What is your, "I remember exactly where I was" Gopher Football Moment?

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1986 vs. Michigan: I'm in the parking garage of my apartment changing the battery in my car, my two year old daughter in tow. She's sitting on a rug on the floor playing with toys. I have the Gopher game on another radio. Kind of out of nowhere, Foggie makes his scrambling 31-yard run to the Michigan 17-yard line, with Ray's voice amping up with every step. I'm not paying attention and I arc the battery with the wrench I'm using to tighten one of the bolts, sparks flying everywhere. In her cutest two-year old voice, she says "Oooh, Stah Wahs!"

 
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1977 vs Michigan: That day I started for the first time for my small college team in Kansas. Had the best game of my career with my parents and grandparents in the stadium. When the PA announced the Gophers beating Michigan I went nuts on the sidelines.
1985 vs Oklahoma: With my dad, a former Gopher player, at the MetroDome. The place was so loud I couldn't hear my dad
2010 vs Iowa: The first time I brought my boys to Minneapolis for a Gopher game. They stormed the field and have been hooked on the Gophers ever since
2020 vs Auburn: My 60th birthday gift from my wife and kids with my boys and me at the Outback Bowl.
 

Sept. 21st 1968. Took my kids to their first Gopher game. Nearly 61,000 saw us battle USC deep into the game only too see OJ Simpson show them what electrifying looked like. They both marveled at the sights and sounds. They had already been to the Master's but that game started a life long sports addiction for them.
 



For me its the cal game where decker got laid out but hung on.. That catch.. The hit was vicious.. He just hung in there.. Got smacked in the mouth and hung on
 

BuiltFordTough said:
Your first game is always the one you remember most. Mine was on October 28, 1961 against Michigan. I had just turned 11 years old. Minnesota was behind most of the game. With Michigan ahead 20-16 and just a few minutes left in the game, Warmath sent in Tom Tiegen a reserved linebacker and needing a fumble recovery. Tiegen hit their running back so hard the ball popped straight up in the air and Minnesota recovered. Sandy Stephens led the Gophs into the end zone for a 23-20 victory. Stephens then intercepted a long pass on the last play to secure the game. Stephens had just gotten married a few days before. I've been at every home game except for four games since that game. It is still one of the top five most exciting games that I have attended.
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That's a good one.
My first one was with Curtis Wilson as the QB. Against the Illini.
 

Gophers beating Ohio State at the Shoe in Columbus when Maso was the coach. I believe we have done that only twice in all of Gopher history.
 



1974 my first game as a kid on a perfect fall day. My dad stops me and warns "here comes the band! Then they marched by right by us in to Memorial Stadium, playing with so much pride. I was in awe and it was the most exciting thing, ever...until I saw Ricky Upchurch run all over the field.

1981 Hohensee's 3rd touchdown to Carroll in the comeback, upset win over Ohio State, also with my dad, and fellow alumnus, in our regular seats. There was a drunk guy in the end zone standing up trying convince everyone that the Gophers were going to come back. He was passed out for the last amazing touchdown right in front of him. Was anyone else near?

1983 vs Nebraska from the rafters in the plastic dome., Uffda! headline (I will never, ever feel sorry for them)

1986 Foggie's run and Lohmiller's kick in upset win over Michigan listening to Ray Christensen packed in a car with a bunch of soon to be lifelong college friends.

1988 vs. Michigan State (Homecoming). Standing on the field at halftime. Surreal looking up at the crowd from the field. The homecoming bonfire and parade the night before on a beautiful fall night with so many friends and family were magical.

1993 Darkins throwing the Badger to the turf on a big gain in an upset from high the plastic rafters with a huge group of Minnesota and Wisconsin friends, and I think costing Wisconsin a national championship!

1999 immaculate reception upset of #2 Penn State. With a group of friends from Europe with me in New York and the game was on. I was trying to convince them what a big deal this was, they just didn't get it. I remember the announcer saying, "this has been a REALLY good game!" like he was surprised right before the winning field goal. I went nuts and my Euro-trash friends thought I was insane.

