A Backstage Talk With Elvis Wore Thin for Schembechler

Bo Schembechler has talked football this season with Elvis.

That’s Elvis Grbac, the Wolverines’ freshman quarterback.

In 1973, Schembechler discussed jumpsuits with Elvis.

That’s Elvis Presley.

The Michigan football coach describes the meeting in his recently published autobiography, “Bo.”

After attending a Presley concert in Las Vegas, Schembechler and two other coaches, Frank Broyles and Darrell Royal, were invited backstage.

Schembechler told Presley that he liked his jumpsuit.

“His eyes lit up,” Schembechler says. “ ‘Come here,’ he said, and he took me into the back room, his real dressing room. He started to show me his suits. There were dozens of them. Every color.

“ ‘OK, Elvis,’ I said, ‘you wore this suit tonight. How many times will you wear it again?’ ”

“ ‘That’s it,’ ” he said.

“ ‘One time?’ ”

“ ‘Yeah. I’ve got a guy that makes ‘em for me. A thousand bucks a suit. As soon as I wear one, it’s over. I ship it to the Elvis Presley Museum or someplace.’ ”

Schembechler says Presley showed him every suit in the closet.

“This was a lonely guy,” Schembechler said. “I tried to be polite. But it got a little embarrassing.”

Trivia time: On Sept. 24, 1922, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Rogers Hornsby set what was then a National League home run record of 42 by hitting two off what two brothers playing for the New York Giants?

Tackling a problem: The Golden Oldies international rugby tournament in Toronto requires that players be at least 35. Players over 70 wear purple or gold shorts and cannot be tackled. “The Japanese know how to use that rule,” said one of the organizers, surgeon Cam MacArthur. “They pack their sides with very nimble over-70s. But we know how to deal with that. We just lie down and let them trip over us.”

Creature comforts: Munson Campbell, former president of the California Seals, accompanied the Washington Capitals on a 17-day trip through Sweden and the Soviet Union as a guest of John Ziegler, National Hockey League president. Robert Fachet of the Washington Post quotes Campbell: “In Moscow, they have chandeliers in the subway, and you can’t find a bar of soap. In Leningrad, they have the world’s largest collection of Rembrandts, and you can’t drink the water.”

Add Soviet trip: Capital goalie Don Beaupre: “My only complaint is that there wasn’t enough pasta. I didn’t think I’d miss it that much.”

He’ll take pictures: The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Andy Van Slyke, drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals out of high school, roomed with University of Virginia graduate Ricky Horton in the minors. Van Slyke told the Pittsburgh Press: “One of us one read the Wall Street Journal, the other Batman comics. He was the one with the Wall Street Journal.”

Trivia answer: Jesse and Virgil Barnes.

Quotebook: Mike Smithson of the Boston Red Sox, on teammate Oil Can Boyd receiving a chainsaw from a TV station for doing an interview: “That’s like giving Charles Manson a key to the city.”