So when did it all start for you?

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Rouser4eVA

Rouser4eVA

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I'm curious about the etiology of your Gopher fan loyalty, fellow Holers. What are your earliest Gopher football memories? And with the constant heartbreak involved with being "one of us" how the heck did it stick?

I'll start...I fell for Gopher Football because to be in the hockey band, you had to be in the marching band. I didn't grow up going to Gopher football games, because well, I don't know why my parents never brought me?? But when I donned the Minnesota Marching Band uniform and became a part of Saturdays at the U of M, I guess it just made sense, being a lifelong Minnesotan, playing the Rouser, singing Minn March and Hail Minn. I guess I underwent a kind of psychologically powerful brain-washing association between Gopher football and a strong sense of loyalty and ownership.

I graduated in 2000 and the U will always hold a very special place in my heart, as dysfunctional as that sounds, and Gopher football will always be my Saturday love!

So how bout you all?

Go Gophers!
 

First Live Gopher FB memory

Watching Tyrone Carter return the opening kick of the '98 season for a TD vs Arkansas State. I was 9.
 

For me it was the Fall of 1999.

While I'm a Minnesota Native, I had lived out of state for a long time. My wife and I moved back here in the fall of 1998. We had been living in South Bend and would regularly shell out big bucks for Irish games. After she enrolled at the U, we got the student ticket mailer advertising student tickets for $55 a season (including a t-shirt). Well, this was just too good of a deal, so we became season ticket holders in 1999. What a great season to board the train!

And we have never looked back.

Go Gophers.
 

My first game was in the fall of 1961. Our high school coach brought the whole football team,( all 23 of us) to see the U play Navy. Navy's quarterback was Roger Staubach who went on to a great career in the NFL. After serving 4 years in the Air Force I got my first season tickets in old Memorial Stadium. I have been following the Gophers thru thick and thin ever since. Unfortunately there has been a lot of thin and too little thick. GO GOPHers.
 

The earliest game that I remember was the 1979 game against Wisconsin. I had been listening to Gopher games on the radio before that, but that's the earliest I remember clearly. A Gopher game on TV was a rare treat.
 


I guess I don't have an earliest memory, been going to games as long as I can remember. The one thing that has kept me coming back again and again is that being a Goph fan truly is a family tradition, and I try to pass on as many traditions as possible.
 

Went to a game in the mid 50's, but didn't really know what was going on. Became a big fan(mostly on radio) in the 1960 season. That's a while back I think.
 

My first experience was listening to Ray Christensen calling Ricky Foggie and Daryl Thompson. Also the excitment that I could watch the Liberty Bowl against Tennessee on some snowy channel on the farm I grew up on.

My senior year I was able to attend the Gophers hosting Ball State. My memory from that game was Brad Maynard punting the ball over 70 yards with perfect spiral in warm-ups every time.

The U was the only school I wanted to attend and I applied with only being to Basketball games at the Barn. I have had season tickets for the last 15 years, traveling to 5 road games. Planning my 6th at USC this labor day weekend.
 

1981 Memorial Stadium, I was 13 years old. The Gophers beat Ohio State and when we were leaving Tommy Kramer was sitting in his car with his wife/girlfriend signing autographs.
 



Beating Penn St. in 99. I grew up on a farm without cable tv so I didn't have much exposure at all prior to living on my own after college. That was the season I became a die hard gopher fan. I had always followed the basketball team before that but almost never saw any football games.
 

station19 said:
Went to a game in the mid 50's, but didn't really know what was going on. Became a big fan(mostly on radio) in the 1960 season. That's a while back I think.
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19, I can relate to your chronology. My first attendance at a Gopher game was at Memorial Stadium, fall of 1959, High School FB Team Trip, also fall of 1960 and 1961. Prior to that, we always listened to Gopher FB on the radio while out pheasant huntingwith my late Father, eating our sandwiches mom made, with small cans of VanCamps Pork and Beans. We also, attended because of our High School FB Team going to the U of M by a good old rough riding school bus. We always stopped on the way up for late breakfast at Windy Acres in Cannon Falls MN.

