Memorial Stadium

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I was there twice in the late 1970's as a 10-13 year old kid. 1st game was against Oregon St. All I remember was the grass was the greenest I've never saw, and the orange helmets of Oregon St. stood out. 2nd game against Michigan. I sat in the end zone. Remember Haji-Scheick kicking numerous balls through the goal post. No netting behind the goal post back then. I was hoping to catch a football, but no such luck.
 

GoodasGold said:
“Completion to Brunzell on the 30 yard line…
…………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………….
…..Minnesotafirstdown!”
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I remember Jules calling out game updates so the lead was announced last. These were always great for upsets and potential upsets.

"We have a score update. Ohio State 21, Michigan State.... 23"
 
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Doc Gopher said:
I went to many games at the Brickhouse in the 60's and 70's. So many great memories.
Saw two Big Ten championships and so many great players. I always thought Bobby Bell
was the greatest Gopher that I saw play. I remember watching Dick Butkus just
totally control the game from middle linebacker and watched OJ beat us in a great game in
1968. A real treat was watching the Gophs beat #1 ranked Michigan in 77 and defeat Ohio
State in 81 (the last year of the stadium. The gates had no turnstiles and we knew several
of the ticket takers that would let us in for free. I could park for free 3blocks from the
stadium and stop at Stub and Herb's for a $2 beer. I think of that now when I write out
my $2500 check for my season tickets. I too remember the cigar smell. Does anybody remember
the students passing up a stuffed dummy up to the top of the stadium and throwing
it over the top wall of the stadium. Great memories.
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I remember hearing a story about something like that.

Bodysurfing up the stands was a big thing for decades. The dummy story morphed into throwing someone over the top.

Bodysurfing in the stands was another of those student traditions that was stopped by the narcs and ushers in the Dome.
 



I always feel sad when I hear folks talk bad about Williams Arena .... I feel like they'll trash it one day to "upgrade it" and it will be just like every other arena with barely anything left and we'll never get that vibe again.

I do remember near the end folks talked a lot about how bad Memorial was any any idea of an enhancement was ... replacing it.
 

Vandy said:
Great photo.... there is the oft mentioned bus parking section, most always left running on cold days... like I stated, to this day, whenever I whiff diesel vehicle fumes, it takes me back there....Its as good smell to me! ;)

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Wow! I had forgotten how much open space there was around the stadium. Just remembered the tunnel system we "veterans" would use winter quarter. You could go from Cooke Hall to Northrup, the mall, Coffman Union, etc. and never freeze you ass off using the tunnels. You would open a door, walk down some steps, and go from class to class without stepping outside. The last couple of years some of my classes were determined by that tunnel system.
 

I got to go with dad a bunch of times from 78-81. He had tickets in Section 2. At first I was more into the mascots than the game itself. I just remember loving getting to go! We played Michigan on Halloween. It was a beautiful day but I ate a bunch of popcorn and other junk and got sick in the car on the way home. Dad would buy me a pennant of the team we were playing that day. I remember seeing games against Toledo, USC, Oregon State, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. I remember watching people throw mini gold footballs by Cook Hall during games. I wanted one of those balls so bad. Dad did eventually buy me one and I still have it to this day but it’s a little worse for wear. I remember the girls getting passed up the stands. I remember a lot booze being brought in and consumed. There seemed to be lots of people wearing gold cowboy hats with a maroon M. Underneath the stadium it was dark and dingy. I remember walking out after games listening to Ray Christensen giving scores of other games on dad’s transistor radio. I’m proud to say I was at the last game there against Wisconsin in 1981. Lots of snowballs got tossed that day. I was a student at the U when they tore it down in 92. There were piles of bricks everywhere. 😥
 
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A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I always feel sad when I hear folks talk bad about Williams Arena .... I feel like they'll trash it one day to "upgrade it" and it will be just like every other arena with barely anything left and we'll never get that vibe again.

I do remember near the end folks talked a lot about how bad Memorial was any any idea of an enhancement was ... replacing it.
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I guess the hope would be that any replacement to Williams would be similar to what they did with The Bank. Seemed like they tried to keep the brick aesthetic and college atmosphere on the football side, but modernize it.

Hopefully if they were to ever replace Williams it could be a similar approach, make it a building with a barn like shape, have a raised floor, similar aesthetic, but updated tech, concourses, etc.
 



