Memorial Stadium

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IrishGoph55

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Off topic here but I can’t sleep n been thinking. I’m only 34 so obviously I won’t know. But for those of you who are older and attended games at memorial stadium, how was the atmosphere? Tailgating? fans? Concessions? Layout? overall game experience? We won 5 Championships with that stadium being our home. We all know the Metrodome really hurt us in the long run. Could we have kept it and renovated, n had an old classic stadium like Notre Dame, Michigan, n all them? Or Was it just a dump and needed to be knocked down? I love the current stadium but wanted to get a vision of what Memorial was like. Thanks
 

I’m old enough!!!

I didn’t have a Memorial Stadium thread on my bingo sheet tonight. But here we are.

I attended two games at Memorial Stadium. I saw the Gophers fall in a disappointing game to Oregon State and also take a win in a game against some forgettable non power conference team a year or two later. My dad was bitching about Cal Stoll after that Oregon State game, sarcastically saying it didn’t matter because we had great freshmen.

I loved it. I remember a sea of MTC red busses outside the SE side of the stadium (now the Alumni Center).

Pretty straight forward seating and being in or out sort of felt like the movie Rudy where he couldn’t get tickets and was walking just outside the stadium.

This was the hottest of all times in terms of the newish Vikings, who were regularly going to superbowls. I remember being amazed when my dad was telling me the Memorial Stadium capacity was significantly more than Metropolitan Stadium. That didn’t make sense to me.

I was seated on the SE sideline for the Oregon State game and the NE corner for the easy cream puff game.
 

I only saw the stadium once, when it was closed and waiting for demolition. I was an elementary school kid, and somehow my school arranged transportation from the suburbs to the stadium and walked at least two classes (about sixty kids) around the field, into the stands and up to the press box. The press box, amazingly, had been abandoned with electronics and headphones still intact. When we went through, probably 1984 or 1985, there were still some battered and weathered pieces of electronics and some ruined headphones laying around. All the boys, and probably the girls too, wanted to grab souvenirs and take them home, but some severe admonitions from the teachers persuaded us that we were in error. In the end I don't think anything was taken.

The facility seemed enormous and very impressive to me as a young kid, but also tragic and forlorn.

In hindsight it's difficult to believe that such important infrastructure was completely unwanted, neglected, and left derelect. Amazing how highly educated people can do stupid things.
 
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Contrasts: I remember going to games at Met Stadium and Memorial Stadium.
I don't remember being aware of tailgating being a thing at Memorial Stadium?
Definitely a thing at Met Stadium. Way easier to park at the Met, but it took a half an hour to get out the parking lot. More walking with Memorial Stadium because parking was farther away.

Memorial Stadium...coolest thing was the brick facade surrounding the outside. "The Brickhouse". After that? Just the history of winning games and players.
Sightlines were good but felt far away. (I was usually in the bowl end. As you can see in the pic that is literally blocks away, especially when play is at the other end.) It was fun to be part of a huge crowd...you felt a brotherhood, seemingly all cheering for the Gophers. Bench seats, fighting to sit on your seat number, bundled up in warm weather gear it was crowded, sitting or walking.

The concourses were a disaster...walking: too narrow, too crowded, very congested.
Concessions were impossible. Bathrooms: plan ahead.

Like Williams Arena...there is just a time when it is time to start over.

Was I training for the Olympics? No. But, I spent quite a bit of time at Memorial Stadium. My brother wanted to get in peak shape to walkon for Musselman. We ran the steps one summer at Memorial Stadium probably 3, 4 or 5 times a week. It was an excellent workout. Sun beating down...exhausting. Then we got cocky and added ankle weights, switched to weighted vests. The things you do. Also playing 100 games of "serious" softball a summer together at the time.
My brother wussed out and went to Normandale JC. Junior college basketball in Minnesota was a big deal in the 70's. Musselman was '71 to '75 with the Gophers, so somewhere in this window of time. Normandale and Golden Valley Lutheran were national powerhouses. Gopher player, NBA coach Flip Saunders started his coaching journey at Golden Valley in 1977 and never lost a home game as coach, going 56–0.

Huntington is many times better. We just need to win more to develop a greater sense of love for it.
Penn State this year was awesome, but we gotta close the deal.
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My grandparents used to attend games there in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I have some programs. I actually saw the exterior when I was heading to the 1991 Boys State Basketball Tournament at Williams Arena. Very impressive and the old Big Ten flags were still flying. My parents got me a brick from there for Christmas two years later. Something I treasure.
 


