1920 in Michigan

Events from the year 1920 in Michigan.

State office holders

 * Governor of Michigan: Albert Sleeper (Republican)
 * Lieutenant Governor of Michigan: Luren D. Dickinson (Republican)
 * Michigan Attorney General: Alexander J. Groesbeck (Republican)
 * Michigan Secretary of State: Coleman C. Vaughan (Republican)
 * Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives: Thomas Read (Republican)
 * Chief Justice, Michigan Supreme Court:

Mayors of major cities

 * Mayor of Detroit: James J. Couzens (Republican)
 * Mayor of Grand Rapids: Christian Gallmeyer/John McNabb
 * Mayor of Flint: George C. Kellar/Edwin W. Atwood
 * Mayor of Lansing: Benjamin A. Kyes

Federal office holders

 * U.S. Senator from Michigan: Truman Handy Newberry (Republican)
 * U.S. Senator from Michigan: Charles E. Townsend (Republican)
 * House District 1: Frank Ellsworth Doremus (Democrat)
 * House District 2: Earl C. Michener (Republican)
 * House District 3: John M. C. Smith (Republican)
 * House District 4: Edward L. Hamilton (Republican)
 * House District 5: Carl E. Mapes (Republican)
 * House District 6: Patrick H. Kelley (Republican)
 * House District 7: Louis C. Cramton (Republican)
 * House District 8: Joseph W. Fordney (Republican)
 * House District 9: James C. McLaughlin (Republican)
 * House District 10: Gilbert A. Currie (Republican)
 * House District 11: Frank D. Scott (Republican)
 * House District 12: W. Frank James (Republican)
 * House District 13: Charles Archibald Nichols (Republican)

Baseball

 * 1920 Detroit Tigers season – Under manager Hughie Jennings, the Tigers finished seventh in the American League with a record of 61–93. The team's statistical leaders included Ty Cobb with a .334 batting average, Bobby Veach with 113 RBIs and 65 extra-base hits, and Howard Ehmke with 15 wins and a 3.25 earned run average.
 * 1920 Michigan Wolverines baseball season - Under head coach Carl Lundgren, the Wolverines compiled a 17–6–2 record and won the Big Ten Conference championship. Slicker Parks was the team captain.

American football

 * 1920 Michigan Wolverines football team – Under head coach Fielding H. Yost, the Wolverines compiled a 5–2 record. Center Ernie Vick was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Conference player.
 * 1920 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team – Under head coach Potsy Clark, the Aggies compiled a 4–6 record and outscored their opponents 270 to 166, including a 109 to 0 victory over Olivet College on October 30, 1920.
 * 1920 Michigan State Normal Normalites football team – Under head coach Elton Rynearson, the Normalites compiled a record of 6–2 and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 132 to 86.
 * 1920 Detroit Titans football team – The Titans shut out six of ten opponents, outscored all opponents by a combined total of 279 to 32, and finished with an 8–2 record under head coach James F. Duffy.
 * 1920 Central Michigan Normalites football team – Under head coach Joe Simmons, the Central Michigan football team compiled a 4–3–1 record, shut out four of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 166 to 41.
 * 1920 Western State Hilltoppers football team – Under head coach William H. Spaulding, the Hilltoppers compiled a 3–4 record and were outscored by their opponents, 131 to 119.

Basketball

 * 1919–20 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team – The team compiled a record of 10–13. E. J. Mather was in his first year as the team's coach, and Ralph O. Rychener was the team captain.

Other

 * 1919–20 Michigan College of Mines men's ice hockey team – In the first season of college ice hockey in the state, the Michigan College of Mines (later renamed Michigan Technological University) team compiled a 1–2–1 record under head coach E. R. Lovel.

November



 * November 27 - The Durant Building in Detroit, later renamed the General Motors Building and eventually Cadillac Place, was opened for business as the new headquarters for General Motors.

Births

 * January 15 - Steve Gromek, Major League Baseball pitcher (1941–1957), in Hamtramck, Michigan
 * January 22 - Margaret Hillert, author of more than 80 children's books, including the Dear Dragon series, in Saginaw, Michigan
 * February 8 - Bob Bemer, computer scientist known for his work on the specifications for COBOL and the ASCII character codeset, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
 * February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. soldier executed for desertion during World War II, in Detroit
 * February 23 - Hall Overton, composer, jazz pianist and music teacher, in Bangor, Michigan
 * April 9 - Art Van Damme, jazz accordionist, in Norway, Michigan
 * April 22 - Alfred Burt, jazz musician who composed music for 15 Christmas carols, in Marquette, Michigan
 * April 29 - David M. Nelson, football coach and Secretary-Editor of the NCAA Football Rules Committee for 29 years who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, in Detroit
 * May 31 - Francis P. Hammerberg, U.S. Navy diver who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for rescuing two fellow divers, in Daggett, Michigan
 * July 13 - Don Ralke, prolific music arranger and composer for film and television and producer of the "Golden Throats" recordings, in Battle Creek, Michigan
 * July 20 - Dominic Jacobetti, longest serving Michigan state legislator, served in state house from 1955 to 1994, in Negaunee, Michigan
 * July 30 - Marie Tharp, geologist and oceanographic cartographer who discovered the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which led to acceptance of the theories of plate tectonics and continental drift, in Ypsilanti, Michigan
 * August 19 - Ralph Story, television and radio personality best known as the host of The $64,000 Challenge, in Kalamazoo, Michigan
 * September 1 - Charline White, first African-American woman to be elected to the Michigan Legislature, in Atlanta, Georgia
 * September 13 - Charles Smith, actor (The Shop Around the Corner, The Major and the Minor) in Flint, Michigan
 * October 11 - James Aloysius Hickey, Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop of Washington, D.C. (1980-2000), in Midland, Michigan
 * October 21 - Ruth Terry, singer and actress, in Benton Harbor, Michigan
 * November 12 - Richard Quine, stage, film and radio actor, and television director, in Detroit

Deaths

 * January 14 - John Francis Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company, at age 55 in New York City
 * January 21 - Ferris S. Fitch Jr., Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction (1891–1892), at age 66 in Detroit
 * February 4 - Ed Siever, Major League Baseball pitcher (1901-1908) and AL ERA leader (1902), at age 44 in Detroit
 * April 2 - Matty McIntyre, Major League Baseball outfielder (1901-1912) led AL in runs scored (1908), at age 39 in Detroit
 * July 21 - Otto Kirchner, Michigan Attorney General (1877–1880), at age 74 in Detroit
 * December 10 - Horace Elgin Dodge, automobile manufacturing pioneer and co-founder of Dodge Brothers Company, in Palm Beach, Florida
 * December 14 - George Gipp, Notre Dame football player and native of Laurium, Michigan, in South Bend, Indiana