I remember the Gopher Players playing both ways...Sandy Stephens, Judge Dickson, et. al.

We sat in the bleacher end opposite the bowl, and watched Sandy Stephens make a one handed interception in the end Zone right in front of us to preserve a Gopher Win!!!!!

GO GOPHERS...KILL, MAIM, INJURE, BURN, PILLAGE, (OR IS IT PILLAGE THEN BURN?) AND PLAY PROUD
 

Man there are some old farts on this board :) I always picture the under 40 crowd, but not always the case.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Man there are some old farts on this board :) I always picture the under 40 crowd, but not always the case.
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MaxyJR1...If you could only have experienced the things some of us "OLD FARTS" experienced, you and lots of other pups on GopherHole would have a lot more appreciation of what was. Some times it pays to be an "OLD FART". Our memories of what was are certainly better than bragging about today's record scores on some frikking video game.
 



Dr.Don said:
19, I can relate to your chronology. My first attendance at a Gopher game was at Memorial Stadium, fall of 1959, High School FB Team Trip, also fall of 1960 and 1961. Prior to that, we always listened to Gopher FB on the radio while out pheasant huntingwith my late Father, eating our sandwiches mom made, with small cans of VanCamps Pork and Beans. We also, attended because of our High School FB Team going to the U of M by a good old rough riding school bus. We always stopped on the way up for late breakfast at Windy Acres in Cannon Falls MN.

I remember the Gopher Players playing both ways...Sandy Stephens, Judge Dickson, et. al.

We sat in the bleacher end opposite the bowl, and watched Sandy Stephens make a one handed interception in the end Zone right in front of us to preserve a Gopher Win!!!!!

GO GOPHERS...KILL, MAIM, INJURE, BURN, PILLAGE, (OR IS IT PILLAGE THEN BURN?) AND PLAY PROUD
Click to expand...

Went to a game in 1966, high school lettermens club, against Purdue and Bob Griese.

I feel younger now.:cool02:
 

station19 said:
Went to a game in 1966, high school lettermens club, against Purdue and Bob Griese.

I feel younger now.:cool02:
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station19, everyone younger than I feels younger than I. Everyone older than I, well, some are dead. I am alive, love beer, women are beautiful, and those over 50 are awesome!!!! (They don't yell, They don't tell, They don't swell, and They are grateful as hell. :clap:)
 

Dr.Don said:
MaxyJR1...If you could only have experienced the things some of us "OLD FARTS" experienced, you and lots of other pups on GopherHole would have a lot more appreciation of what was. Some times it pays to be an "OLD FART". Our memories of what was are certainly better than bragging about today's record scores on some frikking video game.
Click to expand...

I'm not quite that young. I'm more of a lower 30 something going on 40 basically because of my rural farm upbringing.
 

Spinning my grandma's Lou Holtz "Gopher Fever" album on the phonograph back in about '84-'85. Gophers went to the Independence Bowl in '85, I remember desperately trying to get some UHF channel to come in so I could watch the game.
 

One of my earliest memories is listening to the Randy Breuer-era Gophers on my parent's Zenith radio. Was always a bigger Gopher hoops fan, but followed the football team as well. Never had cable until I got to college, so it made things difficult in the pre-Internet era. Became a season ticket holder for football in the mid 2000s due to a kid that grew up down the road from me playing for the U and now it's my #1 passion.
 

everybody knows my name said:
Spinning my grandma's Lou Holtz "Gopher Fever" album on the phonograph back in about '84-'85. Gophers went to the Independence Bowl in '85, I remember desperately trying to get some UHF channel to come in so I could watch the game.
Click to expand...

Funny I was able to get it, I think it was on Channel 23 or 29 in the Mankato area.
 


Dr.Don said:
MaxyJR1...If you could only have experienced the things some of us "OLD FARTS" experienced, you and lots of other pups on GopherHole would have a lot more appreciation of what was. Some times it pays to be an "OLD FART". Our memories of what was are certainly better than bragging about today's record scores on some frikking video game.
Click to expand...

Why are you always taking shots at young people?
 


