Football All-America Team. Three Wolverines have won the Heisman Trophy: Tom Harmon in 1940, Desmond Howard in 1991, and Charles Woodson in 1997. Gerald Ford, who later became the 38th President of the United States, started at center and was voted most valuable player by his teammates on the 1934 team.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: On May 30, 1879, Michigan played its first intercollegiate football game against Racine College at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The "Chicago Tribune" called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies." Midway through "the first 'inning'," Irving Kane Pond scored the first touchdown for Michigan. According to Will Perry's history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Pond's plays with cheers of "Pond Forever." In 1881, Michigan played against Harvard in Boston. The game that marked the birth of inter-sectional football. On their way to a game in Chicago in 1887, Michigan players stopped in South Bend, Indiana and introduced football to students at the University of Notre Dame. A November 23 contest marked the inception of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program and the beginning of the Michigan–Notre Dame rivalry. In 1894, Michigan defeated Cornell, which was the "first time in collegiate football history that a western school defeated an established power from the east."


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1896, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives—then commonly known as the Western Conference and later as the Big Ten Conference—was formed by the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, and Purdue University. The first Western Conference football season was played in 1896, with Michigan going 9–1, but losing out on the inaugural Western Conference title with a loss to the Chicago Maroons to end the season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: By 1898 Amos Alonzo Stagg was fast at work at turning the University of Chicago football program into a powerhouse. Before the final game of the 1898 season, Chicago was 9–1–1 and Michigan was 9–0; a game between the two teams in Chicago decided the third Western Conference championship. Michigan won, 12–11, capturing the program's first conference championship in a game that inspired "The Victors", which later became the school's fight song. Michigan went 8–2 and 7–2–1 in 1899 and 1900, results that were considered unsatisfactory relative to the 10–0 season of 1898.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: After the 1900 season, Charles A. Baird, Michigan's first athletic director, wrote to Fielding H. Yost, "Our people are greatly roused up over the defeats of the past two years", and gave Yost an offer to come to Michigan to coach the football team. "The New York Times" reported that Michigan's margin of victory was "one of the most remarkable ever made in the history of football in the important colleges." At the end of the season, Michigan participated in the inaugural Rose Bowl. Michigan dominated the game so thoroughly that Stanford's captain requested the game be called with eight minutes remaining. Neil Snow scored five touchdowns in the game, which is still the all-time Rose Bowl record.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The next year, 1902, Michigan outscored its opponents 644 to 12 and finished the season 11–0. In 1903, Michigan played a game against Minnesota that started the rivalry for the Little Brown Jug, the oldest rivalry trophy in college football. The game marked the only time from 1901 to 1904 that Michigan failed to win. Michigan finished the season at 11–0–1. In 1904, Michigan once again went undefeated at 10–0 while recording one of the most lopsided defeats in college football history, a 130–0 defeat of the West Virginia Mountaineers.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: From 1901 through 1904, Michigan didn't lose a single game. The streak was finally halted at the end of the 1905 season by Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago Maroons, a team that went on to win two Big 9 (as the Western Conference was now being called with the addition of Iowa and Indiana) titles in the next three years. The game, dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century," broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and marked the end of the "Point-a-Minute" years. The 1905 Michigan team had outscored opponents 495–0 in its first 12 games. The game was lost in the final ten minutes of play when Denny Clark was tackled for a safety as he attempted to return a punt from behind the goal line. Michigan tied for another Big 9 title in 1906 before opting to go independent for the 1907 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The independent years were not as kind to Yost as his years in the Big 9. Michigan suffered one loss in 1907. In 1908, Michigan got battered by Penn (a team that went 11–0–1 that year) in a game in which Michigan center Germany Schulz took such a battering as to have to be dragged off the field. In 1909, Michigan suffered its first loss to Notre Dame, leading Yost to refuse to schedule another game against Notre Dame; the schools did not play again until 1942. In 1910, Michigan played their only undefeated season of the independent years, going 3–0–3. Overall from 1907 to 1916, Michigan lost at least one game every year (with the exception of 1910).


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan rejoined the Big 9 in 1917, after which it was called the Big Ten. Yost immediately got back to work. In 1918, Michigan played the first game against Stagg's Chicago Maroons since Chicago ended Michigan's winning streak in 1905. Michigan defeated the Maroons, 18–0, on the way to a 5–0 record. The next three years were lean, with Michigan going 3–4, 5–2, and 5–1–1, in 1919, 1920, and 1921. However, in 1922 Michigan managed to spoil the "Dedication Day" for Ohio Stadium, defeating the Buckeyes 19–0. Legend has it that the rotunda at Ohio Stadium is painted with maize flowers on a blue background due to the outcome of the 1922 dedication game. Michigan went 5–0–1 in 1922, capturing a Big Ten title. In 1923, Michigan went 8–0, winning another conference championship. The 1924 Wolverines, coached by George Little, saw their 20-game unbeaten streak end at the hands of Red Grange. After the 1924 season, Little left Michigan to accept the head coach and athletic director positions at Wisconsin, returning athletic director Yost to the head coaching position. Although the 1925 and 1926 seasons did not include a conference title, they were memorable due to the presence of the famous "Benny-to-Bennie" combination, a reference to Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan. The two helped popularize passing the ball in an era when running held dominance. Oosterbaan became a three-time All-American and was selected for the All-Time All-American team in 1951, while Friedman went on to have a Hall of Fame NFL career. Also during 1926, Michigan was retroactively awarded national titles for the 1901 and 1902 seasons via the Houlgate System, the first national titles awarded to the program. Other major selectors later retroactively awarded Michigan with titles in the 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1925, and 1926 seasons. Michigan claims titles in the 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, and 1923 seasons.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Yost stepped aside in 1926 to focus on being Michigan's athletic director, a post he had held since 1921, thus ending the greatest period of success in the history of Michigan football. Under Yost, Michigan posted a 165–29–10 record, winning ten conference championships and six national championships. One of his main actions as athletic director was to oversee the construction of Michigan Stadium. Michigan began playing football games in Michigan Stadium in the fall of 1927. At the time Michigan Stadium had a capacity of 72,000, although Yost envisioned eventually expanding the stadium to a capacity well beyond 100,000. Michigan Stadium was formally dedicated during a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes that season to the tune of a 21–0 victory.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Tad Wieman became Michigan's head coach in 1927. That year, Michigan posted a modest 6–2 record. However, the team ended 1928 with a losing 3–4–1 record and Wieman was fired.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1929, Harry Kipke, a former player under Yost, took over as head coach. From 1930 to 1933, Kipke returned Michigan to prominence. During that stretch, Michigan won the Big Ten title every year and the national championship in 1932 and 1933. In 1932, quarterback and future College Football Hall of Famer Harry Newman was a unanimous first-team All-American, and the recipient of the Douglas Fairbanks Trophy as Outstanding College Player of the Year (predecessor of the Heisman Trophy), and the Helms Athletic Foundation Player of the Year Award, the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference. During this span Kipke's teams only lost one game, to Ohio State. After 1933, however, Kipke's teams compiled a 12–22 record from 1934 to 1937. The 1934 Michigan team only won one game, against Georgia Tech in a controversial contest. Georgia Tech coach and athletic director W. A. "Bill" Alexander refused to allow his team to take the field if Willis Ward, an African-American player for Michigan, stepped on the field. Michigan conceded, and the incident reportedly caused Michigan player Gerald R. Ford to consider quitting the team. Overall, Kipke posted a 49–26–4 record at Michigan, winning four conference championships and two national championships.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1938, Michigan hired Fritz Crisler as Kipke's successor. Crisler had been head coach of the Princeton Tigers and reportedly wasn't excited to leave Princeton. Michigan invited him to name his price, and Crisler demanded what he thought would be unacceptable: the position of athletic director when Yost stepped down and the highest salary in college football. Michigan accepted, and Crisler became the new head coach of the Michigan football program.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Upon arriving at Michigan, Crisler introduced the winged football helmet, ostensibly to help his players find the receivers down field. Whatever the reasoning, the winged helmet has since become one of the iconic marks of Michigan football. Michigan debuted the winged helmet in a game against Michigan State in 1938. Two years later in 1940, Tom Harmon led the Wolverines to a 7–1 record on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy. Harmon ended the season by scoring three rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, four extra points, intercepting three passes, and punting three times for an average of 50 yards in a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The 1943 season included a No. 1 (Notre Dame) vs. No. 2 (Michigan) match-up against Notre Dame, a game the Wolverines lost 35–12. Michigan ended the season at 8–1, winning