It was abandoned and derelict when I got to campus in the mid/late 80s, but like 60s Guy, I would get ambitious and run the stairs (there were a lot of them) when I wanted a good workout that didn’t include walking to classes on the West Bank. Surprisingly, you could just walk in, there was zero security until they tore it down. The place struck me as super basic, as one might expect from something built in the 1920s. There were absolutely zero frills. To this day I feel cheated that I had to watch Gopher games in the Metrodome instead of getting the full college experience of on-campus games with the fun atmosphere The Bank has now. At the same time, Clem had the basketball team on the rise and the old, beat up Barn was always rocking. It was everything on-campus football could and should have been. I don’t think it was necessarily wrong to abandon Memorial Stadium because its time had past, but the Dome was a disaster for the program. The Bank turned out to be a modern version of the Brickhouse, it just took them 25 years of wandering in the desert to get there.
 
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I was there a many times in the late sixties and early/mid seventies. My strongest memory of the stadium is the smell of cigar smoke and more of calm atmosphere. My best memory is outside the stadium where the band would march up University and after they passed us we would rush inside to see them march into the stadium. I was at LSU game this fall and they still do it. Very cool
 

I attended games as a student season ticket holder 79-81. One thing that stands out to me from those days, was the lack of fan gear, or people wearing it. I'm pretty sure our group just attended games in whatever sweatshirt or plaid shirt that we had in our dorm rooms. If you look at any film footage from back in those days, you don't see a lot of people wearing Gopher gear.

These days, you are hard pressed to find fans NOT wearing fan gear.
 

Denver_Gopher said:
I was there a many times in the late sixties and early/mid seventies. My strongest memory of the stadium is the smell of cigar smoke and more of calm atmosphere. My best memory is outside the stadium where the band would march up University and after they passed us we would rush inside to see them march into the stadium. I was at LSU game this fall and they still do it. Very cool
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Ah the tobacco use in the older days. I grew up in Lincoln (different Memorial Stadium) and one of my earliest football memories was in the mid/late 80s and somebody spat out their chewing tobacco from the top row as we were entering the stadium and it landed on my dad's hat lol.
 



Yes, the smell of stale cigar smoke, hot dogs and popcorn was over whelming when you entered the concourse. There were also the slow moving prop airplanes overhead towing advertisements, the haunting voice of Jules Perlt and pre-game memories of the Marching Band going down University Avenue. The cheerleaders actually led organized cheers and the male cheerleaders used the megaphones. Then all the high school bands that were there during the annual Band Day.

Perlt would often announce scores of other games: Michigan State 24 (pause) Iowa 27.

When I was there I tried to imagine watching players like Bronko Nagurski, Bruce Smith, Tom Brown, Carl Eller, etc and Coach Bernie Bierman but they were way before my time.
 

I attended many games there myself with my father and then without him. As a young guy like me, 12-15 years old, the atmosphere of college football hooked me on the Gophers and Memorial Stadium. I recall The Band, Goldy doing pushups after a score, and the cigar smoke. I went to many games solo and I snuck into a game or two as a little guy acting on advice from a college student who was so much older than me so I did it! I usually paid $5 to a scalper to get in when I went solo but for the big games we bought tickets. Nebraska was #1 or #2 in 1973 and it was a huge home game at Memorial Stadium we lost 48 -7, the crowd was filled with red and that hurt so I still hate Nebraska to this day. Wisconsin? They were mediocre back then, well before Alvarez. Ohio State was fantastic, I saw Archie Griffin in 1974. I looked up the attendance for that game only 45K so based on that I say the current atmosphere is better in the Bank than in the 70's at Memorial Stadium. I was there when we beat Michigan who was #1 in the country, 16-0. The Bank is modern and visiting fans comment on how nice it is, the bricks capture the feeling of the old Memorial Stadium and the stadium has a great atmosphere when it's full. What you see now is better than a 2/3 full Memorial Stadium. Been there done that. When you go to a Basketball Game in Williams Arena, you see exactly the look and feel of Memorial Stadium.

To add one more point and make you feel better about the current atmosphere at The Bank; the student section in the past few years is off the charts larger and better than what I saw in the 70's.
 

