Memorial Stadium

Donate To GopherHole
fatgopher said:
View attachment 35314

I finally found the image I was looking for. This is my personal memory of Memorial Stadium as I am too young to have watched a game there. My old man brought me down to campus during a trip to the Twin Cities and we walked around, saw construction of the aquatic center while I took in the facade of the old brickhouse.
Click to expand...
It was taken down the summer before my freshmen year in 1996. This is my memory as well.
 

GopherDog1 said:
One of many memories was getting my hands on a program at Memorial Stadium. They were thick, had plenty of ads and you could read the names of all the players on both teams and where they were from. I was young, started going when I was 9 but I kept each program from all the games. I have no idea where they are now and I wish I could find them.
Click to expand...
The name of the progam was Gopher "Goal Post".
 

I used to love the Goal Post. I still bought them at the Metrodome but eventually with the existence of the internet, they just became redundant.

Speaking of the Metrodome, between the different memories there and the woulda coulda shoulda things they should have done once the move became permanent, that calls for a new thread at some point when this one runs its course. The Metrodome was never going to be on campus and a best case situation (like we have now with the Bank) but there were some very fixable annoying things about it that could have been improved for Gopher football. We can tackle that another day...
 

fatgopher said:
View attachment 35314

I finally found the image I was looking for. This is my personal memory of Memorial Stadium as I am too young to have watched a game there. My old man brought me down to campus during a trip to the Twin Cities and we walked around, saw construction of the aquatic center while I took in the facade of the old brickhouse.
Click to expand...

You can see the scoreboard attached to the top of Cooke Hall still.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
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.
Click to expand...
My experience was a bit different. I was at the U from 1984-1988 and lived on campus (first two years in Territorial Hall). We had 6 of us with tickets from my house in the dorm. We actually kind of liked the MetroDome. The walk across the Washington Ave bridge to the dome was fun. The atmosphere in the dome the first two years was great during the Lou Holtz days. It wasn't until after Holtz left that the dome became a real bummer. With a poor to mediocre team, attendance lagged and home games with Wisconsin and Iowa were terrible because half the crowd were cheering for the opponent.
 


Bayfield Gopher said:
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.
Click to expand...
If anyone ever finds old audio clips of Jules Perlt and/or Ray Christensen from either Memorial Stadium or the barn. Please post them. Those voices are really the only thing I miss from the old days.
 

Donovan said:
My experience was a bit different. I was at the U from 1984-1988 and lived on campus (first two years in Territorial Hall). We had 6 of us with tickets from my house in the dorm. We actually kind of liked the MetroDome. The walk across the Washington Ave bridge to the dome was fun. The atmosphere in the dome the first two years was great during the Lou Holtz days. It wasn't until after Holtz left that the dome became a real bummer. With a poor to mediocre team, attendance lagged and home games with Wisconsin and Iowa were terrible because half the crowd were cheering for the opponent.
Click to expand...
My freshman year was ‘86 (also lived in Territorial), the first year for Gutey, and the Dome atmosphere, like you said, just sucked, despite having legit stars Foggie and Thompson. We would sneak in huge flasks of Bacardi and buy a large Coke (they only sold shitty 3.2 beer there at the time) to make things more entertaining.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
My freshman year was ‘86 (also lived in Territorial), the first year for Gutey, and the Dome atmosphere, like you said, just sucked, despite having legit stars Foggie and Thompson. We would sneak in huge flasks of Bacardi and buy a large Coke (they only sold shitty 3.2 beer there at the time) to make things more entertaining.
Click to expand...
The early loss to Pacific after also getting pounded by Oklahoma (63-0) played a huge role in stunting the momentum from Holtz's previous success during that 1986 season.

Pretty amazing that they recovered with a win at Michigan and even with a heartbreaking loss to Iowa, finished T3 in the Big 10 and earned a Liberty Bowl berth.
 

My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
 



Great Plains Gopher said:
My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
Click to expand...
Wow, that's a tremendous wealth of knowledge. If there's ever a documentary on that joint or show on BTN I hope those folks hit you up.

That was a great read. Thanks for sharing.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
Click to expand...
Fabulous—thank you for sharing!
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the myriad of memories!
 

46Gophers said:
Pretty basic stadium but it was full of energy. Watched them beat UCLA, Washington, and then Michigan all at home in 1977. As the end of the year approached it was Michigan vs either UCLA or Washington in the Rose Bowl (ended up being Washington) but I remember how cool it was that we had beaten the Rose Bowl teams that year. Unfortunately way too many bad loses that year. I was a HS student and remember sitting close to where the UCLA cheerleaders were on the field and that made that game all the more interesting :oops:
Click to expand...
The UCLA cheerleader sweater was pure gold.
 



Although I never saw a game at Memorial Stadium, while I was at school my fraternity was just across the street, kind of kitty-corner from the stadium. We used to hit golf balls from the front of our house, over University Ave into the mostly deserted stadium, good times. We also had plenty of snow football games and home run derby’s as well.

The dome was the worst environment fro professional sports that I have ever seen, just awful, but that didnt keep me from attending lots of games there. Blessed to have our new stadium.