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Crisler had reversed the misfortune of the end of the Kipke era and returned Michigan to one and two-loss seasons. From 1938 to 1944, Michigan posted a 48–11–2 record, although the period lacked a national title and only contained one conference title. Yet, Crisler's biggest mark on the game of football was made in 1945, when Michigan faced a loaded Army squad that featured two Heisman trophy winners, Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. Crisler didn't feel that his Michigan team could match up with Army, so he opted to take advantage of a 1941 NCAA rule that allowed players to enter or leave at any point during the game. Crisler divided his team into "offensive" and "defensive" specialists, an act that earned him the nickname "the father of two-platoon football." Michigan still lost the game with Army 28–7, but Crisler's use of two-platoon football shaped the way the game was played in the future. Eventually, Crisler's use of the platoon system propelled his team to a conference championship and a national title in 1947, his final season. The 1947 team, nicknamed the "Mad Magicians" due to their use of two-platoon football, capped their season with a 49–0 victory over the USC Trojans in the 1948 Rose Bowl. Crisler finished with a 116–32–9 record at Michigan, winning two conference titles and one national title.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Crisler continued as athletic director while Bennie Oosterbaan, the same Bennie that had electrified the world while making connections with Benny Friedman 20 years earlier, took over the football program. Things started off well for Oosterbaan in 1948 with the Wolverines earning a quality mid-season victory over No. 3 Northwestern. Michigan finished the season undefeated at 9–0, thus winning another national championship. Initially, Oosterbaan continued Crisler's tradition of on-field success, winning conference titles each year from 1948 to 1950 and the national title in 1948. The 1950 season ended in interesting fashion, with Michigan and Ohio State combining for 45 punts in a game that came to be known as the "Snow Bowl." Michigan won the game 9–3, winning the Big Ten conference and sending the Wolverines off to the 1951 Rose Bowl. Subsequently, Michigan's football team began to decline under Oosterbaan. From 1951 to 1958, Michigan compiled a record of 42–26–2, a far cry from the success under Crisler and Yost. Perhaps more importantly, Oosterbaan posted a 2–5–1 record against Michigan State and a 3–5 record against Ohio State over the same time period. Under mounting pressure, Oosterbaan stepped down after 1958.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In place of Oosterbaan stepped Bump Elliott, a former Michigan player of Crisler's. Elliott continued many of the struggles that began under Oosterbaan, posting a 51–42–2 record from 1959 through 1968 (including a 2–7–1 record against Michigan State and a 3–7 record against Ohio State). Michigan's only Big Ten title under Elliott came in 1964, a season that included a win over Oregon State in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Following a 50-14 drubbing at the hands of Ohio State in 1968, Elliott resigned.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: It took 15 minutes for Don Canham to be sold on Bo Schembechler, resulting in Schembechler becoming the 15th coach in Michigan football history. At the time, Schembechler's employer, the Miami RedHawks, could have thrown more money at Schembechler, but Canham managed to sell Schembechler on Michigan's tradition and prestige.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Schembechler's first team got off to a moderate start, losing to rival Michigan State and entering the Ohio State game with a 7–2 record. Ohio State, coached by icon Woody Hayes, entered the game at 8–0 and poised to repeat as national champions. The 1969 Ohio State team was hailed by some as being the "greatest college football team ever assembled" and came into the game favored by 17 points over Michigan. Michigan shocked the Buckeyes, winning 24–12, going to the Rose Bowl, and launching The Ten Year War between Hayes and Schembechler. From 1969 to 1978, one of either Ohio State or Michigan won at least a share of the Big Ten title and represented the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl every season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1970 Schembechler failed to repeat on the magic of 1969, that year losing to Ohio State 20–9 and finishing at 9–1. However, in 1971, Schembechler led Michigan to an undefeated regular season, only to lose to the Stanford Indians in the Rose Bowl to finish at 11–1. From 1972 to 1975, Michigan failed to win a game against Ohio State (powered by phenom running back Archie Griffin). However, Michigan did tie Ohio State in 1973, only missing out on the Rose Bowl due to a controversial vote that sent Ohio State to the Rose Bowl and left Michigan at home. Another notable event occurred during the 1975 season, with the first of Michigan's record streak of games with more than 100,000 people in attendance occurring during a game against the Purdue Boilermakers.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: From 1976 to 1978, Michigan asserted its own dominance of the rivalry, beating Ohio State, going to the Rose Bowl, and posting a 10–2 record every year. After the 1978 season, Woody Hayes was fired for punching an opposing player during the 1978 Gator Bowl, thus ending The Ten Year War. Michigan had a slight edge in the war, with Schembechler going 5–4–1 against Hayes. However, while Schembechler successfully placed great emphasis on the rivalry, Michigan's bowl performances were sub-par. Michigan failed to win their last game of the season every year during The Ten Year War. The only year in which Michigan didn't lose its last game of the season was the 1973 tie against Ohio State.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: After the end of the Ten Year War, Michigan's regular season performance declined, but its post season performance improved. The 1979 season included a memorable game against Indiana that ended with a touchdown pass from John Wangler to Anthony Carter with six seconds left in the game. Michigan went 8–4 on the season, losing to North Carolina in the 1979 Gator Bowl.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1980, Michigan went 10–2 and got their first win in the Rose Bowl under Schembechler, a 23–6 win over Washington. Michigan went 9–3 in 1981 to get Schembechler's second bowl win in the 1981 Bluebonnet Bowl. In 1982, Michigan won the Big Ten championship while being led by three-time All-American wide receiver Anthony Carter. Michigan fell to UCLA Bruins in the 1983 Rose Bowl. Without Anthony Carter, the Wolverines did not win the Big Ten title in 1983, going 9–3. In 1984, the Wolverines suffered their worst season under Schembechler, going 6–6 with a loss to national champion BYU in the 1984 Holiday Bowl.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan needed to reverse its fortunes in 1985, and they began doing so with new quarterback Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh led the Wolverines to a 5–0 record, propelling them to a No. 2 ranking heading into a game with the No. 1 Iowa Hawkeyes. Michigan lost 12–10, but did not lose another game the rest of the season to finish at 10–1–1 with a victory over Tom Osborne's Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 1986 Fiesta Bowl. In 1986 Michigan won the Big Ten at 11–2, suffering a loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils in the 1987 Rose Bowl.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The departure of Harbaugh after 1986 once again left Michigan on tough times as Schembechler's team stumbled to an 8–4 record in 1987. However, Michigan bounced back again in 1988 and 1989, winning the Big Ten title outright both years at 9–2–1 and 10–2 with trips to Rose Bowl. From 1981 through 1989, Michigan went 80–27–2, winning four Big Ten titles and going to a bowl game every year (with another Rose Bowl win obtained against USC Trojans after the 1988 season). Bo Schembechler retired after the 1989 season, handing the job over to his offensive coordinator Gary Moeller. Under Schembechler, Michigan posted a 194–48–5 record (11–9–1 against Ohio State), and won 13 Big Ten championships.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Gary Moeller took over from Schembechler for the 1990 season, becoming the 16th head coach in Michigan football history. Moeller inherited a talented squad that had just played in the 1990 Rose Bowl, including wide receiver Desmond Howard. Moeller led Michigan to a 9–3 record in his first season, tying for the Big Ten championship but losing out on a Rose Bowl bid to Iowa. The next two years, Moeller's teams won the conference outright, setting marks of 10–2 and 9–0–3. In 1991, Desmond Howard had a memorable season that propelled him to win the Heisman Trophy, the award given to college football's most outstanding player. The 1992 team, led by quarterback Elvis Grbac, posted a 9–0–3 record, defeating Washington in the 1993 Rose Bowl. Moeller led Michigan to 8–4 records in both 1993 and 1994. The 1994 season was marked by an early-season loss to Colorado that included a Hail Mary pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook to end the game, leading to the game being dubbed "The Miracle at Michigan." After the 1994 season, Moeller was found intoxicated at a Southfield, MI restaurant in an incident in which Moeller was caught on tape throwing a punch in a police station, which resulted in his firing.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan's athletic director appointed Lloyd Carr, an assistant at Michigan since 1980, as interim head coach for the 1995 season. However, after an 8–2 start, Michigan dropped the interim tag from Carr's title and named him its 17th head coach. Michigan finished his first season at 9–4. Carr had similar success in his second season, going 8–4 and earning a trip to the 1997 Outback Bowl. Carr returned a strong squad for the 1997 season, led by cornerback and punt returner Charles Woodson. Michigan went undefeated in 1997. Overall, the Michigan defense only allowed 9.5 points per game and ended the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, giving Michigan its first national championship since 1948 with a victory in the 1998 Rose Bowl. For his efforts, Woodson won the Heisman Trophy and was selected 4th overall in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: With Tom Brady as quarterback, Michigan went 10–3 and repeated as Big Ten champions in 1998, but in 1999 Michigan lost out on the conference championship at 10–2 to the Wisconsin Badgers. Drew Henson led Michigan to a 9–3 record and a tie for the Big Ten championship in 2000.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Ohio State, Michigan's chief rival, fired their coach John Cooper, who was 2–10–1 against Michigan while at Ohio State, after the 2000 season and replaced him with Jim Tressel. Tressel immediately ushered in a new era in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, upsetting the Wolverines 26–20 in 2001. This came on the heels of another last-second loss in which Michigan State defeated Michigan with a pass in the last second of the game in a controversial finish that led to the game being referred to as "Clockgate." Despite these setbacks, Michigan's 2001 squad, led by John Navarre, went 8–4 with an appearance in the 2002 Florida Citrus Bowl. Again under Navarre in 2002, Michigan compiled a 10–3 record, but included another loss to Ohio State, who went on to win the national championship. Carr got over the hump against Tressel in 2003 as John Navarre and Doak Walker Award winner Chris Perry led the Wolverines to a 10–3 record, a Big Ten championship, and an appearance in the 2004 Rose Bowl.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: For the 2004 season, Carr turned to highly rated recruit Chad Henne to lead the Wolverines at quarterback. Michigan went 9–3 in 2004 to tie for another Big Ten championship and earn a trip to the 2005 Rose Bowl, but the season again included a loss to Ohio State, who only went 8–4 on the season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 2005, Michigan struggled to make a bowl game, only going 7–5, with the season capped with another loss to Ohio State. Expectations were tempered going into the 2006 season; however, a 47–21 blowout of No. 2 Notre Dame and an 11–0 start propelled Michigan to the No. 2 rankings going into "The Game" with No. 1 Ohio State. The 2006 Ohio State-Michigan game was hailed by the media as the "Game of the Century." The day before the game, Bo Schembechler died, leading Ohio State to honor him with a moment of silence, one of the few Michigan Men to be so honored in Ohio Stadium. The game itself was a back-and-forth affair, with Ohio State winning 42–39 for the right to play in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game. Michigan lost to USC in the 2007 Rose Bowl, ending the season at 11–2.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Going into 2007, Michigan had high expectations. Standout players Chad Henne, Mike Hart, and Jake Long all opted to return for their senior seasons for one last crack at Ohio State and a chance at a national championship, causing Michigan to be ranked fifth in the preseason polls. However, Michigan's struggles against the spread offense reared its ugly head again as the Wolverines shockingly lose the opener to the Appalachian State Mountaineers. The game marked the first win by a Division I-AA team over a team ranked in the Associated Press Poll. The next week, Michigan was blown out by Oregon. Despite the early rough start, Michigan won their next eight games and went into the Ohio State game with a chance to win the Big Ten championship. However, Michigan once again fell to the Buckeyes, this time 14–3. After the game, Lloyd Carr announced that he would retire as Michigan head coach after the bowl game. In the 2008 Capital One Bowl, Carr's final game, Michigan defeated the defending national champion Florida Gators, led by Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow, 41–35. Carr's accomplishments at Michigan included a 122–40 record, five Big Ten championships, and one national championship.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Following Carr's retirement, Michigan launched a coaching search that ultimately saw Rich Rodriguez lured away from his alma mater, West Virginia. Rodriguez's arrival marked the beginning of major upheaval in the Michigan football program. Rodriguez, a proponent of the spread offense, installed it in place of the pro-style offense that had been used by Carr. The offseason saw significant attrition in Michigan's roster. The expected starting quarterback Ryan Mallett departed the program, stating that he would be unable to fit in a spread offense. Starting wide receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington both decided to forgo their senior seasons and enter the NFL Draft. Michigan lost a good deal of its depth and, when the 2008 season began, was forced to start players with very little playing experience.