I do not recall the year, mid 70s as I was still pretty young, my Dad took me to a game! We were way up high and i don't know who Gophers were playing. I only remember the atmosphere, the tightly packed crowd, the minnesota chant and watching them pass people from the bottom to the top of the stadium. The students would lift someone over their heads and pass them all the way up the stadium and back down. I begged my Dad to let me do that! I fell in love with college football, the energy of the crowd and the excitement everyone seemed to share!!
 

A funny Memorial Stadium story:

Before we had season tickets, my buddy and I went over to the stadium and looked for a scalper to buy tickets from. We were quickly approached by a college age student that said he could get us in for $5. He said "Put this vendor apron on". He then handed us a handful of game programs and said to simply walk by the ticket takers at the nearby gate (no security guards back then), and they would let us pass (as they would think we were real vendors). He said once we got inside, his buddy would meet us to take our aprons and programs. The scam worked perfectly. And I even sold a program before his buddy inside intercepted us!

Those were some fun times.
 

My dad would drive us down from the Iron Range for a game or two every year.

We would have lunch at the long gone Criterion Restaurant on University Avenue (Univ & Lexington) and ride on their fan bus to the stadium. Others have mentioned the sea of maroon MTC and tour busses parked in a lot at the SE corner of the stadium. The busses seemed to always be left idling. Every time I smell diesel bus fumes it brings me back to that spot.

The stadium was HUGE.... fairly shallow angled design put you a good ways from the action if you were up high.

Vendors hawking "Gopher Goalpost" programs, which I collected and held for years...

Outside of seeing B1G teams, I recall Washington, TCU, Oregon State, UCLA, Nebraska and some others....
My family had lived in Nebraska for a short time in the late 60's and my dad was a closet Nebraska fan since they were not direct competitors. He wore a scarlet red "N" Stetson cowboy hat to the game for a lark... He was not happy about Osborn running up the score and he ended up sitting on the hat, crushing it...This was not the 84-13 game but was the David Humm led Nebraska team and they put up 50 some points...

The "GOLD COUNTRY" years, with the weird dark mustard gold colored uniforms from head to toe, and the new artificial turf.....

Cinder running track around the perimiter of the field....

We also always seemed to be there on high school band day.... all of the bands sat in the open end of the stadium bleachers and it made for a colorful checkerboard.

Jules Perlt on the PA I burned into everyone's memory.... Calling the out of town scores, with the losing teams score first which resulted in dramatic effect if an upset was underway.

The dank smells of the concourse....

It was an interesting place and yes, memorable.
 
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I was a grad student in the late-70s/early-80s and the cost of student season tickets were so low that they didn't greatly diminish my alcohol budget so I saw about a dozen games at Memorial. A few more when I was in college north of Riverside and after I had finished my grad school course work. As I recall, sight lines were really good. No tailgating, but Stub & Herb's was packed before the game, during the game, and after the game. Same with the bars along Washington Avenue and Station 19. And you could routinely sneak a half pint of Schnapps or Blackberry Brandy into the stadium.

As others have mentioned, totally different atmosphere in a number of ways. The licensed apparel industry was in its infancy so there was very little "Gopherwear" in the stands. Lookng back, one can see how it would have had to have been totally remodeled for it to continue as a major sports venue, but the vibe of the place was really great and that was really diminished by the move to the Metrodome.

Sid Hartman did a lot of great things as a sports scribe for the Fish-Wrap Factory West, but his pimping for the Metrodome wasn't one of them. I saw a half dozen Gopher games at the Metrodome and it was pretty miserable even when the game had some meaning. For a stadium built for football, there were so many terrible sightlines unless you wanted to fork overl beaucoup bucks.
 

attended the Band Days games as a member of my HS band in 1968, '70 and '72. later on went to several games when I was attending college in the Cities and/or living in the Cities.

overall - no amenities (but at the time, we accepted it because we had nothing nicer to compare with). plank seating. limited concessions. going to the bathroom was an experience. no flashy videoboard with graphics. no canned music or "entertainment." the band played at halftime.

in short - you were there to watch a game. period. it was a simpler time when we didn't need constant stimulation. no cell phones to look at between plays.

in 1970, the first year of artificial turf, they were selling little squares of turf as souvenirs. I bought one. no idea what happened to it. wish I still had it.

by all modern standards, it was a dump. Like Met Stadium - and yet, I would give almost anything to be able to go back and watch a Twins game at the Met again. the Met was the stadium of my youth. I don't feel as connected to Memorial Stadium, but it was similar in that you went there to watch a game. it was about the game - not about the 'experience' of attending a game.
 



oldrodent said:
Went to a few games in the 70’s. On one particular game after a keg party on campus the previous night, we literally walked into the stadium with an 8 gallon keg side by side covered with a jacket. Now that’s something you won’t see at Huntington!
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Ah! Youth! Looking back, I can't believe all the crap we got away with then that in no way the youth of today can.
 