Memorial Stadium was old and probably not in the best of shape, but I preferred it to the Metrodome. Going to a game there was a true college football experience. If the weather was nice, my wife and I would arrive early, park on the west bank, have lunch, and then a take leisurely stroll over the bridge and through campus. I saw my first game at the U in 1959 while still in high school. I had season tickets in the 70's and carried them over into the Metrodome, but dropped them after just a few years. Being off campus and having the games under a dome ruined it for me. Two of my favorite memories are the USC game with OJ and the win over Michigan in 77. And here are just a few of the players who stood out from that time: Carl Eller, Bobby Bell, Rick Upchurch, Doug Kingsriter, Jim Carter, Marion Barber, Kent Kitzmann, Steve Stewart, and Keith Fahnhorst. Ah, the good old days.
 


Almost forgot to mention the game where a ringneck pheasant flew in and perched high on the wall overlooking the stadium. He probably didn't pay to get in either.
 

Attended many games at Memorial Stadium. Our high school football team would go to a game each year. It would be a 3 to 4 hour bus ride from SW Minnesota. First game I remember was against Vanderbilt on October 31, 1959 (I looked up the date). Wom 20 to 6. Tom Moore was RB for Vandy. May have attended a game kin 1958 but do not recall opponent. Recall the grass field was so green,. Airplane circling overhead pulling a banner saving something about “Dial Raw Beef”. Lucky Stikes sold at concession stand. Best games saw where during 1960 Purdue, 1961 Oregon and 1968 USC and OJ Simpson. Favorite teams 1960 and 1961. Will never forget the “Go for 2 point” sign outside a frat house. Many more games during 60$ and 70s.
 

Rhinegator said:
Attended many games at Memorial Stadium. Our high school football team would go to a game each year. It would be a 3 to 4 hour bus ride from SW Minnesota. First game I remember was against Vanderbilt on October 31, 1959 (I looked up the date). Wom 20 to 6. Tom Moore was RB for Vandy. May have attended a game kin 1958 but do not recall opponent. Recall the grass field was so green,. Airplane circling overhead pulling a banner saving something about “Dial Raw Beef”. Lucky Stikes sold at concession stand. Best games saw where during 1960 Purdue, 1961 Oregon and 1968 USC and OJ Simpson. Favorite teams 1960 and 1961. Will never forget the “Go for 2 point” sign outside a frat house. Many more games during 60$ and 70s.
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Our football team (the Echo Rockets) came down for one game per year too. My first game was a win over Purdue in 1959. What town in SW Minnesota were you from?
 

BBJones said:
Our football team (the Echo Rockets) came down for one game per year too. My first game was a win over Purdue in 1959. What town in SW Minnesota were you from?
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I grew up on farm and went high school in Okabema . We were the blue hawks.
 

IceBoxGopher said:
I guess the hope would be that any replacement to Williams would be similar to what they did with The Bank. Seemed like they tried to keep the brick aesthetic and college atmosphere on the football side, but modernize it.

Hopefully if they were to ever replace Williams it could be a similar approach, make it a building with a barn like shape, have a raised floor, similar aesthetic, but updated tech, concourses, etc.
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I've posted before on the basketball board - I really think they need to do what Butler did with Hinkle, where they saved the exterior, but basically rebuilt the entire interior inside the building.
 


disco said:
I've posted before on the basketball board - I really think they need to do what Butler did with Hinkle, where they saved the exterior, but basically rebuilt the entire interior inside the building.
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This has been my thought as well. Sadly the Gophers don't need a 14k capacity. What would it look like if revamped to a 10k seat arena with modern creature comforts. I'm assuming the cost of renovation would be close to starting new.
 

I am more of a viewer than a poster on this board, but hands down this thread has been one of my favorites to read through. Sadly I was too young to take in a game at Memorial Stadium but have memories of it falling in disrepair before demolition.

Simpler times, college shenanigans. GREAT stories. Us younger fans very much appreciate your memories.

My dad was a high school football coach and they would run an indoor practice at Gibson-Nagurski ahead of Prep Bowls in the Metrodome. My first Gopher memory was as a young lad "exploring" the complex unsupervised during one of those practices, running around the Gopher locker room wearing Darrell Thompson's helmet on my tiny shoulders.
 

