The Irwin A. Small collection consists of two series, Football Team Reunions and Dentistry Career.
Irwin A. Small was raised in Tarrytown, New York where he was a star of the Washington Irving High School football team, 1941-1943. He enrolled in the University of Michigan in 1944 as a freshman and joined the football team as a "walk-on." Small completed one semester before joining the Air Force. He returned to Michigan in 1946 as a second semester freshman, but under the postwar rules freshmen were no longer eligible for varsity competition. Small was invited to join the 1947 squad and played quarterback and linebacker for the scout team that emulated the opposing teams plays during practice sessions. Though he did not see action during the regular season, Coach Fritz Crisler named Small to the traveling squad for the 1948 Rose Bowl game against the University of Southern California. Small played the role of quarterback in the T-formation offense that Southern California ran. Michigan won the Rose Bowl 49-0 and was named national champions in the final Associated Press poll.
Small saw limited action in two games in the 1948 season. The 1948 team was undefeated and ranked number one by the Associated Press.
Small received his B.S. degree from the University of Michigan in 1949 and a D.D.S. from Columbia University in 1953. He completed his residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at St. Louis University and Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital. He was in private practice in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan for 38 years. Small developed a compression staple or fixed mandibular implant for denture prosthesis and reconstructive surgery. His mandibular implant and the tools used with it were commercially distributed by Hall Reconstructive Systems.
The 1947 Michigan football squad was an especially close-knit squad. The fact that many team members were World War II veterans and the experience of an undefeated season, Big Ten Championship, Rose Bowl victory, and national championship forged a special bond. The team held well attended reunions every five years and as the 50th anniversary approached, Kurt Kampe and other team members proposed holding the reunion in Pasadena. Kampe began planning and organizing the reunion, but became ill and died in 1995. Small assumed the role of principal organizer.
Small prepared a program for the reunion that included a video of the game film of the 1948 Rose Bowl game, for which he provided a narration, and several other films featuring Coach Fritz Crisler and clips of early Michigan football. With the assistance of other team members he prepared a commemorative book.
Small was also the main organizer of the 1948 team's 50-year reunion held in Ann Arbor. He provided a voice-over commentary for a videotape of the 1948 Indiana game, a 54-0 Michigan victory in which nearly every team member played. Small and several teammates produced a commemorative publication of the reunion.
