100th Anniversary of Memorial Stadium approaching November 15--favorite memories...

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highwayman

highwayman

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I've seen several articles about Illinois' Memorial Stadium 100th dedication anniversary, but the Gophers' Memorial Stadium was also dedicated in 1924, November 15 to be exact.

libnews.umn.edu

Memorial Stadium remembered - UMN Libraries News & Events

As the Golden Gophers prepare for their 2016 opening football game on September 1, the University Archives shares historical documents and images from Memorial Stadium, the former home of Gopher football from 1924 through 1981.
libnews.umn.edu libnews.umn.edu

My grandmother was one of the students in 1924 at that dedication game vs Illinois and Red Grange. She spoke of it often, as if it had just happened the weekend before, about "how we knocked that guy out of the game".

My favorite memories from being at the games: Rick Upchurch trying to beat Ohio State all by himself, Julie Pearlt's "there's a squirrel on the field," the usher that looked like Colonel Sanders, Murray Warmath's last game vs Wisconsin, breaking my nose trying to shag pre-game field goals, and of course, going to the game with my dad and grandparents.

Your memories?
 



Nearly freexing to death in an ice storm game against Indiana in 1978.

Watching Mike Hohensee and Jay Carroll beat tOSU in 1981.
 




A friend's family had season tix and would frequently invite me to attend with them. Their seats were in Section 5 behind the Gopher bench. The first game they took me to was vs. Indiana in 1973 (I think). Lee Corso was their coach and Quinn Buckner (known more for hoops) started at safety for them. The Gophers won and I think that John King might have run for more than 100 yards that day. That little scoreboard on top of Cooke Hall was not much, but it did the job. Odd thing, I have not lived in Minnesota since '76 and because of distance and lack of funds at that time of life I never saw the Gophers play in the Metrodome. Have probably been to 12 games at the Bank and will return for the UNC game. Go Gophers!
 

GopherPD said:
Beating #1 Michigan 16-0 in 1977 and reclaiming the Jug. Last time we beat Michigan at home!
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I had to work that day and my dad had to take my sister, who was not a sports or football fan at all at the time. The result was that near the end of the game was generated one of our great family quotes of all-time by my dad: "I can't believe I wasted a ticket on you!!!" We knew what he meant to say.

Side note, in the 1977 highlight film on YouTube, my dad shows up at the 22:28 and 23:12 marks in his ridiculous knit Gopher tam hat with the pompon and his ever-present naval binoculars!

 
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The Boy Scout ushers. The tops of all the houses in frat row you could see from the stands. The band not only playing in the stadium but coming down the street.
 




Memorial Stadium was before my time. Was it in bad condition prior to the team moving to the Metrodome? Or was it just not financially reasonable to upgrade/update it?
 

I saw two games there when I was a kid. One was a disappointing loss to Oregon State and the other was a win over some small non conference opponent. I grew up in a small town so the whole experience of visiting the city and being in the big stadium was fun for me. I recall that my parents bought me a cool tshirt at one of the games and the block M was sparkly - revolutionary for the 70’s. 😄
 

My very first date with my future wife and of course it had to to rain all game and we got blasted by nebraska. Tony Dungy was our qb But she stuck with me. Now thats a wife.
 



Beating Michigan 16-0, Cigar smoke, going to the games with my Dad, Rick Upchurch vs Western Michigan, Tony Dungy, Kent Kitzman, Cal Stoll, and a 7-4 record one season.
 

1980 Michigan game. Between field goals, extra points and kick offs, I remember Jules saying Ali Haji-Sheikh over and over. Best memory was while we were filing into the stairs to leave our section and a drunk guy a few rows behind us missed a step and literally cart-wheeled down the stairs past us until he knocked into a guy, careened off the stairs into a section and face planted into the back of the bench seating.
 
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The 1968 cross-field lateral on a kickoff return in the 4th quarter that gave the Gophers a lead against USC and OJ (which we couldn't hold:(); pelting Wisconsin cheerleaders with snowballs a year or two earlier; graduation ceremony in spring of '69. We marched in and you could see the storm coming in from the west. Some dean had started his speech and the wind and rain hit. He announced, "I pronounce you all graduated!" and we got the hell out of there.
 

Stuff said:
Memorial Stadium was before my time. Was it in bad condition prior to the team moving to the Metrodome? Or was it just not financially reasonable to upgrade/update it?
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Ever heard of a guy name Lou Holtz?
 

Our high school football coach brought us (the team) down for a Gopher game my senior year. It was my first Gopher game. We saw the Gophers defeat Purdue, 7-6, on Nov 17, 1962. I remember it as being very cold, and a real defensive battle. Other highlights - the game with OJ Simpson and USC in 1968, the shutout of Michigan in 1977, and the game where a ringneck pheasant spent part of the afternoon sitting on the top edge of the stadium. He had a bird's eye view of the game.
 

I attended (I think) 4 or 5 games at Memorial. the ones I'm sure about:
1968 vs USC
1970 vs Ohio U. (gophs won 49-7)
1972 vs Colorado
1977 vs Washington (Gophs won 19-17)

in 1970, I remember they were giving away or selling these little squares of artificial turf. Memorial went to a turf field in 1970 through 1976, then went back to grass in 1977.

