SANDPOINTE, Idaho - Over the phone while making lunch in his Idaho home, you can hear Jim Czirr smile while recollecting his battle with two legends 50 years ago.

The St. Joseph native, now 71, is living out west helping fund anti-cancer drug development. His 70s era moustache no longer descends south of his lips, as he sports a clean shave and thin glasses.

But he was once a 235-pound Michigan football starting center who held his own in the 1976 Orange Bowl against Oklahoma’s Selmon brothers.

Lee Roy and Dewey Selmon were both consensus All-Americans that season, while Lee Roy is a college and NFL Hall-of-Famer on the Sports Illustrated “NCAA Football All-Century Team.”

Michigan lost 14-6 to the Sooners on New Year’s Day in Miami, leaving Czirr dejected. It wasn’t until the next ni

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