November 24, 1962

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Doc Gopher

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Nomellini and others:
In one of the most famous Gopher vs. Badgers games ever, late in the game Bobby Bell crashes into Ron Vanderkelen causing the ball
to flutter into the air:
1. Name the Gopher linebacker to intercept the ball and his home town.
2. Name the referee that called roughing the passer. Also name his hometown and his occupation. You can probably tell that I
am not over this yet 54 years later. Gophers go on to lose 14 to 9.
3. Bonus question: Can you name the Gopher placekicker that kicked the field goal to put up ahead 9 to 7.
 


Doc Gopher said:
Nomellini and others:
In one of the most famous Gopher vs. Badgers games ever, late in the game Bobby Bell crashes into Ron Vanderkelen causing the ball
to flutter into the air:
1. Name the Gopher linebacker to intercept the ball and his home town.
2. Name the referee that called roughing the passer. Also name his hometown and his occupation. You can probably tell that I
am not over this yet 54 years later. Gophers go on to lose 14 to 9.
3. Bonus question: Can you name the Gopher placekicker that kicked the field goal to put up ahead 9 to 7.
Click to expand...

1. John Perkovich
2. Don Elser
3. Dentist from Ann Arbor, MI
4. Collin Verish

I also remember that game like it was yesterday.
 




Doc Gopher said:
Nomellini and others:
In one of the most famous Gopher vs. Badgers games ever, late in the game Bobby Bell crashes into Ron Vanderkelen causing the ball
to flutter into the air:
1. Name the Gopher linebacker to intercept the ball and his home town.
2. Name the referee that called roughing the passer. Also name his hometown and his occupation. You can probably tell that I
am not over this yet 54 years later. Gophers go on to lose 14 to 9.
3. Bonus question: Can you name the Gopher placekicker that kicked the field goal to put up ahead 9 to 7.
Click to expand...

The call was one of the worst I've ever seen - and was blasted by Sports Illustrated in a major story. The referee was named Jones. It was a clean tackle, the ball was caught on the Wisconsin side of the scrimmage line by Jack Perkovich and would have sealed a 9-7 Gopher victory and the Big Ten championship. Earlier, a TD by the Gophers' Bill Muncey was called back because of "helping the runner." We had to settle for a field goal. never witnessed that call before or since.
 

Dr. Robert Jones was a dentist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. There was a bar on University Ave. not too far from Memorial Stadium that had
a picture of the play on the wall. All of the key players were identified. Jones was also in the picture and he was identified as Jesse James.
 

Doc Gopher said:
Dr. Robert Jones was a dentist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. There was a bar on University Ave. not too far from Memorial Stadium that had
a picture of the play on the wall. All of the key players were identified. Jones was also in the picture and he was identified as Jesse James.
Click to expand...

I remember Sid writing a column on it in the paper the following week . I think he actually smoked the guy out by posting his name.
 

Doc Gopher said:
Nomellini and others:
In one of the most famous Gopher vs. Badgers games ever, late in the game Bobby Bell crashes into Ron Vanderkelen causing the ball
to flutter into the air:
1. Name the Gopher linebacker to intercept the ball and his home town.
2. Name the referee that called roughing the passer. Also name his hometown and his occupation. You can probably tell that I
am not over this yet 54 years later. Gophers go on to lose 14 to 9.
3. Bonus question: Can you name the Gopher placekicker that kicked the field goal to put up ahead 9 to 7.
Click to expand...

Doc- How fun! That was an awful day. A couple of other items from that game. The Gophers scored their touchdown on a pass from Duane Blaska to a tight end named _________________________.
After the Badgers scored their gift touchdown, Blaska rallied the Gophers downfield only to be intercepted in the end zone by a DB who would go on to play for 8 years with the Eagles and Rams. His name is
___________________________________
 



One of the truly dark days in Gopher football history
 

Doc Gopher said:
Dr. Robert Jones was a dentist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. There was a bar on University Ave. not too far from Memorial Stadium that had
a picture of the play on the wall. All of the key players were identified. Jones was also in the picture and he was identified as Jesse James.
Click to expand...

I believe the pic was on the wall of the "Badger Bar" which was on the south side of University Avenue across from the long gone Criterion Restaurant.... My dad used to drive us down from the Iron Range for two games each year, we'd have lunch at the Criterion and ride their fan bus down to the Brickhouse.
 

Nomellini said:
Doc- How fun! That was an awful day. A couple of other items from that game. The Gophers scored their touchdown on a pass from Duane Blaska to a tight end named _________________________.
After the Badgers scored their gift touchdown, Blaska rallied the Gophers downfield only to be intercepted in the end zone by a DB who would go on to play for 8 years with the Eagles and Rams. His name is
___________________________________
Click to expand...

Complete guesses: Ray Stephens _____Eddie Meador
 

Leo:
1. A guess on Gopher tight end: Ray Zitzloff
2. Pretty sure that the Badger DB was Jim Nettles
 




Doc Gopher said:
Leo:
1. A guess on Gopher tight end: Ray Zitzloff
2. Pretty sure that the Badger DB was Jim Nettles
Click to expand...

Thank you for responding and giving us a chance to think back on that day. Zitzloff caught the touchdown the week before in the 4th quarter of that tense 7-6 win over Purdue. Against Wisconsin, the scoring pass was caught by a guy named Myron Rognlie. Nettles did get the last ditch interception.
 

Colin Versich is correct spelling. He was from Hibbing.
 

It wasn't Verish, it was Versich. From Hibbing. They used to call him "Groza".
 

The Strib ran a great picture of that hit following the game. You can see Bell making contact with the QB while the ball is still in his hand, so obvious proof it wasn't a late hit. Although the way Bell played, I guess anytime he hit a QB it looked like roughing as he was one tough dude.
 

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