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The 2008 season was disappointing for Michigan, finishing at 3–9 and suffering its first losing campaign since 1967. Michigan also missed a bowl game invitation for the first time since 1974.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The week before the 2009 season began, the "Detroit Free Press" accused the team of violating the NCAA's practice time limits. While the NCAA conducted investigations, Michigan won its first four games, including a last second victory against its rival Notre Dame. The season ended in disappointment, however, as Michigan went 1–7 in its last eight games and missed a bowl for the second straight season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Rodriguez's final season began with new hope in the program, as Robinson was named the starting quarterback over Forcier. Robinson led the Wolverines to a 5–0 start, but after a defeat to Michigan State at home, the Wolverines finished the season 2–5 over their last seven games. Michigan did, however, qualify for a bowl game with a 7–5 record, and clinched its bowl berth in dramatic fashion against Illinois, with Michigan winning 67–65 in three overtime periods. The game was the highest combined scoring game in Michigan history, and saw Michigan's defense give up the most points in its history. Michigan was invited to the Gator Bowl to face Mississippi State, losing 52–14. The Michigan defense set new school records as the worst defense in Michigan history. In the middle of the season, the NCAA announced its penalties against Michigan for the practice time violations. The program was placed on three of years probation and docked 130 practice hours, which was twice the amount Michigan had exceeded.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Rodriguez was fired following the bowl game, with athletic director Dave Brandon citing Rodriguez's failure to meet expectations as the main reason for his dismissal. Rodriguez left the program winless against rivals Michigan State and Ohio State and compiled a 15–22 record, the worst record of any head coach in Michigan history.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan announced the hiring of head coach Brady Hoke on January 11, 2011. He became the 19th head coach in Michigan football history. Hoke had previously been the head coach at his alma mater Ball State and then San Diego State after serving as an assistant at Michigan under Lloyd Carr from 1995 to 2002. In his first season, Hoke led the Wolverines to 11 wins, beating rival Notre Dame with a spectacular comeback in Michigan's first night game at Michigan Stadium. Despite losing to Iowa and Michigan State, the Wolverines finished with a 10–2 regular season record with their first win over Ohio State in eight years. The Wolverines received an invitation to the Sugar Bowl in which they defeated Virginia Tech, 23–20, in overtime. This was the program's first bowl win since the season of 2007. Until the streak was broken in 2008, Michigan had appeared in a bowl game each year since the 1975 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In Hoke's second season, the Wolverines dropped their season opener to eventual national champions, Alabama in Dallas, Texas. U-M won the next two games at home in non-conference bouts against Air Force and UMass. Michigan then traveled to face eventual national runner-up Notre Dame. They fell to the Fighting Irish by a 13–6 final. After back-to-back wins over Purdue and Illinois, they defeated in-state rival Michigan State for the first time since 2007. The win was the 900th in program history, becoming the first program to reach the milestone. U-M finished the season with wins over Minnesota, Northwestern and Iowa as well as losses to Nebraska and Ohio State to finish the regular season. Michigan was selected to participate in the 2013 Outback Bowl, where they fell to South Carolina by a 33–28 score.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In the 2013 campaign, Michigan finished with a 7–6 record, including a 3–5 record in Big Ten play and a loss to Kansas State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl 31–14.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: On December 2, 2014, Hoke was fired as the head coach after four seasons following a 5–7 record in 2014. This marked only the third season since 1975 in which Michigan missed a bowl game. Hoke compiled a 31–20 record, including an 18–14 record in Big Ten play.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: On December 30, 2014, the University of Michigan announced the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as the team's 20th head coach. Harbaugh, who was starting quarterback in the mid-1980s under Bo Schembechler, had most recently served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. In his first season, Harbaugh led Michigan to a 10–3 record, including a 41–7 win over the Florida Gators in the 2016 Citrus Bowl. The squad achieved an identical 10–3 record during the 2016 season, which ended with a 33–32 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl on December 30.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The team lost many key players on the offensive and defensive side of the ball prior to Harbaugh's third season. The Wolverines went 8–4 in the regular season losing to their main rivals, Michigan State and Ohio State, and lost to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl, becoming the only team in the Big Ten Conference to lose its bowl game in the 2017–2018 bowl season and dropping the record on the year to 8–5.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Harbaugh's fourth season started with a loss to rival Notre Dame, followed by ten consecutive wins. Wins over ranked Big Ten opponents Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Penn State, all of whom beat Michigan the previous year, led to the team rallying around referring to the season as a "revenge tour." The Wolverines rose to fourth in the College Football Playoff rankings, but the "revenge tour" came to an abrupt end when they were upset by rival Ohio State by a lopsided score of 62–39 to end the regular season. Ohio State's 62 points set a record for points against Michigan during regulation. A blowout loss to Florida in the Peach Bowl ended the season, and they finished at 10–3 for the third time in Harbaugh's four years.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: During Harbaugh's fifth season (2019), the Wolverines lost to Wisconsin 35–14 and to Penn State 28–21, both on the road. Michigan went on to beat rivals Notre Dame 45–14 and Michigan State 44–10, but once again lost to then No. 1 ranked Ohio State by a score of 56–27 to end the regular season. Michigan later lost to Alabama 16–35 in the Citrus Bowl to end the season with a record of 9–4.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: For the 2020 season, COVID-19 precautions delayed the start of Big Ten play. The Wolverines started with a dominating 49–24 win against Minnesota. However, in a highly physical game against Michigan State, the Wolverines incurred many player injuries and narrowly lost 27–24. The next week, Michigan lost to Indiana 38–21. On November 14, 2020, Michigan hosted Wisconsin and suffered its largest halftime deficit at home since Michigan Stadium opened in 1927 (28–0), as well as its largest home loss (49–11) since 1935. On November 28, 2020, Michigan hosted Penn State and, for the first time in Michigan football history, lost to a team that was 0–5 or worse. Michigan was winless at home during the 2020 season, marking the first time in program history that Michigan did not win any games at home. The final three scheduled games of the season, against Maryland, Ohio State, and Iowa, were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Michigan failed to qualify for a postseason bowl game.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: The Wolverines started the 2021 season unranked, but quickly found their footing to surge into the rankings. The Wolverines started 7–0, which included blowout wins against Washington and Wisconsin. The team rose to number six in the polls before a top-ten showdown with eighth ranked rival Michigan State. Michigan narrowly lost to their instate rival, but rebounded with wins against Indiana, Penn State, and Maryland in their subsequent three games to set up a winner-take-all for the Big Ten East division against archrival Ohio State. In a top-five showdown, Michigan used a dominant second half performance to rout Ohio State 42–27, giving the Wolverines their first win against the Buckeyes since 2011, and a berth to their first-ever Big Ten Championship game. In the Big Ten Championship game against Big Ten West champions Iowa, the second-ranked Wolverines dominated the Hawkeyes 42–3 to win their outright first Big Ten Championship since 2003. As the second seed in the College Football Playoff, the Wolverines lost a semifinal game to the Georgia Bulldogs, 34–11.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan began the 2022 season ranked eighth. They won a top-10 showdown against then 6-0 #10 Penn State 41-17. The Wolverines defeated then 11-0 #2 Ohio State 45-23 in Columbus marking their first win there since 2000 to finish the regular season a perfect 12-0, heading to their second straight Big Ten Championship game. Michigan would defeat the West Division champions Purdue 43-22 to capture their second straight conference championship and head into the College Football Playoff 13-0, setting a new program record for single season wins in the process.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan has played in 50 bowl games in its history, compiling a record of 21–28. Before missing a bowl game in 2008, Michigan had made a bowl game 33 years in a row. From the 1921 to 1945 seasons, the Big Ten Conference did not allow its teams to participate in bowls. From the 1946 to 1974 seasons, only a conference champion or a surrogate representative was allowed to attend a bowl, the Rose Bowl, and no team could go two years in a row until the 1972 Rose Bowl, with the exception of Minnesota in 1961 and 1962.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In the early days of Michigan football, Michigan played smaller home games at the Washtenaw County Fairgrounds with larger games being held in Detroit at the Detroit Athletic Club. The Fairgrounds were originally located at the southeast intersection of Hill and Forest, but in 1890 moved to what is now called Burns Park.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: In 1890, the Board of Regents authorized $3,000 ($78,947.37 in 2014 dollars) for the purchase of a parcel of land along South State Street. In 1891 a further $4,500 ($118,421.05 in 2014 dollars) was authorized "for the purpose of fitting up the athletic field." Michigan began play on Regents Field in 1893, with capacity being expanded to over 15,000 by the end of the field's use.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: By 1902 Regents Field had grown inadequate for the uses of the football team as a result of the sport's increasing popularity. Thanks to donations from Dexter M. Ferry, work began on planning the next home stadium for the Michigan football team. Powered by a $30,000 donation from Ferry, Ferry Field was constructed with a maximum temporary capacity of 18,000 for the 1906 season. Ferry Field was expanded to a capacity of 21,000 in 1914 and 42,000 in 1921. However, attendance was often over-capacity with crowds of 48,000 cramming into the small stadium. This prompted athletic director Fielding Yost to contemplate the construction of a much larger stadium.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Fielding H. Yost anticipated massive crowds as college football's popularity increased and wished to build a stadium with a capacity of at least 80,000. Ultimately, the final plans authorized the construction of a stadium with a capacity of 72,000 with footings to be set in place to expand it beyond 100,000 later. Michigan Stadium was dedicated in 1927 during a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, drawing an over-capacity crowd of 84,401. After World War II, crowd sizes increased, prompting another stadium expansion to a capacity of 93,894 in 1949. Michigan Stadium cracked the 100,000 mark by expanding to 101,001 in 1955. Michigan Stadium temporarily lost the title of "largest stadium" to Neyland Stadium of the Tennessee Volunteers in 1996, but recaptured the title in 1998 with another expansion to 107,501. In 2007, the Board of Regents authorized a $226 million renovation to add a new press box, 83 luxury boxes, and 3,200 club seats. For the 2011 season, lights were installed at Michigan Stadium at the cost of $1.8 million. This allowed Michigan to play its first night game at home against Notre Dame in 2011.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan and Ohio State first played each other in 1897. The rivalry was particularly enhanced during The Ten Year War, a period in which Ohio State was coached by Woody Hayes and Michigan was coached by Bo Schembechler. Overall, the Buckeyes and Wolverines football programs have combined for 19 national titles, 77 conference titles, and 10 Heisman Trophy winners. Michigan holds a 60–51–6 advantage through the 2022 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan and Michigan State first played each other in 1898. Since Michigan State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1953, the two schools have competed annually for the Paul Bunyan – Governor of Michigan Trophy. The winner retains possession of the trophy until the next year's game. Michigan leads the trophy series 38–28–2. Michigan is the holder of the trophy following a 2022 win over the Spartans, 29–7. Michigan holds a 72–38–5 advantage through the 2022 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan plays Minnesota for the Little Brown Jug trophy. The Little Brown Jug is the most regularly exchanged rivalry trophy in college football, the oldest trophy game in FBS college football, and the second oldest rivalry trophy overall. Through the 2021 season, Michigan leads the overall series 76–25–3.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan and Notre Dame began playing each other in 1887 in Notre Dame's first football game. The rivalry is notable due to the historical success of the football programs. Through the end of the 2017 season, Michigan is ranked No. 1 in wins and all-time winning percentage while Notre Dame is No. 2 in both categories. Both schools also claim 11 national championships. Michigan and Notre Dame have played in 42 contests, with Michigan holding a 25–17–1 advantage through the 2019 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan and Northwestern first played each other in 1892. In 2021, the two universities announced the creation of a new rivalry trophy to be awarded to the game's winner, the George Jewett Trophy. The trophy honors George Jewett, the first African-American player in Big Ten Conference history, who played for both schools. The game is the first FBS rivalry game named for an African-American player. Michigan holds a 59–15–2 advantage in the all-time series through the 2021 season.