2005 an upset of Michigan in the Big House. I was watching the game at Blondies at W 79th Street / Broadway on the upper west side. Its completely packed with B1G alums in school groups watching the games on Saturday. Michigan always has a huge turnout, but, they were so confident they were barely paying attention to the game. I will NEVER forget the look on their faces when Russell broke off that long run. I didn't know I had anywhere near that much schadenfreude in me. I decided that being a spirited underdog had its advantages.

2019 CAB's 4th-and-long amazing catch vs Fresno St. Watching from a small bar in my neighborhood that was closing, but they let me keep the game on while they were closing out and they all started watching the amazing game and were cheering like crazy with me even though most barely spoke English.

2019 the 8-0 vs 8-0 win over Penn State. Reading Gopherhole while watching the game from my apartment and getting texts/pics from all my friends back home at the game. I had made bets with several of my friends/coworker/client Penn State alumni in New York (some traveled to the Bank for the game) and they all had to wear Gopher sweatshirts to work for a day; its a suit kind of place.

Go Gophers! Ski U Mah!

PS. I'm a long time, frequent Gopherhole reader, but this is my first post.
 

Far too many moments to list (good and bad) but one that sticks out is Gary Russell's run at Michigan in 2005.

I had started a new job and was required to work an event at Mall of America that day. We had just gotten back from driving to State College and back the previous weekend to see the Gophers get trounced by Penn State (Brandon Owens, ugh) and I had no hope for a win in Ann Arbor, especially after what had happened the previous two years vs. Michigan.

Well, the game was close the whole way and I was following along on my phone and getting updates via texts. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, I abandoned my post at this MOA event and went up to the fourth level to watch the rest of the game at Hooters. When Russell broke free down the sideline, I screamed so many expletives that the manager came over to tell me to stop. I shrugged him off long enough for Giannini to kick the FG, then screamed even more in disbelief that we finally vanquished the Wolverines. They asked me to leave. I didn't care. Nor did I care about that job. We finally had the Jug!
 

2018 at Wisconsin. My wife and I had rented a cabin in the Sonoma mountains for Thanksgiving, right in the middle of a redwood grove. Didn’t actually watch the game live, but once we saw the final score we spent the evening scouring the web for highlights with our nonexistent cell service.
 

Game one at TCF vs Air Force. It was my birthday. Grass fed beef on the grill. Walking up the steps and seeing a glorious view, not covered by a dome, and feeling the elements and the fly-by. After decades in the dome, it felt like a rebirth.
 



Otis said:
The Golden Gophers where playing the Number 1 ranked Michigan Wolverines in good old Memorial Stadium and my family had tickets to the game! We had to drive down from Virginia, MN for the game and we got all the way to Duluth when my Dad realized he had left the tickets pinned to the family reminder board in the kitchen. Well, needless to say, all speed limits were void at that point and we raced back to get then and sped back to the game.

My childhood friends big brother played WR for Hamline and they had a game against St. Thomas that day as well, so I gave my ticket to his dad so I could hang out with my buddy at St. Thomas. Sometime deep in the fourth quarter, there was a roar from the crowd and I heard the announcer say as I stopped playing catch in the Tommies area outside the southern end zone on the track with a football that the Gophers had won the Little Brown Jug 16-0.

And I had missed the whole thing.

What was your, I'll never forget Gopher football moment?
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What years did your childhood friend’s brother play for Hamline? Both of my uncles played there as CB’s for different years. My Dad went there too
 

Was sitting and thinking about a list of my “where I was” moments...too many memories flashed in my mind, and my eyes got misty. Since Pops passed away, it feels like a ”before and after Christ” kind of thing. There was the Gophers while my Dad was still here to enjoy with me, and there’s the Gophers 2018-now. It’ll never be the same for me. And unfortunately, he just barely missed getting to see the best Gopher football he’d have witnessed in his 52 years of life.
 

mjfelton15 said:
What years did your childhood friend’s brother play for Hamline? Both of my uncles played there as CB’s for different years. My Dad went there too
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He graduated from Grand Meadow, MN High in 76 and played for Hamline at least 2 years. Last name was Petersen.
 

