More honorary captains added: Nagurski, Giel, Bierman, Smith, etc. and other tid-bits

[BleedGopher]

It looks like all of the legends or family members of said legends will serve as honorary captains Saturday night, per David Shama:

Official kickoff time for the historic TCF Bank Stadium opener on Saturday is 6:02 p.m. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. at the stadium's student entrance.

During the pre-game ceremonies, the Air Force Falcon and a bald eagle from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center will be on the field. As Air Force takes the field, a video tribute honoring the U.S. armed forces and featuring the Air Force, will be seen on the video boards. Following the National Anthem, four F-16 fighter jets will perform a fly-over.

Nine Gopher legends will serve as honorary captains, while former head coach Murray Warmath, 96, will be the honorary coach. The honorary captains: Bernie Bierman (represented by James Bierman); Bobby Bell; Billy Bye (represented by Julianne Bye); Paul Giel (represented by Paul Giel Jr.); Bud Grant; Bob McNamara; Bronko Nagurski (represented by a family member); Bruce Smith (represented by son Bruce Smith); and Sandy Stephens (represented by Ray Stephens). Also, legendary Minnesota broadcaster Ray Christensen will call the first Gopher offensive series of the second half.

More than 400 former Gopher players will be in attendance at Saturday’s game. They will have a picnic at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex from 1 to 3 p.m. They will be on the field prior to the game and honored as the Gophers leave the field following pre-game warm-ups.

http://www.shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Ski U Mah 55]

Is it just me, or does Shama do 100x the quality of coverage of Gopher football than any other local media outlet?

 

[BleedGopher]

Is it just me, or does Shama do 100x the quality of coverage of Gopher football than any other local media outlet?

Shama does a nice job, as do many media outlets. Of course I'm a tad biased, but cranking out more than 30 articles in 30 days all for free all about the stadium and its impact is pretty impressive. Nadine's interview with the AD at the University of Louisville about how their stadium impacted their athletic department, to interviews with Maturi, Ron Johnson, Glen Mason, Dave Mona, Ray Christensen, McNamara, Warmath, Adam Rittenberg, etc. is a lot of work and worthy of the same praise as Shama's few paragraphs 2-3 times a week.

Go Gophers!!