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan has been selected 16 times as national champions from NCAA-designated major selectors, including twice by the major wire-service AP Poll. Michigan claims 11 (1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, and 1997) of these championships. Before 1926, there were generally no contemporaneous selectors. The 1918 and 1923 teams were first selected in 1970 (Billingsley), while the 1903 and 1904 teams were first selected in 1980 by NCF (co-champions).


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Michigan Most Valuable Player Award (1926–1959), Louis B. Hyde Memorial Award (1960–1994), Bo Schembechler Award (1995–present); winners of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Big Ten's MVP also noted:


title: Michigan Wolverines football

text: Beginning in 2011, previously retired numbers of "Michigan Football Legends" were assigned to and worn by players selected by the head coach. The Legends program was discontinued in July 2015, and the numbers again permanently retired.


title: Bush family

text: The Bush family is an American dynastic family that is prominent in the fields of American politics, news, sports, entertainment, and business. They were the first family of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2009, and was also the second family of the United States from 1981 to 1989, when George H.W. Bush was vice president.


title: Bush family

text: Best known for their involvement in politics, family members have held various national and state offices spanning across four generations, including that of U.S. senator (Prescott Bush); governor (Jeb Bush and George W. Bush); and president (George H. W. Bush, who had previously served as vice president, and George W. Bush). Other family members include a National Football League (NFL) executive (Joe Ellis) and two nationally known television personalities (Billy Bush and Jenna Bush Hager).


title: Bush family

text: Biographer Peter Schweizer has described the Bushes as "the most successful political dynasty in American history". The Bush family is of English descent. The Bush family traces its English origin to the 17th century, with Samuel Bush being their first American-born ancestor, in 1647.


title: Bush family

text: George Herbert "Bert" Walker (1875–1953) was a wealthy American banker and businessman. His daughter Dorothy married Prescott Bush, making him the maternal grandfather of the 41st President George H. W. Bush and the great-grandfather of the 43rd President George W. Bush. He is also the namesake of the Walker Cup, a men's amateur golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years between a U.S. team and a combined Great Britain and Ireland side.