Student section (I was a grad student by then) at Memorial seeing Gophers beat Ohio State 35-31 in 1981. Game went on forever and daylight savings time had ended so it was borderline twilight when we left the stadium. I had a good beer buzz going, so it was almost surreal.
 

steady nyc said:
1974 my first game as a kid on a perfect fall day. My dad stops me and warns "here comes the band! Then they marched by right by us in to Memorial Stadium, playing with so much pride. I was in awe and it was the most exciting thing, ever...until I saw Ricky Upchurch run all over the field.

1981 Hohensee's 3rd touchdown to Carroll in the comeback, upset win over Ohio State, also with my dad, and fellow alumnus, in our regular seats. There was a drunk guy in the end zone standing up trying convince everyone that the Gophers were going to come back. He was passed out for the last amazing touchdown right in front of him. Was anyone else near?

1983 vs Nebraska from the rafters in the plastic dome., Uffda! headline (I will never, ever feel sorry for them)

1986 Foggie's run and Lohmiller's kick in upset win over Michigan listening to Ray Christensen packed in a car with a bunch of soon to be lifelong college friends.

1988 vs. Michigan State (Homecoming). Standing on the field at halftime. Surreal looking up at the crowd from the field. The homecoming bonfire and parade the night before on a beautiful fall night with so many friends and family were magical.

1993 Darkins throwing the Badger to the turf on a big gain in an upset from high the plastic rafters with a huge group of Minnesota and Wisconsin friends, and I think costing Wisconsin a national championship!

1999 immaculate reception upset of #2 Penn State. With a group of friends from Europe with me in New York and the game was on. I was trying to convince them what a big deal this was, they just didn't get it. I remember the announcer saying, "this has been a REALLY good game!" like he was surprised right before the winning field goal. I went nuts and my Euro-trash friends thought I was insane.

2005 an upset of Michigan in the Big House. I was watching the game at Blondies at W 79th Street / Broadway on the upper west side. Its completely packed with B1G alums in school groups watching the games on Saturday. Michigan always has a huge turnout, but, they were so confident they were barely paying attention to the game. I will NEVER forget the look on their faces when Russell broke off that long run. I didn't know I had anywhere near that much schadenfreude in me. I decided that being a spirited underdog had its advantages.

2019 CAB's 4th-and-long amazing catch vs Fresno St. Watching from a small bar in my neighborhood that was closing, but they let me keep the game on while they were closing out and they all started watching the amazing game and were cheering like crazy with me even though most barely spoke English.

2019 the 8-0 vs 8-0 win over Penn State. Reading Gopherhole while watching the game from my apartment and getting texts/pics from all my friends back home at the game. I had made bets with several of my friends/coworker/client Penn State alumni in New York (some traveled to the Bank for the game) and they all had to wear Gopher sweatshirts to work for a day; its a suit kind of place.

Go Gophers! Ski U Mah!

PS. I'm a long time, frequent Gopherhole reader, but this is my first post.
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That was a hell of a good first post.
 

tikited said:
That was a hell of a good first post.
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Thanks, I’ve really enjoyed reading Gopherhole over years. Like a lot of people out of town it helps connect back to the U. I’ve wanted to post some memories like this when the right nostalgic thread came up. Good idea by the original poster.

FWIW to the group, I like reading the positive banter and information/ insights far better than the pissing contests and “fire the coach“ at the drop of a hat sentiments from obvious trolls.
 

steady nyc said:
Thanks, I’ve really enjoyed reading Gopherhole over years. Like a lot of people out of town it helps connect back to the U. I’ve wanted to post some memories like this when the right nostalgic thread came up. Good idea by the original poster.

FWIW to the group, I like reading the positive banter and information/ insights far better than the pissing contests and “fire the coach“ at the drop of a hat sentiments from obvious trolls.
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Please avoid the OT Board. Once you get soiled by that place, it is tough to recover.
 

steady nyc said:
1974 my first game as a kid on a perfect fall day. My dad stops me and warns "here comes the band! Then they marched by right by us in to Memorial Stadium, playing with so much pride. I was in awe and it was the most exciting thing, ever...until I saw Ricky Upchurch run all over the field.

1981 Hohensee's 3rd touchdown to Carroll in the comeback, upset win over Ohio State, also with my dad, and fellow alumnus, in our regular seats. There was a drunk guy in the end zone standing up trying convince everyone that the Gophers were going to come back. He was passed out for the last amazing touchdown right in front of him. Was anyone else near?