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 in the bowl end. My dad was mad that we missed the first five minutes of the game.

The airplane flying over with banners.

Seeing AstroTurf for the first time, and the huge crown on the field. The teams had to run up hill on their own end and down hill on the other.

Going to Arby's at the University Avenue split, when it was the only one in town. Going to Red Barn for burgers.

Of course, going to the game with my dad and grandparents. It was an event.
 
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I was too late to see any football in Memorial. But I remember playing racquetball there in the late 80's. I hated the Metrodome. But if it weren't for that era, we wouldn't have the current stadium which I love. Open concourses, lot's of bathrooms and not a bad seat in the whole place. None of those could be said for Memorial or the Metrodome. I kind of hate how we got here, but I'm glad we are here.
 

HopHead said:
I was too late to see any football in Memorial. But I remember playing racquetball there in the late 80's. I hated the Metrodome. But if it weren't for that era, we wouldn't have the current stadium which I love. Open concourses, lot's of bathrooms and not a bad seat in the whole place. None of those could be said for Memorial or the Metrodome. I kind of hate how we got here, but I'm glad we are here.
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I'm with you, brother.
 

Great thread, thanks to all for sharing their memories. My personal experiences at Memorial Stadium are limited to my Dad's stories of attending games starting in the 30's and then arriving on the campus shortly before demolition. Did manage to scale a security fence and grab a couple of bricks one night.
 

Married@SiebertField said:
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.
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The Gophers were already at the HHH Dome for 2 seasons under Joe Salem before Lou Holtz set foot in Dinkytown, so at the very least it was already in motion. I personally don't put Holtz responsible. By 1984 and abandoned for 2 years it would have been a Hail Mary to return.

Even after Holtz left the structure was still standing (as it would for 7 more years), but by then in even worse shape.
 

fatgopher said:
What would it look like if revamped to a 11,842 seat arena with modern creature comforts. I'm assuming the cost of renovation would be close to starting new.
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Someone else on this board came up with this idea.

Seating of 11,842 would reflect the number of lakes in Minnesota (definition of lake as 10 acres or more).
 

Kitzmann57 said:
I was there twice in the late 1970's as a 10-13 year old kid. 1st game was against Oregon St. All I remember was the grass was the greenest I've never saw, and the orange helmets of Oregon St. stood out. 2nd game against Michigan. I sat in the end zone. Remember Haji-Scheick kicking numerous balls through the goal post. No netting behind the goal post back then. I was hoping to catch a football, but no such luck.
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I was at an Oregon State game (a loss, for sure) in the late 70’s too. You and I were probably at the same game.

I looked it up. October 7th, 1978. Gophers 14, Beavers 17. I would have been 11 years old.

They played again on 9/26/81 but I know I wasn’t at that game because that one was a 42-12 victory.

I didn’t realize the Gopher game I was at in 1978 was the only loss to OSU among 5 total games, 4 of which were at MN, 1 at the Bank and the other 3 at Memorial and just one in Corvallis.

I remember both of my trips to Memorial Stadium were the result of some “package” deal through my dad’s work where we took a charter bus from New Ulm, had a pit stop at the Prom Ballroom for lunch, and then onto campus for the games - both times.

Very exciting stuff for a little town outstate fella like me at the time. Just getting to the city was always exciting, let alone a Viking/Twins/Gopher game.

One of the games I was at was “band day” and they made a lot bigger deal out of that and played/marched together more than they do at current band days.

Although there wasn’t as much merchandising and team team gear worn to games in those days, my parents did find a souvenir stand in the concourse and bought me a TShirt where the block M was actually sparkly, ahead of its time tshirt engineering. I wore the shit out of that tshirt.

At my second game (can’t remember the opponent, but it was against a non conference MAC-like or directional southern team), we sat in the sun drenched NE corner and I remember how impressive the newish Moos tower looked as it was the only structure visible above the south rim of the stadium.

Despite all the excitement and fun from my two childhood trips to Memorial stadium, I do remember that by then my dad was pretty pessimistic about potentially seeing more of the successes the team had and their national championships he recalled from his own childhood. I wonder what he would have said if I could have told him the Salem and Wacker years were still to come. He died in 2006 so at least he got to see a heartbeat in the Mason years.
 

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