title: Bush family

text: Flora Sheldon, wife of Samuel P. Bush, was a distant descendant of the Livingston, Schuyler, and Beekman families, prominent New Netherland merchant and political patrician families.


title: Alien abduction

text: Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting their experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subjected to physical and psychological experimentation. People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees" or "experiencers". Most scientists and mental health professionals explain these experiences by factors such as suggestibility (e.g. false memory syndrome), sleep paralysis, deception, and psychopathology. Skeptic Robert Sheaffer sees similarity between some of the aliens described by abductees and those depicted in science fiction films, in particular "Invaders From Mars" (1953).


title: Alien abduction

text: Typical claims involve forced medical examinations that emphasize the subject's reproductive systems. Abductees sometimes claim to have been warned against environmental abuses and the dangers of nuclear weapons, or to have engaged in interspecies breeding. The contents of the abduction narrative often seem to vary with the home culture of the alleged abductee. Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), alien abduction, and mind control plots can also be part of radical political apocalyptic and millenarian narratives.


title: Alien abduction

text: Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made all around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, especially the United States. The first alleged alien abduction claim to be widely publicized was the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in 1961. UFO abduction claims have declined since their initial surge in the mid-1970s and alien abduction narratives have found less popularity in mainstream media. Skeptic Michael Shermer proposed that the ubiquity of camera phones increases the burden of evidence for such claims, and may be a cause for their decline.


title: Alien abduction

text: Mainstream scientists reject claims that the phenomenon literally occurs as reported. However, there is little doubt that many apparently stable persons who report alien abductions believe their experiences were real. John E. Mack, John Wilson, Rima Laibow and David Gotlib assessed that while psychopathology was associated with some cases, most reports were from sane, common people.


title: Alien abduction

text: Some abduction reports are quite detailed. An entire subculture has developed around the subject, with support groups and a detailed mythos explaining the reasons for abductions: The various aliens (Greys, Reptilians, "Nordics" and so on) are said to have specific roles, origins, and motivations. Abduction claimants do not always attempt to explain the phenomenon, but some take independent research interest in it themselves and explain the lack of greater awareness of alien abduction as the result of either extraterrestrial or governmental interest in cover-up.


title: Alien abduction

text: While the term "alien abduction" did not achieve widespread attention until the 1960s, modern speculation about some older stories interpreted them as possible cases. UFO researcher Jerome Clark dubbed them "paleo-abductions".


title: Alien abduction

text: An early alien abduction claim occurred in the mid-1950s with the Brazilian Antônio Villas Boas case, which did not receive much attention until several years later.


title: Alien abduction

text: Widespread publicity was generated by the Betty and Barney Hill abduction case of 1961, culminating in a made-for-television film broadcast in 1975 (starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons) dramatizing the events. The Hill incident was probably the prototypical abduction case and was perhaps the first in which the claimant described beings that later became widely known as the Greys and in which the beings were said to explicitly identify an extraterrestrial origin.


title: Alien abduction

text: Though these two cases are sometimes viewed as the earliest abductions, skeptic Peter Rogerson notes they were only the first abduction cases, establishing a template that later abductees and researchers would refine but rarely deviate from. Additionally, Rogerson notes purported abductions were cited contemporaneously at least as early as 1954, and that "the growth of the abduction stories is a far more tangled affair than the 'entirely unpredisposed' official history would have us believe." (The phrase "entirely predisposed" appeared in folklorist Thomas E. Bullard's study of alien abduction; he argued that alien abductions as reported in the 1970s and 1980s had little precedent in folklore or fiction.)


title: Alien abduction

text: R. Leo Sprinkle, a University of Wyoming psychologist, became interested in the abduction phenomenon in the 1960s. Sprinkle became convinced of the phenomenon's actuality, and was perhaps the first to suggest a link between abductions and cattle mutilation. Eventually, Sprinkle came to believe that he had been abducted by aliens in his youth; he was forced from his job in 1989.


title: Alien abduction

text: Budd Hopkins had been interested in UFOs for some years. In the 1970s he became interested in abduction reports and began using hypnosis to extract more details of dimly remembered events. Hopkins soon became a figurehead of the growing abductee subculture.


title: Alien abduction

text: The 1980s brought a major degree of mainstream attention to the subject. Works by Hopkins, novelist Whitley Strieber, historian David M. Jacobs and psychiatrist John E. Mack presented alien abduction as a plausible experience. Also of note in the 1980s was the publication of folklorist Thomas E. Bullard's comparative analysis of nearly 300 alleged abductees.


title: Alien abduction

text: With Hopkins, Jacobs and Mack, accounts of alien abduction became a prominent aspect of ufology. There had been earlier abduction reports (the Hills being the best known), but they were believed to be few and far between and saw rather little attention from ufology (and even less attention from mainstream professionals or academics). Jacobs and Hopkins argued that alien abduction was far more common than earlier suspected; they estimate that tens of thousands (or more) North Americans had been taken by unexplained beings.


title: Alien abduction

text: Furthermore, Jacobs and Hopkins argued that there was an elaborate process underway in which aliens were attempting to create human–alien hybrids, the most advanced stage of which in the "human hybridization program" are known as hubrids, though the motives for this effort were unknown. There had been anecdotal reports of phantom pregnancy related to UFO encounters at least as early as the 1960s, but Budd Hopkins and especially David M. Jacobs were instrumental in popularizing the idea of widespread, systematic interbreeding efforts on the part of the alien intruders.


title: Alien abduction

text: The descriptions of alien encounters as researched and presented by Hopkins, Jacobs and Mack were similar, with slight differences in each researcher's emphasis; the process of selective citation of abductee interviews that supported these variations was sometimes criticized – though abductees who presented their own accounts directly, such as Whitley Strieber, fared no better.


title: Alien abduction

text: The involvement of Jacobs and Mack marked something of a sea change in the abduction studies. Their efforts were controversial (both men saw some degree of damage to their professional reputations), but to other observers, Jacobs and Mack brought a degree of respectability to the subject.


title: Alien abduction

text: According to Boston Globe writer Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, "Abduction and contact stories aren’t quite the fodder for daytime talk show and New York Times bestsellers they were a few decades ago...Today, credulous stories of alien visitation rarely crack the mainstream media, however much they thrive on niche TV channels and Internet forums". Skeptic Michael Shermer noted that "the camera-phone age is increasing the burden of evidence on experiencers".


title: Alien abduction

text: Matheson writes that "if Jacobs's credentials were impressive," then those of Harvard psychiatrist John E. Mack might seem "impeccable" in comparison. Mack was a well known, highly esteemed psychiatrist, author of over 150 scientific articles and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his biography of T. E. Lawrence. Mack became interested in the phenomenon in the late 1980s, interviewing over 800 people, and eventually writing two books on the subject.


title: Alien abduction

text: Mack devoted a substantial amount of time to investigating such cases and eventually concluded that the only phenomenon in psychiatry that adequately explained the patients' symptoms in several of the most compelling cases was posttraumatic stress disorder. As he noted at the time, this would imply that the patient genuinely believed that the remembered frightening incident had really occurred – the position Mack came to endorse.


title: Alien abduction

text: In June 1992, Mack and the physicist David E. Pritchard organized a five-day conference at MIT to discuss and debate the abduction phenomenon. The conference attracted a wide range of professionals, representing a variety of perspectives.


title: Alien abduction

text: Writer C. D. B. Bryan attended the conference, initially intending to gather information for a short humorous article for The New Yorker. While attending the conference, however, Bryan's view of the subject changed, and he wrote a serious, open-minded book on the phenomenon, additionally interviewing many abductees, skeptics, and proponents.


title: Alien abduction

text: Mack's study of numerous cases led him to the conclusion that while investigators should remain open to the possibility of experiences occurring, stories should not be considered to involve actual physical entities and should be treated like subjective witness reports of personal experience. The purported beings would remain outside of physical reality and reports may be influenced by factors like expectations, memory reliability and interviewer suggestions. He also reports similarities to other experiences like OOBE. According to Lance Rivers, he is convinced in the reality of the phenomenon but attributes it to interaction with a spiritual plane. While Mack acknowledges that this leads to problematic speculation on the nature of the beings and their motivations, he concludes that materialist science is inadequate to enquire in those areas.


title: Alien abduction

text: The precise number of alleged abductees is uncertain. One of the earliest studies of abductions found 1,700 claimants, while contested surveys argued that 5–6 percent of the general population might have been abducted.


title: Alien abduction

text: Although abduction and other UFO-related reports are usually made by adults, sometimes young children report similar experiences. These child-reports often feature very specific details in common with reports of abduction made by adults, including the circumstances, narrative, entities and aftermaths of the alleged occurrences. Often, these young abductees have family members who have reported having abduction experiences. Family involvement in the military, or a residence near a military base is also common among child abduction claimants.


