Earliest Gopher football memory?

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1982 attending the first game in the futuristic Metrodome. Pretty cool as a 9 year old.

MN 56
Ohio 3
 

I remember the Gophers giving Barry his first Big Ten victory in 1991. I also remember each one of the 4 victories by the Gophers since that game.
 

Probably the big loss to Nebraska in 83. Other than that in general I remember listening to the games on the radio in the Ricky Foggie era during deer season. We would all walk out of the woods up to where the trucks were parked and listen to football on the radio for a while.
 

los venerables said:
I remember the Gophers giving Barry his first Big Ten victory in 1991. I also remember each one of the 4 victories by the Gophers since that game.
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That's a lie.

No Badger fan remembers anything before 1993...
 




Earliest was watching the news and seeing highlights after listening to game sometime in the late 70s with Barber being a beast and me running around the neighborhood playing "kill the man" as him. 83 pounding by Nebby...hated that one. Holtz vs Okie and The Boz at the dome sellout crowd...LOUD! That one sticks in my mind the best as a teenager playing football.
 

I barely remember but when when I was a kid (probably 8-10), my parents took me to a Gopher/wisconsin game. I ended up cussing out some wisconsin fans in the row in front of us. They were cheering that a Gopher player got injured and I went off. Totally caught my parents off guard since I was a pretty reserved kid. Honestly, I didn't even know I had wisconsin hatred but apparently I was born with it! :p
 
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Loved going to games at the Brick House with my dad, my cousin and my uncle to watch Tony Dungy and Rick Upchurch. Always stopped at the Arby's nearby to grab a couple of roast beef sandwiches and horsey sauce. The Metrodome killed almost all of the college football experience. So glad to have the bank!
 



My dad loved Gopher Football more than any other sporting event. He was a Senior at the U of M and went to the Rosebowl on a train for the 1961 loss. I do not think he started going to games again until the 1970s since we did not live in Minnesota for a few years, and he had a young family My dad always had the radio on blaring the WCCO Ray C. call on a giant console stereo..

When back in the state, and once the kids got older he started taking us all to one game a year, as we became old enough to not be to much of a distraction and problem getting to and watching a game.

My first memory was a game vs Wisconsin in 1973 or 1975. I. All I can remember is that the sun was out, there were piles of snow in the corners of Memorial Stadium and Wisconsin had some local WI legend running back that had a huge career and my dad was talking about him on the drive up. (Bobby Marek?) I remember parking in the river flats and walking up to the top of the Studente Union and through the campus to the stadium, which made quite an impression.

Edit: My memory is really bad, it was the 1975 UW game I was at after looking at the Billy Marek stats (my dad was talking about Marek running for 300 yards and 5 TD the year before in Madison), and Iowa did beat Minnesota the next year 22-12, I was probably remembering the 1978 Iowa game that we won by a similar score. I think the turf came out after the 1978 season though. We were at the 1977 Michigan game in between , I do recall that one.

I think Minnesota won the game but I was pretty young and cannot recall.

The next year i recall being at a Iowa game, and Iowa was terrible back then and we won for sure. By that time I was more able to store memories, and remember being stuck by how bare and beat up the 3M artificial turf looked in Memorial Stadium. A couple of years they tore it out and put grass back in and it looked great. Memorial Stadium made a bit of comeback for its last few years, despite being abused and neglected by the Administration for years.
 
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My very first memory has nothing to do with me. I remember my grandpa and grandma coming home after the Liberty Bowl and Grandpa was so proud of a picture that he took with Rickey Foggie. I would have been four years old or so.

Grandpa and Grandma had season tickets forever. They would winter in Florida and would always give my dad and I the tickets to the last game or two.

My first actual memory was in the early 90s the Gophers played on Halloween. My dad took me to the game and after the game we could take pictures with some players, Goldy, etc.
 