The Gophers used to have something called Band Day. High School bands from around the state would attend, sit in the end zone, and at halftime, the HS bands would play a couple of songs along with the Gopher Marching band. My HS went every other year. I believe it was usually the first home game of the season, so that would have been the games I attended in '68, '70 & '72.

the '77 game with Washington was against Warren Moon, who was the QB at Washington.
 

BBJones said:
Our high school football coach brought us (the team) down for a Gopher game my senior year. It was my first Gopher game. We saw the Gophers defeat Purdue, 7-6, on Nov 17, 1962. I remember it as being very cold, and a real defensive battle. Other highlights - the game with OJ Simpson and USC in 1968, the shutout of Michigan in 1977, and the game where a ringneck pheasant spent part of the afternoon sitting on the top edge of the stadium. He had a bird's eye view of the game.
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The Gophers trailed Purdue 6-0 in the 4th quarter and did not exactly have a dynamic offense. They got one terrific play when they had to have it. A kid named Duane Blaska from Anoka threw an absolutely perfect pass between 2 defenders at the 10-yard line to a guy named Ray Zitzloff. And that was it. The painful loss to Wisconsin that featured the phantom roughing the passer flag followed the next Saturday.
 

Lot's of fond memories of Memorial Stadium, first going to games with my dad in the1950's and 60's and then having my own seasons tickets later. Those beautiful fall days with the band playing, the flash card section, the cannon, packed into the seats keeping each other warm with our body heat on the cold days, the smuggled in thermos with alcohol laced hot chocolate. A totally different vibe than today.
 

Stuff said:
Memorial Stadium was before my time. Was it in bad condition prior to the team moving to the Metrodome? Or was it just not financially reasonable to upgrade/update it?
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The Holtz thing is true to some extent, but I don't think they had/would spend the money to fix up Memorial. From what I'm told, it needed a LOT of work and had been let go to some extent.

The other thing I remember hearing is that while there's some amount of nostalgia about it, the sight lines weren't good. It was one giant bowl with a fairly low angle upwards, meaning a lot of seats were extremely far away from the field.
 

highwayman said:
I had to work that day and my dad had to take my sister, who was not a sports or football fan at all at the time. The result was that near the end of the game was generated one of our great family quotes of all-time by my dad: "I can't believe I wasted a ticket on you!!!" We knew what he meant to say.

Side note, in the 1977 highlight film on YouTube, my dad shows up at the 22:28 and 23:12 marks in his ridiculous knit Gopher tam hat with the pompon and his ever-present naval binoculars!

Click to expand...
Nice

1723491332606.png
 

Stuff said:
Memorial Stadium was before my time. Was it in bad condition prior to the team moving to the Metrodome? Or was it just not financially reasonable to upgrade/update it?
Click to expand...
It was before my time as well but it seems to be that there was a real belief that the Metrodome would be a big advantage in recruiting.
 

GophersInIowa said:
It was before my time as well but it seems to be that there was a real belief that the Metrodome would be a big advantage in recruiting.
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Bad as the dome was (though I have a lot of nostalgia for that place from growing up in the 80's and 90's), it was only a year old. It would totally make sense that playing in a brand new stadium might seem enticing to kids.
 

highwayman said:
I've seen several articles about Illinois' Memorial Stadium 100th dedication anniversary, but the Gophers' Memorial Stadium was also dedicated in 1924, November 15 to be exact.

libnews.umn.edu

Memorial Stadium remembered - UMN Libraries News & Events

As the Golden Gophers prepare for their 2016 opening football game on September 1, the University Archives shares historical documents and images from Memorial Stadium, the former home of Gopher football from 1924 through 1981.
libnews.umn.edu libnews.umn.edu

My grandmother was one of the students in 1924 at that dedication game vs Illinois and Red Grange. She spoke of it often, as if it had just happened the weekend before, about "how we knocked that guy out of the game".

My favorite memories from being at the games: Rick Upchurch trying to beat Ohio State all by himself, Julie Pearlt's "there's a squirrel on the field," the usher that looked like Colonel Sanders, Murray Warmath's last game vs Wisconsin, breaking my nose trying to shag pre-game field goals, and of course, going to the game with my dad and grandparents.

Your memories?
Click to expand...
 

I was in the 2nd grade in 1956. My dad loved the Gophers and that season I kept hearing that the Gophers might go to something called the Rose Bowl. My uncles were excited and even the nuns who taught us at Assumption School in Richfield talked about them. They were sturdy Benedictines from near someplace called St. Cloud. I heard that Iowa was coming to town for a showdown. I begged my dad to take me. I had never been and so my dad and I went. It was an unforgettable spectacle for a child. The band, the colors, the uniforms, the atmosphere was captivating. Minnesota lost, 7-0, in a game I later learned they dominated statistically (sound familiar?) Anyway, I detected a big letdown among a number of adults in my sphere but that day was so impactful that my interest was piqued for the rest of the season and beyond. I remember listening to the finale with my dad vs. a bad Wisconsin team. It ended in a 13-13 tie and my dad yelled at my sister for burning the cinnamon rolls. The things we remember.
 


I went to one game against Iowa in 1980. The Gophers won 24-6 in a late October snowstorm. Marion Barber had a great day running the ball.
 

Walking through the empty stadium with Butch Nash in the summer of 79.
 

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