title: Alien abduction

text: As a category, some studies show that abductees have psychological characteristics that render their testimony suspect, while others show that "as a group, abduction experients are not different from the general population in term of psychopathology prevalence". Elizabeth Slater conducted a blind study of nine abduction claimants and found them to be prone to "mildly paranoid thinking", nightmares and having a weak sexual identity, while Richard McNally of Harvard Medical School concluded in a similar study of 10 abductees that "none of them was suffering from any sort of psychiatric illness."


title: Alien abduction

text: Political scientist Michael Barkun, without taking a position on if UFOs and aliens are real, highlighted links between radical politics and conspiracy theories involving UFOs, alien visitation, environmental pollution, hidden groups, government and world takeover. He observed the rise of a form of eclectic and apocalyptic millenarism which he termed "improvisional millenarism". UFO and abduction stories can often be part of stigmatized or suppressed knowledge narratives, where alleged orthodoxy is claimed to be maintained in error for nefarious purposes and to keep society in ignorance. UFO and alien-related conspiracy theories emerged in far-right politics from the 1980s onwards.


title: Alien abduction

text: According to Barkun, in popular culture, TV shows like "The X-Files" motion picture not only included aliens as part of coverup conspiracies, with militias and black helicopters but also featured demonization of FEMA, a common target of conspiracy theorists and millenarian scenarios. One conspiracy theory alleges that FEMA plans to incarcerate "patriots" suddenly in concentration camps during a disaster. Political scientist Jodi Dean noted that the stigma of alien abduction stories is seductive to dismiss "consensus reality" in favor of deviant alternative realities.


title: Alien abduction

text: Self-described abduction victims often join self-help communities of victims and may resort to questionable regression therapy, similarly to other self-reported victims of child sexual abuse or satanic ritual abuse. Some espouse conspiracy theories of sophisticated technological mind control, including the use of implants, to force them to serve an alleged New World Order, or for the purposes of the antichrist, considering it important to warn the world of such imminent danger.


title: Alien abduction

text: Various researchers have noted common points in report narratives. According to CUFOS's definition of "abductee", the person must have been taken against their will by apparent non-human beings, taken to a special place perceived as extraterrestrial or to be a spaceship. They then must experience being subjected to an examination or to engage in some form of communication with the beings (or both). Communication may be perceived as telepathic rather than verbal. The memory of the experience may be conscious or "recovered" through means like hypnosis.


title: Alien abduction

text: Although different cases vary in detail (sometimes significantly), some UFO researchers, such as folklorist Thomas E. Bullard argue that there is a broad, fairly consistent sequence and description of events that make up the typical "close encounter of the fourth kind" (a popular but unofficial designation building on J. Allen Hynek's classifications). Though the features outlined below are often reported, there is some disagreement as to exactly how often they actually occur.


title: Alien abduction

text: Bullard argues most abduction accounts feature the following events. They generally follow the sequence noted below, though not all abductions feature all the events:


title: Alien abduction

text: The entire abduction event is precisely orchestrated. All the procedures are predetermined. There is no standing around and deciding what to do next. The beings are task-oriented and there is no indication whatsoever that we have been able to find of any aspect of their lives outside of performing the abduction procedures.


title: Alien abduction

text: Abduction claimants report unusual feelings preceding the onset of an abduction experience. These feelings manifest as a compulsive desire to be at a certain place at a certain time or as expectations that something "familiar yet unknown" will soon occur. Abductees also report feeling severe, undirected anxiety at this point even though nothing unusual has actually occurred yet. This period of foreboding can last for up to several days before the abduction actually takes place or be completely absent.


title: Alien abduction

text: Eventually, the experiencer will undergo an apparent "shift" into an altered state of consciousness. British abduction researchers have called this change in consciousness "the Oz Factor". External sounds cease to have any significance to the experiencer and fall out of perception. They report feeling introspective and unusually calm. This stage marks a transition from normal activity to a state of "limited self-willed mobility". As consciousness shifts one or more lights are alleged to appear, occasionally accompanied by a strange mist. The source and nature of the lights differ by report; sometimes the light emanates from a source outside the house (presumably the abductors' UFO), sometimes the lights are in the bedroom with the experiencer and transform into alien figures.


title: Alien abduction

text: As the alleged abduction proceeds, claimants say they will walk or be levitated into an alien craft, in the latter case often through solid objects such as walls, ceilings or a closed window. Alternatively, they may experience rising through a tunnel or along a beam of light, with or without the abductors accompanying them, into the awaiting craft.


title: Alien abduction

text: The examination phase of the so-called "abduction narrative" is characterized by the performance of medical procedures and examinations by apparently alien beings against or irrespective of the will of the experiencer. Such procedures often focus on sex and reproductive biology. However, the literature holds reports of a wide variety of procedures allegedly performed by the beings. The entity that appears to be in charge of the operation is often taller than the others involved and is sometimes described as appearing to be of a different species.


title: Alien abduction

text: Miller notes different areas of emphasis between human medicine and what is reported as being practiced by the abductors. This could result from a difference in the purpose of the examination – routine diagnosis or treatment or both versus scientific examination of an unfamiliar species –, or it could be due to a different level of technology that renders certain kinds of manual procedures unnecessary. The abductors' areas of interest appear to be the cranium, nervous system, skin, reproductive system, and to a lesser degree, the joints. Systems given less attention than a human doctor would – or omitted entirely – include the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system below the pharynx and the lymphatic system. The abductors also appear to ignore the upper region of the abdomen in favor of the lower one. The abductors do not appear to wear gloves during the "examination". Other constants of terrestrial medicine like pills and tablets are missing from abduction narratives, although sometimes abductees are asked to drink liquids. Injections also seem to be rare and IVs are almost completely absent. Miller says he has never heard an abductee claim to have a tongue depressor used on them.


title: Alien abduction

text: After the so-called medical exam, the alleged abductees often report other procedures being performed with the entities. Common among these post-examination procedures are what abduction researchers refer to as imaging, envisioning, staging, and testing.


title: Alien abduction

text: "Imaging" procedures consist of an abductee being made to view screens displaying images and scenes that appear to be specially chosen with the intent to provoke certain emotional responses in the abductee. "Envisioning" is a similar procedure, with the primary difference being that the images being viewed, rather than being on a screen, actually seem to be projected into the experiencer's mind. "Staging" procedures have the abductee playing a more active role, according to reports containing this element. It shares vivid hallucination-like mental visualization with the envisioning procedures, but during staging the abductee interacts with the illusionary scenario like a role player or an actor.


title: Alien abduction

text: "Testing" marks something of a departure from the above procedures in that it lacks the emotional analysis feature. During testing the experiencer is placed in front of a complicated electronic device and is instructed to operate it. The experiencer is often confused, saying that they do not know how to operate it. However, when they actually set about performing the task, the abductee will find that they do, in fact, know how to operate the machine.


title: Alien abduction

text: Abductees of all ages and genders sometimes report being subjected to a "child presentation". As its name implies, the child presentation involves the abduction claimant being shown a "child". Often the children appear to be neither human, nor the same species as the abductors. Instead, the child will almost always share characteristics of "both" species. These children are labeled by experiencers as hybrids between humans and their abductors, usually Greys.


title: Alien abduction

text: Unlike Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, folklorist Thomas E. Bullard could not identify a child presentation phase in the abduction narrative, even after undertaking a study of 300 abduction reports. Bullard says that the child presentation "seems to be an innovation in the story" and that "no clear antecedents" to descriptions of the child presentation phase exist before its popularization by Hopkins and Jacobs.


title: Alien abduction

text: Bullard also studied the 300 reports of alien abduction in an attempt to observe the less prominent aspects of the claims. He notes the emergence of four general categories of events that recur regularly, although not as frequently as stereotypical happenings like the medical examination. These four types of events are:


title: Alien abduction

text: Chronologically within abduction reports, these rarer episodes tend to happen in the order listed, between the medical examination and the return.


title: Alien abduction

text: After allegedly displaying cold callous disregard towards the abduction experiencers, sometimes the entities will change drastically in behavior once the initial medical exam is completed. They become more relaxed and hospitable towards their captive and lead him or her away from the site of the examination. The entities then hold a conference with the experiencer, wherein they discuss things relevant to the abduction phenomenon. Bullard notes five general categories of discussion that occur during the conference "phase" of reported abduction narratives: An interrogation session, explanatory segment, task assignment, warnings, and prophecies.


title: Alien abduction

text: Tours of the abductors' craft are a rare but recurring feature of the abduction narrative. The tour seems to be given by the alleged abductors as a courtesy in response to the harshness and physical rigors of the forced medical examination. Sometimes the abductees report traveling on a "journey" to orbit around Earth or to what appear to be other planets. Some abductees find that the experience is terrifying, particularly if the aliens are of a more fearsome species, or if the abductee was subjected to extensive probing and medical testing.