50PoundHead said:
Ah! Youth! Looking back, I can't believe all the crap we got away with then that in no way the youth of today can.
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This is so true. Now there are cameras everywhere and potential litigation around every corner.

I think of it all the time with my kids. They are used to a world where someone could start filming them at any moment, and the drinking age has been 21 for almost 40 years so they don’t understand what it would be like to get a keg every weekend, charge $5 per cup to any college kid without worrying about their age, and proceed to act like idiots til dawn.
 


Denver_Gopher said:
I was there a many times in the late sixties and early/mid seventies. My strongest memory of the stadium is the smell of cigar smoke and more of calm atmosphere. My best memory is outside the stadium where the band would march up University and after they passed us we would rush inside to see them march into the stadium. I was at LSU game this fall and they still do it. Very cool
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My dad added to the cigar smell. I added to the hot chocolate smell. I went from the time I was five to 1981, so I got about eight or nine seasons worth of memories.
 



I went to a couple games with relatives in the late 1970s. We sat in the bleachers that were in front of Cook Hall every time. Fun games. The team wore those mustard yellow pants.

Then I started at the U and bought student season tickets. They were on right side of the U in the stadium. Ironically, I sat near future fraternity brothers because one of my high school friends had tickets with them and they were a couple rows behind me. My first year at the U was the last season in Memorial Stadium.

Then we moved to the dome. Worst. Idea. Ever. Although I was part of the group shot of my fraternity used for the student season tickets flyer for 1985.

We had a couple of intramural touch football games on the field of Memorial Stadium in 1984. Got to roam the field after the game.

In Memorial Stadium, we (the students) were loud, rowdy and raucous. The Dome's First season was sterile, antiseptic and the epitome of Minnesota No-Fun-Allowed behavior enforcement. Banners and signs got confiscated at the door. Nothing was allowed in from the outside. Even the guy with his lucky taxidermied rabbit had it confiscated. The Marching Band was forced to sit in the Upper Deck. To make it worse, the team on the field gave us little to cheer for.

Sure we got wider concourses and shorter lines for the bathroom, but we also got a worse team, more expensive concessions and ushers who were narcs.
 
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SON’s description of the condition and ethos of Memorial Stadium is perfect.

Read Danny Spewak’s book about the 1941 Gopher football team and the coming of the American entrance into World War ll for more incidental detaiks about the stadium.

Prof. Ancel Key’s starvation experiments with World War ll conscientious objectors were conducted at the stadium in what was known as the Department of Physiological Hygiene IIRC. It was housed in the stadium.

Our Gopher football experience from the time of my first game in 1970 (Ohio University) through my graduation from high school (1981) was multi-generational. I went to the games with my grandfather; father; brother and other friends and relatives.

My maternal grandparents went to games in the 1920s. (I have my grandmother’s program from the 1926 Michigan game.). My dad—hale & hearty at 93—went to his first game in 1940 (Washington). He is likely one of the few people living who saw Bierman’s last pre-war teams play. (He has also seen—attended or watched on television—Gopher football games in 80 different seasons.)

Out seats were in section 26, row 60—a long climb. The lineage of the seats was Sig Harris—the Gophers’ double wing QB for Dr. Williams’ championship teams including the 1903 Michigan game from which the Little Brown Jug was born—and then Sig was an assistant coach for Bernie Bierman.

I attended the demolition ceremony of Memorial Stadium in 1992—a profoundly sad day set in motion when Lou Holtz convinced the regents in 1984 the football Gophers’ future lay with the Metrofome. Of course, he was gone by the end of the 1985 season. I brought my copy of “Gold Glory” to the ceremony which Pug Lund; Dick Wildung; and Bill Daley autographed.

Somehow—despite the difficulties of Gopher football over the years and the misbegotten decision to abandon Memorial—we landed back on campus in a functional & beautiful stadium. Our generally good defensive teams from the Kill/Claeys/Fleck period hand benefited from playing outdoor football with a modestly-sized but enthusiastic fan base and the students who bring great life to just about every home. In that way, the spirit of Memorial Stadium lives—especially on Military Appreciation Day which connects us to those honored by the construction of the stadium in the World War l post-war years.
 

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