My parents and for that matter most of my family, went to the U of M.
Growing up in a small rural town in Minnesota, I had memories of rolling a little rubber wheel through spent shotgun shells pretending these were our foe for the day. I was pretty young at the time, but this was how I remember spending most of my fall Saturdays with my dad listening to Gopher games on the radio. Sometimes, when we could afford it, he took me to a game at Memorial Stadium.
The game I do remember listening to in particular was our Jan 2, 1961, Rose bowl appearance. It was hard to miss the disappointment of our family when we lost to Washington. Of course, Stephens (my other hero) helped reverse this the following season against UCLA.
My dad somehow managed to secure Stephens, Dickson, Bell, Eller and Warmath’s autographs that year. How could I not be a Gopher?!
I wish my dad was around to see the new stadium…