My first experience was while Looking out the front window of my house. I was watching the pep rally across the street, in what was then the University parking lots. It was homecoming and the student's had a large bonfire in the parking lot. I can still picture the dummy dressed in a uniform of the visiting team being burned in effigy over the fire. That was 1964 or 1965, and my family lived in a house right where the Bierman football complex is located, right on the corner of what would be 14th and 5th. We had a vacant lot next to the house, so we sold parking spots for the games.
 

Sean Lumpkin said:
My first experience was while Looking out the front window of my house. I was watching the pep rally across the street, in what was then the University parking lots. It was homecoming and the student's had a large bonfire in the parking lot. I can still picture the dummy dressed in a uniform of the visiting team being burned in effigy over the fire. That was 1964 or 1965, and my family lived in a house right where the Bierman football complex is located, right on the corner of what would be 14th and 5th. We had a vacant lot next to the house, so we sold parking spots for the games.
Click to expand...

Now that's a good story.
 

Rouser4eVA said:
I'm curious about the etiology of your Gopher fan loyalty, fellow Holers. What are your earliest Gopher football memories? And with the constant heartbreak involved with being "one of us" how the heck did it stick?

I'll start...I fell for Gopher Football because to be in the hockey band, you had to be in the marching band. I didn't grow up going to Gopher football games, because well, I don't know why my parents never brought me?? But when I donned the Minnesota Marching Band uniform and became a part of Saturdays at the U of M, I guess it just made sense, being a lifelong Minnesotan, playing the Rouser, singing Minn March and Hail Minn. I guess I underwent a kind of psychologically powerful brain-washing association between Gopher football and a strong sense of loyalty and ownership.

I graduated in 2000 and the U will always hold a very special place in my heart, as dysfunctional as that sounds, and Gopher football will always be my Saturday love!

So how bout you all?

Go Gophers!
Click to expand...


I can remember attending the Minnesota State Fair in about 1974???? and looking at the U of M Sports booth under the Grandstand. My dad was watching the Highlight film showing the basketball team's highlights!! He was in a trance due the fact that this was WAY before the days of ESPN!!! He was like a little kid and did not want to leave. I saw the love in his eyes and the heard the passion in his questions to me to stay with him and view the highlights! I am sure the football team had a highlight film too!! But, that day will always stick with me and that was the day I fell in love with the Gophers!!

I too do remember riding in an old pick up truck chasing the wiley rooster with my dad!!!

I graduated from HS the same year as Darryl Thompson! I wanted to grow up a gopher ever since I can remember.

After all I would rather the Gophers win a Rose then the Vikes win a Super.
 


Watching McHale, Mychal and Flip from the student section.
 

1993 vs. Wisconsin

first date with my now wife - I didn't know where to take her so we went to the dome and scalped some tix (home games were allways on Saturday nights then). That was Wicky's rose bowl year and Jimmy Wacker's boys whipped 'em that night in a high scoring affair. Actually it was a great game and that Gopher win was the only blemish on Wisky's record that year (love that). I had a head set with me since the world series was on that night as well - all those sitting around me in the upper deck of the end zone were checking with me for updates on the series and my now wife must have thinking what type of loser is this guy. Any way I still bring that head set with me to all Gopher games along with our four kids - i'm up to six season tix now
 

I decided to attend the U in the spring of my junior year. Coincidentally, that also happened to be the spring that the Final-Four-That-Never-Was took place. Part of my rationale for choosing a college was going somewhere close to home that also had big-time sports. As someone else already mentioned, the first thing that happened in the first game that fall was Tyrone Carter's 86-yard kickoff return to the house against Arkansas St. Between Bobby J and TC, I was hooked, and I've been a die-hard ever since.
 

When I joined the U of M Marching Band. It got me connected to the team and hooked for life.

It's sad to admit - but prior to going to the U I had never attended a Gopher Football game, despite being a huge sports fan. I followed Gopher Basketball growing up somewhat, but not football. My dad wasn't a college football fan so I wasn't either, and nothing had ever happened in my life to make me pay attention to Gopher Football. I was a die-hard Vikings and NFL guy growing up - so much so I didn't pay an ounce of attention to the college game. That all changed once I got to college and I realized the error of my ways.
 

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