History

 As far as our records show, in 1966, the students of Alpha Phi Omega sponsored and hosted the first blood drives on the University of Michigan campus. There were two days of drives in the Michigan Union Ballroom, and 472 students donated blood. The drives expanded so much that in 1982 the organizers simultaneously took advantage of their success and the rivalry with the Buckeyes to hold the first Blood Battle. The University of Michigan won, and a tradition was born.

Recent years have seen close competition. In 2007, U of M lost by a mere three pints - the equivalent to three donors - when both schools collected over 2000 pints. It was Michigan's fifth straight loss in the battle, and OSU was closing the gap on Michigan's overall win record.

With an overwhelming showing by the student body and an incredible display of school spirit, Michigan broke OSU's streak in 2008. U of M won a decisive 2333-pint to 2152-pint victory. Those numbers indicate that U of M alone could have potentially saved nearly 7000 lives with the blood collected in November 2008.

In 2009, both U of M and OSU collected more pints of blood than the year before and U of M defended the championship by collecting 2,449 pints of blood during the 2009 Blood Battle - as opposed to 2,350 pints collected in Columbus by the Buckeyes. The Wolverines continued the tradition during the 2010 Blood Battle, collecting 2,615 pints of blood as opposed to the 2,515 pints collected at OSU. In the 30th anniversary of the competition, Michigan secured their 4th consecutive victory against the Buckeyes, collecting 2,628 pints of blood, surpassing the 2,402 pints of blood collected by Ohio State.

In 2016, the 35th anniversary of the competition, U of M defeated OSU by 8 pints. This ended a two-year losing streak and brought the coveted Blood Battle Trophy back to Ann Arbor!

In 2019 U of M was victorious again, winning a decisive 2338 to 2176 victory and this year we kept the streak alive, overwhelming OSU by 413 pints.

Despite the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, U of M was able to prevail over OSU by 512 pints with a final score of 1396 to 884 and extend their winning streak to three years!

In 2021 U of M had a banner year beating OSU in both Blood Battle AND football for the first time since 2011 with scores of 1,591 to 1,090 and 42-27! The Blood Battle win was announced during halftime at The Big House followed by a rush of the field for the football victory at the end of the game.

In 2022, U of M lost in the Blood Battle with 1553 pints compared to OSU’s 1630 pints, but had a huge win in the football game with a 45-23 score.