What I wouldn’t give to go back to the mid 1980’s and campus life again. Great memories!
 

WindyCityGopher said:
My freshman year was ‘86 (also lived in Territorial), the first year for Gutey, and the Dome atmosphere, like you said, just sucked, despite having legit stars Foggie and Thompson. We would sneak in huge flasks of Bacardi and buy a large Coke (they only sold shitty 3.2 beer there at the time) to make things more entertaining.
Click to expand...
I probably saw 10 or 12 games at Memorial as a HS student. Then I went to college out of state and have lived out of state since. I never saw one Gopher game at the Metrodome. In recent years my financial situation has improved and I've probably made it to 10 games at the Bank, and about 20 bowl or away games in the last 15 years. I hope to live long enough to see us play in the playoff. If Indiana can do that, we can. Go Gophers!
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
Click to expand...
Fantastic, please share more of you memories!
 

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this thread. It’s awesome to read the stories and details from the past.

Tangentially related, but there may be a historical or archiving opportunity with threads like this on GopherHole. As the years go on and college sports and venues continue to change, it might be neat to have a specific forum with threads like this to give those interested an idea of what the game was like in the past. Maybe have threads broken down by decade where posters can share stories of watching games or the teams during that timeframe. Just throwing that out there.
 

I was thinking about my most vivid memories games-wise. Three jump out over the many others.

1. Paul Rogind hit the game-winning FG in 1977 to beat the eventual Rose Bowl winner, Washington Huskies. It was the only game my mom brought me to. We moved around the stadium to keep my mom interested and ended up right behind the goal posts where Rogind won it.

2. Jay Carroll catching the 3 td's to beat Ohio State. Only time I got a high five from a player.

3. Snowballs everywhere against Wisconsin. The last game at Memorial.
 

tikited said:
I was thinking about my most vivid memories games-wise. Three jump out over the many others.

1. Paul Rogind hit the game-winning FG in 1977 to beat the eventual Rose Bowl winner, Washington Huskies. It was the only game my mom brought me to. We moved around the stadium to keep my mom interested and ended up right behind the goal posts where Rogind won it.

2. Jay Carroll catching the 3 td's to beat Ohio State. Only time I got a high five from a player.

3. Snowballs everywhere against Wisconsin. The last game at Memorial.
Click to expand...
An odd thing about the '77 season's Rose Bowl: Minnesota beat both of the teams, Washington and Michigan, leading one TV announcer to quip that it was the "Gopher Bowl."
 

Many years ago a co-worker said he was going to a Gopher game with a friend, and the had an extra ticket, and would I like to go. It rained the whole game. Don't remember the year, but Tony Dungy was their qb. Seats were on the 50 about 15 rows up. Turns out his friend was Bob McNamara. My friend went to high school with both McNamara's. What I remember most was when they played the school song, Bob stood and sang every word with his hand over his heart. A true Gopher thru and thru.
 

GoldAlum said:
Many years ago a co-worker said he was going to a Gopher game with a friend, and the had an extra ticket, and would I like to go. It rained the whole game. Don't remember the year, but Tony Dungy was their qb. Seats were on the 50 about 15 rows up. Turns out his friend was Bob McNamara. My friend went to high school with both McNamara's. What I remember most was when they played the school song, Bob stood and sang every word with his hand over his heart. A true Gopher thru and thru.
Click to expand...
That's impressive!
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
My dad took me to see Bierman's final years at the U after I showed an interest in the warriors I saw in the Sunday peach sports section. I liked military history and football looked like it was military: offense, defense, helmets, physical struggle, casualties. The first teams I saw were the Bud Grant ex-WWII older teams of 1948-49, with Tonnemaker and Nomellini, Billy Bye, Gordy Soltau. The '49 team is one of the top Gopher teams I've ever seen - they were loaded. For the '49 Iowa game we had seats two rows behind the Gopher bench and I got a good look at Bierman, a legend, and all the players. Nomellini was pulled when the score hit 49-7 Gophers, and I'll never forget Leo the lion, a huge man, pulling off his helmet, shaking his head and looking up laughing. He was a 2 yr All-American. We left then and by the time we got to our car, the Gophers had scored again, winning 55-7. Without doubt the greatest game I saw in Memorial was the 1960 national championship game with Iowa - the media presence set a record. Sports Illustrated and LIFE magazine were covering it and scads of reporters from other publications. Iowa was leading 10-7 at the half. They were #1 in polls, we were # 2 in one, #3 in the other. The Gophers won in the second half when reserve QB Joe Salem threw a long pass that set up a TD, and our All-America center, Tom Brown, playing middle guard on defense, began driving the Iowa center back into their QB play after play, finally causing a fumble. It was brutal. Our FB, Roger Hagberg, was ripping Iowa's defensive line and broke one for another TD. Iowa wilted after that and the Gophers won 27-10, which put them #1 in both coaches and writers polls at the end of the season (bowl games didn't count in standings then). Next year's team was almost as good and the '62 team was the best defensive team I ever saw, holding 5 of 9 opponents scoreless and two others (should have been 3) to one touchdown. In Madison officials gave the conference championship to Wisconsin with two of the worst calls I've ever seen, one a roughing the passer call on Bobby Bell that was totally wrong - in fact he hit the Badger QB as he was passing and the ball never crossed the line of scrimmage, but fluttered straight up and was nabbed by a Goopher lineman. That, in the final minutes, would have clinched a 9-7 Gopher win and the title. To make it worse the official, named Jones, dropped a 15 yard penalty on Warmath because of his explosive reaction and that set up the winning Badger TD, 14-9 (earlier a TD by a Gopher running back was disallowed because of "helping the runner, a call I'd never seen or heard of, so we settle for a field goal). Paul Giel's farewell, a 21-21 tie with Wisconsin in the final game of '53 was almost as memorable.

