Old Gophers Recruiting Video

[STPGopher]

 

[fmlizard]

For me, this is the most detailed color footage I have ever seen of the old Memorial Stadium, and of the Gophers before I began watching them on TV in the later '80s

But the old weight room with the paneling (around the 4:30 mark) is the star of the show

It looks like a couple of small low rent apartment building gyms I've worked out in

 

[Schnauzer]

I always get a kick out of videos like this. Takes me back to being a kid when the Metrodome was featured as the big savior of Gopher Football. It is also interesting how the fans really didn't wear "team gear" to games in big numbers until as recently as 25 years ago.

 

[STPGopher]

For me, this is the most detailed color footage I have ever seen of the old Memorial Stadium, and of the Gophers before I began watching them on TV in the later '80s

But the old weight room with the paneling (around the 4:30 mark) is the star of the show

It looks like a couple of small low rent apartment building gyms I've worked out in

Thankfully, things have evolved.

 

[GVLCGopherFan]

Those helmets.

 

[GVLCGopherFan]

I remember the U of M booth at the state fair always had a movie room where you could watch videos like this.

 

[jonnyganas]

What a time capsule! Being too young to experience Memorial Stadium, it's striking how much it looks/feels like the Bank. Loved seeing those vintage shots of the Lakes and downtown too. The pace and content of the video feels almost foreign to what we'd see in today's world. Simpler times.

 

[Married@SiebertField]

The ‘79 Wisconsin game: an unseasonably warm late November day (there was a snowstorm the next night) in which the UW QB (Kalismicki sp?) ran wild—and the Badgers could not stop Marion Barber & Garry White. UW 42-UM 37.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

The ‘79 Wisconsin game: an unseasonably warm late November day (there was a snowstorm the next night) in which the UW QB (Kalismicki sp?) ran wild—and the Badgers could not stop Marion Barber & Garry White. UW 42-UM 37.

This is why I come here.

 

[Married@SiebertField]

This is why I come here.

Now I notice the other game shown was the ‘79 Illinois game. IiRC, the Gophers were 4-2 with impressive wins against Purdue and at Iowa (Hayden Fry’s first year) the previous week. Mark Carlson was playing well quarterbacking the “run & shoot” offense. Minnesota was a significant favorite. The offense struggled in the second half and Illinois tied the game but the Gophers recovered a fumble in Illinois territory in the last minute of the game. Uncharacteristically, Paul Rogind shanked the game-winning field goal attempt when he kicked the ball into the long snapper’s rear end. I believe it was homecoming before a good-sized crowd of about 48,000.

 

[50PoundHead]

I remember the U of M booth at the state fair always had a movie room where you could watch videos like this.

I think that was up in the Grandstand before they moved down to the main drag. I remember the room and I remember to having a great conversation with baseball coach John Anderson.

I don't remember a lot of team gear being available in the 1980s, but the poster above is right. If there was team gear, not many people wore it back then.

 

[50PoundHead]

What a time capsule! Being too young to experience Memorial Stadium, it's striking how much it looks/feels like the Bank. Loved seeing those vintage shots of the Lakes and downtown too. The pace and content of the video feels almost foreign to what we'd see in today's world. Simpler times.

Memorial wasn't a terrible stadium. It was old, but the sight lines were good. I don't know if it could have been updated, but the move to the Metrodome, while not a complete disaster, didn't contribute to the program the way a lot of bigwigs (or maybe I should use Sid's term "brain wizards" except Sid was one of the "brain wizards" that foisted the Metrodome on us) thought it would.