This Tacoma native was on the field for Michigan the last time the Huskies played in Ann Arbor
Aug. 31, 2002 — Tacoma native Larry Stevens remembers how Michigan’s thrilling victory unfolded in Ann Arbor.
Seconds away from what could have been a season-opening win at Michigan Stadium, the Huskies defense drew a flag.
Illegal participation — 12 players on the field. Michigan, which would have been facing a fourth-and-10, and perhaps one last shot at the end zone, trailing 29-28, was instead gifted 15 yards and a first down.
Moments earlier, the Wolverines were scrambling to quickly move the ball downfield, with no timeouts and less than a minute to score. They didn’t cross midfield until fewer than 30 seconds remained.
UW was closing in on a win as John Navarre threw incomplete once, twice, three times — but the flags were thrown before the third attempt skipped across the grass incomplete near the end zone. The penalty and a quick spike by Navarre to stop the clock set the Wolverines up inside the 30 with five seconds remaining. Philip Brabbs then connected on his 44-yard field goal attempt as time expired.
Michigan won, 31-29. That is how the game ended the last time these two programs played.
Stevens, who played four seasons for the Wolverines, was on the field when that game-winning kick sailed into the air.
Stevens primarily played defense during his career at Michigan — at linebacker, and later defensive end — but set up on the far left for this particular special teams play, with Brabbs lined up a few yards behind him. Stevens was ready to secure the edge, should the Huskies come crashing in from his side to attempt to block the kick. But, they didn’t, and Stevens turned his eyes upward.
“He kicked it and I actually got a chance to turn and look at the ball go through the uprights,” Stevens said this week from Maryland, where he now lives.
Thousands standing in the crowd behind the end zone threw their hands into the air as the cheers of more than 111,000 echoed around Michigan Stadium. Wolverines players piled on top of each other in celebration. It was the kind of atmosphere Stevens experienced so many times at Michigan Stadium.
“Michigan was different,” he recalled. “I played in front of 107, 108, 109,000 people every Saturday. It’s completely overwhelming. You wouldn’t even get the butterflies out of your stomach until like halfway through the first quarter — and that’s for us, our own crowd. I can only imagine being a visitor. You would be in shock. You would have to be in shock. And that’s an advantage that we had.”
That victory in particular was one of many meaningful wins Stevens experienced in four seasons at Michigan — and it came against his hometown team.
It was also a better ending than what Stevens experienced a season prior, when UW hosted the Wolverines in Seattle. The Huskies didn’t score an offensive touchdown, but forced a pair of turnovers in the fourth quarter on their way to a 23-18 win.
Stevens remembers how the late rally started — when Omare Lowe blocked a Michigan field goal attempt and Roc Alexander returned it for a 77-yard touchdown.
“It was so loud you couldn’t even hear anybody next to you,” he said.
That touchdown gave the Huskies the lead, and they scored twice more, on an interception return for a touchdown and a field goal to tie up the win and send Michigan’s team — and a frustrated Stevens, who had hoped his homecoming would play out with a Wolverines win inside Husky Stadium — back to Ann Arbor with a loss.
But, the outcomes of those two games back in 2001 and 2002, the one win and the one loss for each side, further underline the intrigue of this series, which Michigan leads, 7-5, since the two programs first met in 1953.
“These Washington and Michigan games, there’s a fight — and it’s a good fight,” Stevens said. “It’s really good matchups.”
For Stevens, the appreciation for the programs goes back even further than his playing days at Michigan.
Stevens was a two-way standout at Wilson High School (now Silas) in the late 1990s. He was a key reason the Rams reached the Class 4A state championship game in 1998 — which is still the furthest any Tacoma Public Schools program has played into the state tournament since Mount Tahoma won back-to-back titles in 1979 and 1980 — and was considered the top recruit in the state in the 2000 class. He also had a successful basketball career in high school, helping the Rams to the state title game in 1998, and could have pursued that at a high level in college, too.
Stevens also had a “magnetic personality,” said his former teammate Amad Robinson, who now coaches at Silas. Stevens always had a huge smile, and a laugh that could captivate a room, Robinson said.
“Larry was vivacious, outgoing, loved by everybody,” said Don Clegg, who was Stevens’ coach in high school.
On the football field and the basketball court, he was an unstoppable competitor who could make highlight-reel catches, big tackles and throw down backwards dunks.
“Boy did he love to compete,” Clegg said. “He was a tough, tough individual.”
Stevens piled up offers from college football programs during his high school playing days, and chose Michigan after taking a visit to Ann Arbor.
“I felt really good,” Stevens said. “I felt like I could go compete. I felt like there was a lot of great talent.”
The tradition Michigan had built was so rich, and also gave him a chance to show the Big Ten what the Pacific Northwest had to offer on the football field.
“That’s kind of me going through high school, me going through college and me going through the NFL — just ready to go after people to prove that people from Tacoma and where we’re at can play ball on a very high level,” he said.
“For him to go to Michigan at that time, when they were a perennial powerhouse, it was like, ‘OK, so it can be done, and they are looking at people this far West,’ ” Robinson said. “So, it kind of put a jolt of get up and get to it to everyone that you can go wherever — just ball out.”
Stevens said it was hard to leave Washington after high school, and start somewhere new to begin his college career. But he also knew it was something he had to do.
“I wouldn’t have been able to grow up if I didn’t go to Michigan,” he said.
Clegg remembers getting a call from Stevens after his first spring game in Ann Arbor, and the excitement in his voice. Robinson, who went on to play at Portland State, said Stevens would talk often about the atmosphere and the experience of game day at Michigan.
“There’s been some great opportunities, some great memories, some great games and some great rivalries,” Stevens said.
Stevens went on to have a successful four-year career with the Wolverines, and later played two seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals before retiring from the NFL in 2007. In the years since, he has built another career through business, including founding his consulting firm, Stevens Strategic Solutions, LLC, with a goal to help as many people as possible.
“I’ve always seen him as a person that cares about the community,” Robinson said. “ … He’s always been a selfless person. He always wants to see others do well.”
Stevens looks forward to the renewal of the series between UW and Michigan on Saturday night, nearly two decades after the Wolverines made that game-winning field goal to push their lead in the all-time series to 7-5.
The Huskies, after entering the season ranked No. 20 in the AP poll, are looking to bounce back from a shocking 13-7 loss against Montana in their season-opener last weekend in Seattle.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines routed Western Michigan, 47-14, in their opener in Ann Arbor.
But, don’t count out the possibility of another thrilling entry in this series. Given the storied history between the two programs, Stevens expects a tough matchup.
“Anything is possible — especially in Washington vs. Michigan,” he said.
This story was originally published September 11, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "This Tacoma native was on the field for Michigan the last time the Huskies played in Ann Arbor."
