Great image of Warmath and Bell

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Great photo! I remember the Navy coach in '61 or '62 (they were nationally ranked then - top ten) saying he'd never seen two tackles as good as Bell and Eller on the same team. They were awesome - as was Warmath's defense those years (check out the 1962 scoring and defense against the run stats). The '62 team was robbed of the Big Ten title by an official named Jones who called roughing the passer against Bell near the end of the Wisconsin game, with the Gophers ahead 9-7. Jones was roasted by Sports Illustrated the next week - Bell's tackle was clean and his hit caused the pass to go almost straight up where it was intercepted in the Badger backfield by a Minnesota lineman. Worst call I've ever seen - almost matched by a "helping the runner" call that cost us a touchdown earlier in the same game. Never saw that " helping the runner" called ever in thousands of college football games I've seen in person or on TV.
 

The had a nice picture of Bobby and Murray in the Strib today, along with a nice little story. Of course they had a caption under the photo that summarized the ceremony and stated that the U had retired Bell's number...70. Nice job.
 

Great Plains Gopher

Brings back fond memories of some great Gopher teams. I remember sitting in the Student Section yelling "Give'Em Hell, Bobby Bell". Roger Staubach was Navy's quarterback in that '62 game. Spent most of the day on his back, courtesy of Bell and Eller.
 

Fantastic photo. Does anyone know why it took so long to retire Bobby Bell's number? It should have happened at least 20 years ago.
 


TLHGO4,
I was a student, then, too - how lucky we were to be students in the '60-'61-'62 era. The only team that really beat us during those years was Northwestern in '62, piloted by Ara Parseghian before he went to Notre Dame. Also, Washington got the jump on the Gophers in the first half of the '61 Rose Bowl, but Minnesota dominated the second half (losing anyway). Kids today can't imagine what it was like when the Gophers were in the top ten most of the time.
 

Keep 'em coming, old timers. I was only 4 in '61, too young to remember those teams. But I LOVE hearing your accounts. Sincere thanks! This helps us get a more balanced view of the U of M's storied history on the gridiron.
 

Here's a nice little video too:

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