NotAFanOfBecky said:
Earliest was watching the news and seeing highlights after listening to game sometime in the late 70s with Barber being a beast and me running around the neighborhood playing "kill the man" as him. 83 pounding by Nebby...hated that one. Holtz vs Okie and The Boz at the dome sellout crowd...LOUD! That one sticks in my mind the best as a teenager playing football.
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On the radio: Gophers upset over OSU at memorial stadium

In person: The quoted game above was the earliest game in person for me that I remember....I was just becoming aware of the Gophers... Super loud ....I've been hooked ever since. Was really upset when Holtz left. Numerous other wins are good memories....but that loss started at all for me.

What does it say about me that a loss got me hooked?
 
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Born and raised in Minn. In the late '50s-early 60s, our family traveled back and forth to Idaho to run a farm there during spring through mid autumn. While the Gophers were marching to the Nat Champ in 1960, we were getting to watch an occasional Washington Huskies game on TV. When it was announced that the Gophers were going to play Wash in the Rose Bowl, my dad prophetically said that the Gophers were in deep kinchy! He was right.

In 1962, dad took me to the Northwestern game at Memorial Stadium where Northwestern's Paul Flatley (of Vikings fame) pretty much sealed the Gopher defeat with his receptions!
 



oak_street1981 said:
My dad loved Gopher Football more than any other sporting event. He was a Senior at the U of M and went to the Rosebowl on a train for the 1961 loss. I do not think he started going to games again until the 1970s since we did not live in Minnesota for a few years, and he had a young family My dad always had the radio on blaring the WCCO Ray C. call on a giant console stereo..

When back in the state, and once the kids got older he started taking us all to one game a year, as we became old enough to not be to much of a distraction and problem getting to and watching a game.

My first memory was a game vs Wisconsin in 1973 or 1975. I. All I can remember is that the sun was out, there were piles of snow in the corners of Memorial Stadium and Wisconsin had some local WI legend running back that had a huge career and my dad was talking about him on the drive up. (Bobby Marek?) I remember parking in the river flats and walking up to the top of the Studente Union and through the campus to the stadium, which made quite an impression.

I think Minnesota won the game but I was pretty young and cannot recall.

The next year i recall being at a Iowa game, and Iowa was terrible back then and we won for sure. By that time I was more able to store memories, and remember being stuck by how bare and beat up the 3M artificial turf looked in Memorial Stadium. A couple of years they tore it out and put grass back in and it looked great. Memorial Stadium made a bit of comeback for its last few years, despite being abused and neglected by the Administration for years.
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Yep, Billy Marek out of St Rita High School in Chicago. His HS teammate Dennis Lick followed him to Madison with the goal of making Marek an All-American. Lick was a Chicago Bear for several years.
 

rockford said:
Geez, you guys make me feel old.

Once upon a time, kids, there were things called "newspapers." And way back when, late '60s maybe into the early '70s, the Sunday sports section of the Tribune (it wasn't the StarTribune then) was printed on peach-colored newsprint. My earliest memory of the Gophers is reading game stories (and cutting out pictures) from the Sunday peach sports section ... 'cuz that was before the days of wall-to-wall TV coverage. Or any TV coverage at all, for the Gophers.

So nothing specific, just the Sunday peach ... and of course listening to the wonderful tones of Ray Christiansen on the radio. Those were the days.

JTG
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I LOVED the Sports Peach on Sunday. Loads of pictures. The best part, as I'm sure you recall, was how a crucial play would be shown with a series of pictures. The flight of a pass would be traced with an arc of dashes and an arrow. I still have some! My earliest memory was Iowa, 1956. The Gophers were really good and I was 6 years old. My dad was very excited about something called the Rose Bowl, Even the nuns at school knew what was going on (sturdy German Benedictines). My dad went to games rarely but this was the first one I got to see. The crowd, the color, the band all made a big impression. In looking back, I think I was hooked from that day. The fact that the Gophers lost, 7-0, provided a big let down but it did nothing to quash my interest. We moved to California when I was in middle school but I have loved and followed the Gophers passionately from afar and make a point of attending at least one home game and all games out west. My wife is completely baffled by this Gopher thing but I am in it for the duration!
 

First two were Dungy leading us over the Badgers in '75 and the second was against Washington in '77 I think. Great game beating the Huskies.


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Nomellini said:
I LOVED the Sports Peach on Sunday. Loads of pictures. The best part, as I'm sure you recall, was how a crucial play would be shown with a series of pictures. The flight of a pass would be traced with an arc of dashes and an arrow. I still have some! My earliest memory was Iowa, 1956. The Gophers were really good and I was 6 years old. My dad was very excited about something called the Rose Bowl, Even the nuns at school knew what was going on (sturdy German Benedictines). My dad went to games rarely but this was the first one I got to see. The crowd, the color, the band all made a big impression. In looking back, I think I was hooked from that day. The fact that the Gophers lost, 7-0, provided a big let down but it did nothing to quash my interest. We moved to California when I was in middle school but I have loved and followed the Gophers passionately from afar and make a point of attending at least one home game and all games out west. My wife is completely baffled by this Gopher thing but I am in it for the duration!
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Nomellini, just want to tell you your post brought a big smile to my face. I'd forgotten about the "series of pictures" and "flight of a pass" stuff, but as soon as I read your sentence, the memories clicked into place.

Also love your continuing passion for the Gophs, especially from afar.

I learned long ago to never really care about the Vikings. Sure, I watch 'em, but I haven't been emotionally invested in 'em for nearly 30 years. But for some reason, I've never been able to NOT care about the Gophers ... and I'm not sure why that is.

JTG
 

Stan55 said:
Watching the '49 Golden Gophers, Nomelenni, Tonnamaker Ev Faunce, Billy Bye, Gene Gange and Bud Grant in Memorial Stadium as a Boy Scout usher. (pardon the poor spelling).
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I loved that team. Billy Bye didn't wear a chin strap. Julius Perlt was the greatest pa announcer of all time. He would announce a score..."From Columbus, a final, Northwestern 14 Ohio State 42."
 

Driving to events at the State Fairgrounds listening to Ray describe Corey Sauter's exploits. Early 90s?
 

Watching the 1961 Rose Bowl on tv (was only able to listen to them on radio before then). Not necessarily Gophers, but still related to that game, the Great Rose Bowl Hoax.
 

Begging my brother to drive us to the store to get the Sunday paper so I could read how Sandy Stephens and the boys had done.
 

As a kid waiting for Saturday Night Live to start and watching the recap/highlight show with Coach Wacker. I always remember hoping the opponent was Northwestern or Purdue...those highlights were always INSANE. It wasn't really until I moved out of state for college that I began to take pride in the University of Minnesota. Mason's victory over PSU in 1999 was my first memory of watching an entire game - I was a freshman in college (@ The University of Who Hates Iowa) and have been hooked since.

Most of my interest in sports, or competition in general, is based more off hate for others' success than hope/desire for my own success. It took me going into enemy territory, and learning to hate Iowa fans, to get me to love the Gophers.
 


Running around the football complex locker room with D. Thompson’s helmet on when my dad was attending a FB coaches clinic at the U.


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Bits and pieces of the Wacker years unfortunately. Then beating #1 or 2 (can't recall what they were ranked at the time) in the country Penn State. That was such a fun game to watch.


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Being at the Dome in 93 when they beat the Badgers

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Watching highlights in the news shortly after Cal Stoll's squad upset #1 Michigan 16-0 in 1977. I thought Wendell Avery was the best quarterback in history and I begged my Dad to take me to a game the next year.
 

My earliest memory of Gopher football was October 22, 1977, when the Gophers beat then #1 rated Michigan 16-0. I was 13 years old and was duck hunting with my Dad and Uncle. Since we didn't have much luck, we sat on the tailgate of my Uncle's pickup truck and listened to the golden voice of Ray Christensen call the game. I've been hooked ever since.

By the way, I LOVE this thread! Thanks for starting it UPandUnder!
 

Both of the Rose Bowls. New Years Day. Always had big family get to gethers. All of us huddled around the TV watching the games.
 

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