title: Alien abduction

text: Eventually, the abductors will return the abductees, usually to exactly the same location and circumstances they were in before being taken. Usually, explicit memories of the abduction experience will not be present, and the abductee will only realize they have experienced "missing time" upon checking a timepiece.


title: Alien abduction

text: Sometimes the alleged abductors appear to make mistakes when returning their captives. UFO researcher Budd Hopkins has joked about "the cosmic application of Murphy's Law" in response to this observation. Hopkins has estimated that these "errors" accompany 4–5 percent of abduction reports. One type of common apparent mistake made by the abductors is failing to return the experiencer to the same spot that they were taken from initially. This can be as simple as a different room in the same house, or abductees can even find themselves outside and all the doors of the house locked from the inside. Another common (and amusing) error is putting the abductee's clothes (e.g. pajamas) on backwards.


title: Alien abduction

text: Physician and abduction researcher John G. Miller sees significance in the reason a person would come to see themselves as being a victim of the abduction phenomenon. He terms the insight or development leading to this shift in identity from non-abductee to abductee the "realization event". The realization event is often a single, memorable experience, but Miller reports that not all abductees experience it as a distinct episode. Either way, the realization event can be thought of as the "clinical horizon" of the abduction experience.


title: Alien abduction

text: Most people alleging alien abductions report invasive examinations of their bodies and some ascribe psychological trauma to their experiences. "Post-abduction syndrome" is a term used by abductees to describe the effects of abduction, though it is not recognized by any professional treatment organizations. People who have a false memory which makes them believe that they have been abducted by aliens develop symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. People who believe they have been abducted by aliens usually have previous New Age beliefs, a vivid fantasy life, and suffer from sleep paralysis, according to a 2003 study by Harvard University.


title: Alien abduction

text: Support groups for people who believed they were abducted began appearing in the mid-1980s. These groups appear throughout the United States, Canada and Australia.


title: Alien abduction

text: Many alien abductees recall much of their alleged abduction(s) through hypnosis. Due to the extensive use of hypnosis, and other methods which they view as being manipulative, skeptics explain the abduction narratives as false memories and suggestions.


title: Alien abduction

text: Alleged abductees seek out hypnotherapists to try to resolve issues such as missing time or unexplained physical symptoms such as muscle pain or headaches. This usually involves two phases, an information gathering stage, in which the hypnotherapist asks about unexplained illnesses or unusual phenomena during the patients' lives (caused by or distortions of the alleged abduction), followed by hypnosis and guided imagery to facilitate recall. The information-gathering enhances the likelihood that the events discussed will be incorporated into later abduction "memories". Seven steps are hypothesized to lead to the development of false memories:


title: Alien abduction

text: Harvard psychiatrist John E. Mack counters this argument, noting "It might be useful to restate that a large proportion of the material relating to abductions is recalled without the use of an altered state of consciousness, and that many abduction reporters appear to relive powerful experiences after only the most minimal relaxation exercise, hardly justifying the word "hypnosis" at all. The relaxation exercise is useful to relieve the experiencer's need to attend to the social demands and other stimuli of face-to-face conversation, and to relieve the energies involved in repressing memories and emotion."


title: Alien abduction

text: There have been a variety of explanations offered for abduction phenomena, ranging from sharply skeptical appraisals, to uncritical acceptance of all abductee claims, to the demonological, to everything in between.


title: Alien abduction

text: Some have elected not to attempt explanations, noting instead similarities to other phenomena, or simply documenting the development of the alien abduction phenomenon.


title: Alien abduction

text: Others are intrigued by the entire phenomenon but hesitate in making any definitive conclusions. Psychiatrist John E. Mack concluded: "The furthest you can go at this point is to say "there's an authentic mystery here." And that is, I think, as far as anyone "ought" to go" (emphasis as in original). Mack was unconvinced by piecemeal counterclaims, however, and countered that skeptical explanations naturally need to "take into account the entire range of phenomena associated with abduction experiences", up to and including "missing time", directly contemporaneous UFO sightings, and the occurrence in small children.


title: Alien abduction

text: Putting aside the question of whether abduction reports are literally and objectively "real", literature professor Terry Matheson argues that their popularity and their intriguing appeal are easily understood. Tales of abduction "are intrinsically absorbing; it is hard to imagine a more vivid description of human powerlessness". After experiencing the frisson of delightful terror one may feel from reading ghost stories or watching horror movies, Matheson notes that people "can return to the safe world of their homes, secure in the knowledge that the phenomenon in question cannot follow. But as the abduction myth has stated almost from the outset, there is no avoiding alien abductors".


title: Alien abduction

text: Matheson writes that when compared to the earlier contactee reports, abduction accounts are distinguished by their "relative sophistication and subtlety, which enabled them to enjoy an immediately more favorable reception from the public".


title: Alien abduction

text: Some writers have said abduction experiences bear similarities to pre-20th century accounts of demonic manifestations, noting as many as a dozen similarities. One notable example is the Orthodox monk Fr. Seraphim Rose, who devotes a whole chapter in his book "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future" to the phenomena of UFOs and abductions, which, he concludes, are manifestations of the demonic.


title: Alien abduction

text: As some studies suggest that in some UFO/alien encounters, these phenomena could be related to dissociative REM sleep states, like lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences. In a 2021 study, published in "International Journal of Dream Research", researchers focused on the hypothesis that if some of alien abduction stories are the products of REM sleep, then they could be deliberately emulated by lucid dreaming practitioners. To check the hypothesis, they instructed a group of volunteers to try to emulate alien encounters via lucid dreams. Of the volunteers, 114 (75%) were able to experience alien encounters. Regarding the successful cases, 20% were close to reality in terms of the absence of paradoxical dreamlike events. And only among this 20% sleep paralysis and fear were observed, which are common in 'real' stories. In theory, random people might spontaneously encounter the same situation during REM sleep and confuse the events with reality.


title: Alien abduction

text: Abduction researcher Brian Thompson claims that a nurse reported to him 1957 in Cincinnati she encountered a praying mantis-like entity two days after a V-shaped UFO sighting. This mantis-like creature is reminiscent of the insectoid-type entity reported in some abduction accounts. He related this report to fellow researcher Leonard Stringfield. Stringfield told him of two cases he had in his files where separate witnesses reported identical circumstances in the same place and year.


title: Alien abduction

text: While some corroborated accounts seem to support the literal reality of the abduction experience, others seem to support a psychological explanation for the phenomenon's origins. Jenny Randles and Keith Basterfield both noted at the 1992 MIT alien abduction conference that of the five cases they knew of where an abduction researcher was present at the onset of an abduction experience, the experiencer "didn't physically go anywhere".


title: Alien abduction

text: Brazilian researcher Gilda Moura reported on a similar case, the Sueli case, from her home country. When psychologist and UFO researcher Don Donderi said that these cases were "evidence of psychological processes" that did not "have anything to do with a physical alien abduction", Moura replied: "If the Sueli case is not an abduction, I don't know what is an abduction any more". Gilda Moura noted that in the Brazilian Sueli case during the abduction UFOs were observed. Later, she claims the experiencer had eye burns, saw lights and there seemed to be residual poltergeist activity.


title: Alien abduction

text: It has been argued that if actual "flesh and blood" aliens are abducting humans, there should be some hard evidence that this is occurring. Proponents of the physical reality of the abduction experience have suggested ways that could conceivably confirm abduction reports.


title: Alien abduction

text: One procedure reported occurring during the alleged examination phase of the experience is the insertion of a long needle-like contraption into a woman's navel. Some have speculated that this could be a form of laparoscopy. If this is true, after the abduction there should be free gas in the female's abdomen, which could be seen on an X-ray image. The presence of free gas would be extremely abnormal and would help substantiate the claim of some sort of procedure being done to her.


title: Barron Hilton

text: William Barron Hilton (October 23, 1927 – September 19, 2019) was an American business magnate, philanthropist and sportsman. The second son and successor of hotelier Conrad Hilton, he was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Hilton Hotels Corporation and chairman emeritus of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Hilton, a notable pilot and outdoorsman, was also a founder of the American Football League as the original owner of the Los Angeles Chargers, and helped forge the merger with the National Football League that created the Super Bowl. Like his father before him, he pledged 97 percent of his wealth to the humanitarian work of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. At the time, the gift was projected to increase the foundation's endowment from $2.9 billion to $6.3 billion, and will make his estate the organization's most significant donor.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton was born in Dallas, Texas, to Mary Adelaide (née Barron) and Conrad Nicholson Hilton, founder of Hilton Hotels. Hilton grew up with three siblings, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Jr., Eric Michael Hilton, and Constance Francesca Hilton. His father was of Norwegian and German descent and from New Mexico while his mother was from Kentucky.