There were many other famous games and players and the stadium is as described by others - the brickhouse, with cigar smoke drifting across the seated crowd. It was THE sports event in MN until Bud Grant built up the Vikings. Among other great games: tying Michigan's defending national championship team in the dismal 1950 season, 7-7; beating Pittsburgh on national TV, another huge day for Giel in '53; beating #10 USC in a true snow storm in 1955 - the California players looked miserable; knocking off #5 Michigan in '56; a big victory over #1 Michigan St in '61; almost beating OJ and USC in '68, 20-29. The Warmath-Devaney duel was epic while the Gophers maintained strength. But Devaney, losing the stats battle, would pull out a victory with a long pass or trick play - scores were 7-14, 21-26, 0-7, 14-17 in the first four contests, then the slaughter began. Cal Stoll's enormous and convincing upset of #1 Michigan in '77 was the real deal: a defensive masterpiece in the brickhouse, 16-0, that shocked the nation. But the 70s, 80s and 90s were largely a wasteland until '97 when I nearly fell off a kitchen chair reading that Lamanzer Williams had made a couple of All-America teams in Glen Mason's first year. No Gopher had made any All-America team, important or not, since 1971!
I could add twice as much as I've written, about individual players and teams, but moving to the Dome, a major project for AD Paul Giel, changed the game. Not until the present stadium was built, did some of the flavor of Memorial come back (Memorial's founding game was a win over Red Grange and Illinois in 1924). Sports Writer Don Riley tried desperately to save Memorial by modernizing it and the St. Paul Pioneer Press ran a half page drawing of what it would look like - it was short on rest rooms, concessions, and the basic structure was aging badly. The big money men in Minneapolis didn't want it any more and were all for a dome, which was a bargain since it served three teams.

In another Memorial memory, Paul Giel's one-man victory over a rated Michigan team in 1953, 22-0, could easily have been 52-0, but Fesler's teams were sloppy, with lots of turnovers, many in that game in Michigan's red zone. Giel was essentially the QB as we know it (left halfback under Wesler's system) and did all the punting and passing. He was the most elusive runner I ever saw, though not fast. An L.A. sports writer famously wrote: "Paul Giel looks like a man, but runs like a cat." he missed the '53 Heisman in the closest voting in the history of the trophy, playing 60 minutes per game.
Click to expand...
Great article. I shared many of the same memories.
 

The family of my best friends growing up had season tix, up until just a few years ago when they aged out of going to games.

But when I was a wee lad, I was lucky enough to snag an extra ticket and go with them. I don't remember a single game that I attended but I remember all the things most people have noted, from snowballs to some people writing, in snow, on the bricks at the top of the stadium, "FIRE SALEM". I do remember that the family would join with some others and tailgate pretty casually. And on those days, they would allow us kids to wander over to Dinkytown and we got to go to a two story tall McDonald's, and that was pretty heady stuff for us, just starting to feel our independence.

By the time I got to The "U", we had already moved into the mess that was the Dome. And for years, we had parking close to the dome and would do the typical tailgate, just a group of 8 - 16 that would grill, snack, throw the football around, play music way too loud, and the tailgating experience was awesome for me.

Then, on any perfect autumn day, where the colors were changing, the temps were perfect for football, someone would look at their watch or the crowd, and begrudgingly say to the group, "welp...I guess it's time to go inside", and it really sucked the energy out of our group that we had to go inside to watch our favorite team.

I also went to the first game in the new Brickhouse, and it was a revelation. After a serious grilling season with awesome steaks and all the fixings, we entered the stadium at the closed end, and my first view after ascending the stairs was that beautiful stadium with the Minneapolis skyline as the backdrop.

Gawd, I hate that we wasted so many years in the dome.

Enjoy the Brickhouse, it's one of the most beautiful stadiums out there.
 

Unregistered User said:
Then, on any perfect autumn day, where the colors were changing, the temps were perfect for football, someone would look at their watch or the crowd, and begrudgingly say to the group, "welp...I guess it's time to go inside", and it really sucked the energy out of our group that we had to go inside to watch our favorite team.

Gawd, I hate that we wasted so many years in the dome.

Enjoy the Brickhouse, it's one of the most beautiful stadiums out there.
Click to expand...
Yup.
Yup.
And, yup.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom