National Football Foundation

As an athlete, coach and administrator, Don Canham was always reaching higher and higher. During his Michigan undergraduate years, he was the Wolverines’ track captain and won the 1940 NCAA high jump title. After serving in the U.S. Air Force and a brief stint coaching in Kankakee, Ill., he returned to his alma mater as an assistant track coach. He was named the head track coach two years later. In the 19 years as head coach, his teams amassed 12 Big Ten championships.

In 1968, he was asked to serve Michigan in a greater capacity as the athletics director. In his career as athletics director, the Wolverines took home 70 Big Ten championships across all sports and were the nation’s leader in football ticket sales and revenues. He would eventually come to be known as “The Dean of Big Ten Athletics Directors.”

He launched the first direct mail and advertising program to sell football and other sports tickets, and he established a series of fund raising clubs. He organized parking and concessions, and developed a new flow of income through licensing and the marketing of team souvenirs. Canham pushed football revenues from $3 million in 1968 to $14 million in 1987. The Wolverines won 11 Big Ten titles under Canham’s leadership and grew to include 21 varsity sports. He retired in 1988.

Canham also served on numerous Big Ten committees and NCAA committees, including the NCAA Television Committee. He was a consultant and advisor to some 12 major institutions. Canham died in 2005 after a car accident at the age of 87.