1983 vs Nebraska from the rafters in the plastic dome., Uffda! headline (I will never, ever feel sorry for them)

1986 Foggie's run and Lohmiller's kick in upset win over Michigan listening to Ray Christensen packed in a car with a bunch of soon to be lifelong college friends.

1988 vs. Michigan State (Homecoming). Standing on the field at halftime. Surreal looking up at the crowd from the field. The homecoming bonfire and parade the night before on a beautiful fall night with so many friends and family were magical.

1993 Darkins throwing the Badger to the turf on a big gain in an upset from high the plastic rafters with a huge group of Minnesota and Wisconsin friends, and I think costing Wisconsin a national championship!

1999 immaculate reception upset of #2 Penn State. With a group of friends from Europe with me in New York and the game was on. I was trying to convince them what a big deal this was, they just didn't get it. I remember the announcer saying, "this has been a REALLY good game!" like he was surprised right before the winning field goal. I went nuts and my Euro-trash friends thought I was insane.

2005 an upset of Michigan in the Big House. I was watching the game at Blondies at W 79th Street / Broadway on the upper west side. Its completely packed with B1G alums in school groups watching the games on Saturday. Michigan always has a huge turnout, but, they were so confident they were barely paying attention to the game. I will NEVER forget the look on their faces when Russell broke off that long run. I didn't know I had anywhere near that much schadenfreude in me. I decided that being a spirited underdog had its advantages.

2019 CAB's 4th-and-long amazing catch vs Fresno St. Watching from a small bar in my neighborhood that was closing, but they let me keep the game on while they were closing out and they all started watching the amazing game and were cheering like crazy with me even though most barely spoke English.

2019 the 8-0 vs 8-0 win over Penn State. Reading Gopherhole while watching the game from my apartment and getting texts/pics from all my friends back home at the game. I had made bets with several of my friends/coworker/client Penn State alumni in New York (some traveled to the Bank for the game) and they all had to wear Gopher sweatshirts to work for a day; its a suit kind of place.

Go Gophers! Ski U Mah!

PS. I'm a long time, frequent Gopherhole reader, but this is my first post.
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I referenced the 1981 tOSU game in my postand the last Carroll TD happened, if not right in front, in front of me and my beer-buzzed buddy. For the record, we only had a buzz (which we would elevate to full-blown blotto as late afternoon melded into mid-evening) at the time and I was so wrapped up in the action that I can't recall the gentleman who was over-served.

It was less than two years later and I can remember exactly where I was when Nebraska put up 84 on our Golden Rodents. A mixed group of about 10 of us were at a cabin in Wisconsin and were spending the early evening at a bar/supper club that had the Gopher game on. Let's just say, the women wanted to leave, but all of us guys wanted to hang around to see if the Huskers would put up triple figures. The sound on the television was down and the jukebox was rocking Def Leppard on 11 (Spinal Tap reference).

I quit drinking in 1984 and somehow a lot of Gopher memories (good and bad) haven't stuck as readily as the booze-induced ones.
 
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BuiltFordTough said:
Your first game is always the one you remember most. Mine was on October 28, 1961 against Michigan. I had just turned 11 years old. Minnesota was behind most of the game. With Michigan ahead 20-16 and just a few minutes left in the game, Warmath sent in Tom Tiegen a reserved linebacker and needing a fumble recovery. Tiegen hit their running back so hard the ball popped straight up in the air and Minnesota recovered. Sandy Stephens led the Gophs into the end zone for a 23-20 victory. Stephens then intercepted a long pass on the last play to secure the game. Stephens had just gotten married a few days before. I've been at every home game except for four games since that game. It is still one of the top five most exciting games that I have attended.
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I hate to admit this, but I have no clue who the Gophers played my first game. My parents never brought me to Gopher games and I lived off campus during school, so my first game was after I graduated. Saw some random throw away game in the Metrodome in Mason's first season. I think it was a conference game, maybe Purdue or NW? Got the tickets from work, nobody else wanted them. I enjoyed it, after I left the company I bought season tickets, had them ever since.
 

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