He was born in Rochester, New York in either 1878 or 1879. He was the son of John C. Widman and Lena (Widman) Keifhaber. His father was a manufacturer of furniture who moved to Detroit and operated under the name J.C. Widman & Company, furniture manufacturers.
University of Michigan.
Louis Elbel, a University of Michigan student, was so inspired by Widman"s sixty-five yard run and the subsequent outcome of the game that he went to his sister"s house that afternoon immediately following the game and composed "The Victors," which is the University of Michigan"s well-known fight song. During the fall of 1898, a Detroit newspaper published an article suggesting that Widman had not graduated from high school and was only in Ann Arbor to play football and that he had no intention to remain after the football season concluded. Professor Albert Pattengill announced the faculty"s decision finding that Widman was "taking the full amount of course work laid out for him by the dean of the law department" and concluding there was no foundation for the charges that Widman did not intend to return to college after the Christmas vacation.
Widman did not return to Michigan in the fall of 1899 and subsequently played football for the Detroit Athletic Club.
He later became the vice president of the J. C. Widman & Company in Detroit. In the 1910s and 1920, the company evolved from furniture manufacturing to producing millwork and interior cabinetry for automobiles and eventually the production of entire bodies for several automobile companies.
J.C. Widman & Company eventually merged with J. West. Murray Manufacturing Company to form Murray Corporation of America, a major producer of automobile coachworks. Widman was an officer and director of the Murray Corporation of America during the 1930s and early 1940s.
He died in Detroit in 1944.
The Michigan Alumnus in November 1898 defended Widman: "There is no more promising or prominent candidate for football honors than Charlie Widman, the plucky little half back who has been making such a good record." The charges were investigated at a meeting of faculty members.
After the game, the Chicago Daily Tribune published a story on Widman in which it opined that he "promises to become one of the greatest football stars Michigan has ever produced." He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at Michigan.
