Chalmers William "Bump" Elliott (January 30, 1925 – December 7, 2019)[1] was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator.

Elliott grew up in Bloomington, Illinois, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a senior in high school and was assigned to the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Purdue University.

He received varsity letters in football, baseball, and basketball at Purdue, before being called into active duty in late 1944, serving with the Marines in China.

After being discharged from the military, he enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1946 and joined the football team for whom his brother Pete Elliott played quarterback.

He was appointed as Michigan's head football coach in 1959 and held that position until 1968, leading the team to a Big Ten Conference championship and Rose Bowl victory in the 1964 season.

During his tenure as athletic director, he hired coaches Dan Gable, Hayden Fry, Lute Olson, C. Vivian Stringer, and Dr. Tom Davis, and the Iowa Hawkeyes won 41 Big Ten Conference championships and 11 NCAA titles.

[2] His father, J. Norman Elliott, was an ears, nose and throat doctor who also coached football at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1930 to 1934.

[5] Bump enlisted in the United States Marine Corps while still a senior in high school and was called to active duty in 1943.

He played three games for the unbeaten and untied 1943 Purdue Boilermakers football team and was described as "a capable triple-threater and stellar defensive performer.

"A speedy 160-pound, five foot 10-inch performer, he lost little time making his mark in football last fall once he became eligible upon completion of his first V-12 term.

"[10] In a May 1944 game, Elliott led the Boilermakers to a 17–4 win over Wisconsin, with five hits, five stolen bases, four RBIs, three runs scored, and four putouts in center field.

"[16] The brothers shared the same distinctive golden red hair, and the two were so close that they told a reporter in 1947 that a girl had to receive "the Bumper stamp of approval" before passing Pete's test.

[17] Elliott "practically stepped off a World War II transport from Marine Corps duty in China to Michigan's Ferry Field and stardom.

In 1947, Elliott played for the Wolverines team known as the "Mad Magicians" that went undefeated and untied, beating the USC Trojans, 49–0, in the 1948 Rose Bowl.

[24] Elliott had a breakthrough season that began with the team's "Blue" versus "White" exhibition game in mid-September in which he scored four touchdowns, including 50- and 60-yard runs.

[29] In the Big Nine opener against Northwestern, Elliott scored on a nine-yard run less than two minutes after the game started, as the Wolverines won, 49–21.

"[34] In the first quarter, he ran back a punt 75 yards for a touchdown, as Bob Mann "bulldozed the path with a vicious block", and "the Bloomington blaster scampered down the sidelines.

He also played a key role on defense, intercepting a pass at the Michigan nine-yard line to halt an Illinois drive.

[36][37] At the end of the season, Elliott and Chappuis both received 16 of 18 possible points in voting by the AP for the All-Big Nine football team.

Michigan dominated the game, winning 49–0, as "the shifty Chappuis and the speedy Elliott began to fake (the Trojans) out of their shoes.

[2][6] Elliott later recalled, "I was only 24 when Kip Taylor hired me as backfield coach at Oregon State, and it bothered me a little because there were two backs on the squad who were older than I was.

[2] Elliott was with the Hawkeyes in 1956 when they went 9–1, won the Big Ten championship, and defeated his former team, Oregon State, 35–19, in the 1957 Rose Bowl game.

Although his tenure at Michigan was unsuccessful by the school's historic standards, he did lead the 1964 Wolverines to a 9–1 record, a Big Ten title and a win in the 1965 Rose Bowl against Oregon State.

Despite having a 36-point lead, Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes passed for, and failed to get, a two-point conversion after the final score and with 1:23 remaining in the game.

"[48] Shortly after the game, Elliott resigned, and athletic director Don Canham hired Bo Schembechler to replace him as head coach.

Bump is not naïve – he knows that when you work at a place for 10 years and you're not winning consistently, it doesn't become fun for anybody – the coach, the alumni, the players or anybody else.

On accepting the job, Elliott noted: "It's difficult to leave a town where you've lived for 13 years (Ann Arbor, Michigan), but the opportunity is so good at Iowa with the people and the school that no one could pass it up.

"[2] During Elliott's tenure, the school's teams won 34 Big Ten championships and 11 NCAA titles, as well as making three Rose Bowl appearances and one trip to the Final Four in basketball.

Elliott hired a number of notable coaches, including Lute Olson, Dan Gable, Hayden Fry, and Dr. Tom Davis.

"[51] "He hired coaches he trusted, then gave them the resources, latitude and support they needed to operate as they saw fit – providing they played by the rules.