“How many stories might Yost have been able to tell? Or Crisler? But they didn’t tell them, not in a book, anyway,” reads Larry Paladino's introduction to the memoirs of former University of Michigan athletic director Don Canham.

Several years after retiring from the athletic department, Canham did what his predecessors failed to and left behind a memoir of his half-century in Michigan athletics.

And now five years after his death, Canham's widow, Peg, and the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology have partnered up set up a fellowship in Canham's name.

U-M students today might know Canham's name best for the eponymous building on campus, which hosts the university's swimming, diving and water polo teams. What many of them probably don’t know is the Canham was the person responsible for hiring Bo Schembechler, trademarking the block-M and "Michigan" name to protect the brand, and not only filling, but expanding the Big House.

“Don Canham is somewhat unknown to an entire generation of Michigan students," said Jim McIntyre, director of development for the kinesiology school. The hope is to keep Canham's name not only in the general circulation but also synonymous with innovation, with the cutting edge of sports marketing.

The Canham Fellows program is an advanced track within the sport management program in the Kinesiology school.

First as an entrepreneur and later as athletic director, Canham wrote the book on modern sports marketing. Canham understood that tradition was sellable in a way that extends beyond win-and-loss records, and made fans feel that buying Michigan calendars and T-shirts was just as important a way to support the team as buying a ticket to the game.

But as Professor Mark Rosentraub, who will write the curriculum for the fellowship program, explained to AnnArbor.com, the marketing model Canham established is almost 50 years old. It's a different ballgame at this point.

“At a conglomerate like AEG (Anshutz Entertainment Group), which owns the Staples Center (where the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play their home games) and a piece of the Lakers, only a fraction of their business comes from the on-field product," explained.

"A guy like Phil Anschutz doesn’t need anyone to tell him to sell T-shirts. What he needs are the people who can keep their venues profitable year-round, not just in-season.”

McIntyre said that school needs $3 million to endow the fellowship in perpetuity. About 10 percent of that total has been raised thus far, and McIntyre is looking for the community’s help in raising the remainder. The hope is for the program to start in the fall, Rosentraub said.

When the program starts it will admit 15 juniors and 15 seniors, who will benefit from a fast-tracked, advanced curriculum and will leave Ann Arbor with training equal that of master’s degree holders in sports management.

Rosentraub said that the goal is to eventually make the equivalency official and award master’s degrees to Canham Fellows, but that involves time and university red tape. The program will award a bachelor’s degree for the time being.

Beyond the advanced coursework, fellowship recipients will be granted $5,000 to further their education, whether to offset tuition or to subsidize the unpaid work that’s often required to get a foot in the door in the worlds of sports and entertainment.

Rosentraub said that the sports world has changed since Canham was on the scene. Expectations, too. It's only fitting that the curriculum should as well.

"The Don Canham Fellows are going to be the people who can lead the modern sports organization," Rosentraub added. "In time, I expect this model will be adopted by other schools too."

For more information on how to contribute to the Canham Fellowship endowment, contact Jim McIntyre at mjmcinty@umich.edu or 734-615-4272.

James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.