title: Barron Hilton

text: He served in the Navy during World War II as a photographer. As a child, Hilton was fascinated by aviation, and learned to fly when he was 17. After his wartime discharge, he attended the University of Southern California Aeronautical School, where he earned his twin-engine rating at age 19.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Before joining his father in the hotel industry, Barron Hilton honed his business skills in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. He acquired the Los Angeles-area distributorship of Vita-Pakt Citrus Products, co-founded MacDonald Oil Company, and founded Air Finance Corporation, one of the nation's first aircraft leasing businesses. In 1954, Barron was elected vice president of Hilton Hotels, running the company's franchise operations and creating the Carte Blanche credit card as a service to the company's customers.


title: Barron Hilton

text: In 1959, Lamar Hunt offered Hilton the Los Angeles franchise in the new American Football League (AFL). Hilton named his team the Chargers, but denied that he did it to create synergy with his new credit card business. A fan had nominated the name in a contest, and Hilton selected it because of the bugle call and "Charge!" cheer that was often sounded during USC football games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Chargers began playing at the Coliseum in 1960, but in spite of winning the Western Division, the club found it difficult to compete for fans with the Rams of the National Football League (NFL) in their own stadium. Hilton moved the team to San Diego in time for the 1961 season and played in tiny Balboa Stadium, which the city had expanded to 30,000 seats.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton began working with the local newspapers to engender support for construction of a state-of-the-art stadium. Encouraged by San Diego Union sports editor Jack Murphy, among others, a referendum was passed in 1965, and the Chargers began play in the new San Diego Stadium in 1967. With the availability of a new stadium, the city received a baseball expansion franchise from the National League, and the San Diego Padres began play in 1969.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton also served as AFL president in 1965, and helped forge the merger between the AFL and the NFL, announced in 1966, which created the Super Bowl. In all, the Chargers won five divisional titles, and one AFL Championship, during Hilton's six years at the helm of the club. In 1966, directors of Hilton Hotels Corporation asked Hilton to succeed his father as president and chief executive officer of the company, provided that he drop his football responsibilities. He sold his majority interest in the team for $10 million—a record for any professional sports franchise at the time—after an initial investment in a franchise fee of just $25,000.


title: Barron Hilton

text: With the death of the Bills' Ralph Wilson in 2014, Hilton became the last surviving member of the Foolish Club—the nickname the original AFL owners gave each other, as they absorbed the start-up expenses and player salaries necessary to compete with the established NFL.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Once charged with the responsibility for Hilton Hotels Corporation, Barron Hilton soon showed his father's genius for cost controls and real estate deals. In 1970, he convinced the board to expand into Las Vegas by purchasing the International and the Flamingo from financier Kirk Kerkorian. Hilton Hotels thus became the first company listed on the New York Stock Exchange to venture into the gaming market. Renamed the Las Vegas Hilton and the Flamingo Hilton, the two resorts tapped a new source of income from gambling in a state where it had been legal since 1931. Barron could also see that Las Vegas would become a leading convention destination, capitalizing on the company's strength in that important market segment.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton personally introduced two innovations that have become standard features of casinos everywhere. Calling on his background in photography, he installed video cameras throughout the casinos to replace the "eye in the sky" system of observers peering through two-way mirrors in the ceiling.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Las Vegas would also become the self-proclaimed "Entertainment Capital of the World". Of all the headliners to perform at the Hilton or the Flamingo, the most successful and spectacular were certainly Liberace and Elvis Presley. After a decade in the movies, Elvis Presley again began performing in front of live audiences in 1969 at the opening of the International (a few years later renamed the Las Vegas Hilton). He went on to star at the Las Vegas Hilton two months a year—performing two shows a night, seven nights a week—until shortly before his death in 1977. Presley set a world entertainment record at the Las Vegas Hilton for selling out 837 consecutive concerts.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Having played Las Vegas since 1944, Liberace had created the resident entertainer model on the Las Vegas Strip the year before he befriended Elvis at Presley's first, and less-than-successful foray on the Strip in 1956. Liberace was signed by Hilton to the same showroom as Presley beginning in 1972, for an unprecedented $300,000 per week. Barron Hilton was a major influence in pushing Liberace to always outperform his previous shows, with more and more of the entertainer's famous brand of showmanship. True to form, Liberace played his last show at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1980, arriving on stage in a classic car, and closing by flying off stage in a 110 lbs. crystal and ostrich feather cape.


title: Barron Hilton

text: The company's expansion into Nevada had an immediate impact on its net income. By 1972, the two resorts contributed 45 percent of the company's income (before interest income, interest expense, write down of investments and sales of properties), nearly matching the income from the other 160 Hilton hotels in the United States.


title: Barron Hilton

text: On the hotel front, in 1975 Hilton sold a 50 percent interest in six of the company's largest hotels to Prudential Insurance Company for $83 million. He took a leaseback to manage the properties, collecting lucrative management fees and a percentage of their gross profits. Perhaps more importantly, the sale proved that these hotels were worth double their book value, demonstrating the underlying value of the company's real estate holdings. The transaction also enhanced the value of the stock held by every HHC shareholder. Hilton used the proceeds to pay down high interest debt, and repurchase 20 percent of the company's stock—all at market rate—which was still trading well below the company's book value.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton continued to expand the domestic hotel chain through franchising and the selective acquisition of management contracts and hotels in emerging markets. In 1977, he completed a hotel purchase that his father had initiated 28 years earlier. When Conrad Hilton bought the Waldorf-Astoria in 1949, he actually bought the hotel's operating company and its 30-year lease to run the hotel. The building, and the land under it, were still owned by the realty arm of the Penn Central Railroad. Knowing that the lease would expire in 1979, Hilton deftly negotiated to buy the hotel and real estate from the railroad. The landmark property, whose current value is estimated around $1 billion, was purchased by Hilton for just $35 million.


title: Barron Hilton

text: As competitors aggressively spread across the U.S. in the '80s, Barron held his own by rehabbing his own hotels and increasing revenues in Las Vegas. Through a series of massive additions to the Flamingo Hilton and the Las Vegas Hilton, the company nearly tripled its rooms in Las Vegas by 1990, from 2,277 to 6,703. He also launched Conrad International in the '80s, and Hilton Garden Inn in the '90s.


title: Barron Hilton

text: In contrast to his gamble on gaming, Hilton earned a well-deserved reputation as a financial conservative. After seeing his father struggle to overcome the effects of the Great Depression and World War II, he maintained the strongest balance sheet in the industry. Throughout his 30 years as CEO, he carried a low debt-to-capital ratio and a high credit rating, enabling him to gobble up such properties as Bally's Reno (formerly the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino-Reno). The 2,000-room resort was opened in 1978 for $230 million, and purchased by Hilton in 1992 for $88 million. With strong cash flow and plenty of liquid investments on hand, he was able to weather the inevitable recessions and business interruptions that struck the industry from the mid-'60s to the mid-'90s.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Hilton continued as chairman of the board through the next decade as his hand-picked successor, Steve Bollenbach, dramatically expanded the company through a series of mergers and acquisitions. The advent of friendly capital markets in the late '90s enabled him to acquire such popular brands as Embassy Suites, Doubletree, Hampton Inn, Homewood Suites, Bally's and Caesars. Then, in 2005, he reacquired Hilton International, 38 years after it had been sold to TWA. With the company now strategically complete, Bollenbach spun off the gaming business, which merged with Harrah's in 2005 and was renamed Caesars Entertainment.


title: Barron Hilton

text: In the meantime, the hotel business continued to soar. With the best known and most respected name in the industry—and popular domestic brands ripe for expansion overseas—Hilton Hotels Corporation proved to be irresistible to The Blackstone Group. In 2007, the private equity firm purchased Hilton Hotels Corporation, consisting of 2,800 hotels with 480,000 rooms in 76 countries and territories. Blackstone paid $47.50 per share, a 32 percent premium over the July 2 closing price. The $26 billion, all-cash transaction included $7.5 billion of debt.


title: Barron Hilton

text: Host Hotels & Resorts veteran Chris Nassetta was hired to manage the company, which was renamed Hilton Worldwide, Inc. and is now known as Hilton, Inc. Now celebrating the 100th year since Conrad Hilton purchased his first hotel, the company has expanded to include 17 brands, 5,800 hotels, and 939,000 rooms in 114 countries of the world.


title: Barron Hilton

text: In 1979, Barron Hilton's father, Conrad Hilton, died at age 91. He left 13.5 million shares of Hilton Hotels Corporation stock—97 percent of his estate—to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a humanitarian charity which he had established in 1944.