You may or may not have known about the story of Jim Harbaugh getting hit by a truck when he was 6-years-old, so here is his rendition as told to “Inside Michigan Football” host Jim Brandstatter this past October.
“Inside Michigan Football” host Jim Brandstatter then brought up the time Harbaugh broke his leg as a young boy in Iowa City. The Harbaughs had moved there because Harbaugh’s father, Jack, had been hired as an Iowa assistant coach.
“John and I had gone to school, our first day at Roosevelt Elementary,” Harbaugh recalled of his brother. “First day we’d move there, found some kids to play with after school.
“It was getting dark. John said, ‘We gotta go.’ So we picked up our stuff and we’re running. I was trying to put my jacket on over my head all at once. And I was just following after him, and he crossed the street. Busy street there. The next thing I know, I woke up in a hospital bed. I’d got hit by a mail truck. Broke my leg in two places. Had a cast on for about six months. I was in the first grade. Second half of first grade.”
On Wednesday night, Harbaugh tweeted out a photo of himself and you guessed it, the guy who hit him over four decades ago! As you can see from the photo, the gentleman’s name is Dan McGivern from Iowa City.
With Dan McGivern of Iowa City. Driver, when I ran into traffic & took on his car @ age 6 #LifeSaver #DefiningMoment pic.twitter.com/UOM055euuY
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) January 26, 2017
It’s also interesting, yet unrelated, to note that McGivern looks a heck of a lot like former Michigan basketball coach, Steve Fisher.
