Willie Burton

WilliamsArenaGuy

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I just met him. He was the nicest guy. I immediately brought up the 1989 Iowa game, my first to attend, and how it basically changed my life (and the Gopher program, which took off from there). Not only did he not mind and remember it just as much, he went right into a story of how he cut his hand the night before and played in a big bandage with stitches. We talked Georgia Tech, his mask from the Duke game, and more in only about 5 minutes.

What an awesome dude. I felt like I was 13 again.
 


I just met him. He was the nicest guy. I immediately brought up the 1989 Iowa game, my first to attend, and how it basically changed my life (and the Gopher program, which took off from there). Not only did he not mind and remember it just as much, he went right into a story of how he cut his hand the night before and played in a big bandage with stitches. We talked Georgia Tech, his mask from the Duke game, and more in only about 5 minutes.

What an awesome dude. I felt like I was 13 again.

Love this so much!!

He's my 2nd all time favorite behind Bobby and I love how he's remained a true M Man over the years. Absolute legend.

Go Willie!!
 

I met him in the autograph session pregame when he was getting his number retired vs Michigan st. I was standing right in front of him when his asst, or whoever was handing him sharpies, broke the news to him that Kobe had died. Unexpected shared moment.
 

I met him a couple years ago on campus walking to the football stadium before a game. He took the time to take a picture with me and was very nice. He was my hero as a kid in the late 80’s.
Got a pic too. I'm at my middle school going to lunch and the Assistant Superintendent is walking down the hall with this really tall guy. Right away I'm like that's Willie, but why would Willie Burton be in my hallway? So I had to ask delicately so as not to offend anyone. Then he was awesome. :cool:
 








Great story! Now I hope I run into him some time.

Clem made him a man, I tell ya. He went from the immature young guy who had to have his car keys taken away by the head coach because of mischief and who egged my roommate's car to the great guy he is today. One of our standout alumni.
 

Thinking of those great teams makes me long for a packed Williams Arena. When the Gophers are solid, there’s no better show in town than a Big Ten game at the Barn.
100%

Spending a Saturday afternoon watching the Gophers at a packed Williams Arena with my old man and grandpa are some of my fondest memories as a kid. It is the reason I chose the U. Being from the cities, a huge part of me wanted to go elsewhere for college, but I was a Gopher.
 





One of my favorite Gopher basketball memories was going to Richmond for the round of 64 & 32 in 1990. Venue was the Spiders’ modest 12,000 seat arena. Saw four games each with a memorable story line: Eldon Miller and Northern Iowa upsetting Missouri with hot three point shooting; Minnesota surviving a huge scare in overtime from UTEP and Minnesota transfer Marlon Maxey with Mel Newbern nailing a huge three after leaving the game with an injury; in the round of 32 a battle of heavy weights in Virginia vs Syracuse in what would be Terry Holland’s last game as Virginia’s coach (Virginia fans holding hundreds of dollars in their hands trying to buy tickets before the game) and Minnesota beating UNI with both teams shooting the lights out with a magnificent 35 point performance by Willie Burton who willed the Gophers to a win.
 

One of my favorite Gopher basketball memories was going to Richmond for the round of 64 & 32 in 1990. Venue was the Spiders’ modest 12,000 seat arena. Saw four games each with a memorable story line: Eldon Miller and Northern Iowa upsetting Missouri with hot three point shooting; Minnesota surviving a huge scare in overtime from UTEP and Minnesota transfer Marlon Maxey with Mel Newbern nailing a huge three after leaving the game with an injury; in the round of 32 a battle of heavy weights in Virginia vs Syracuse in what would be Terry Holland’s last game as Virginia’s coach (Virginia fans holding hundreds of dollars in their hands trying to buy tickets before the game) and Minnesota beating UNI with both teams shooting the lights out with a magnificent 35 point performance by Willie Burton who willed the Gophers to a win.
We have both those games on VHS tape!
 



Can you still play them?
Of course! In fact, I paid to have the VCR repaired a few years ago. Bought that thing in 1989 for $600 plus, which was s dang bit of money then. Too big an investment to ever junk! What did Kirk say to the Enterprise: "Never lose you; never."
 

Of course! In fact, I paid to have the VCR repaired a few years ago. Bought that thing in 1989 for $600 plus, which was s dang bit of money then. Too big an investment to ever junk! What did Kirk say to the Enterprise: "Never lose you; never."

Party at Bad Gopher's House!!!! GH Crew watching Willie/Gem highlights.

Go Gophers!!
 


Of course! In fact, I paid to have the VCR repaired a few years ago. Bought that thing in 1989 for $600 plus, which was s dang bit of money then. Too big an investment to ever junk! What did Kirk say to the Enterprise: "Never lose you; never."
I'd recommend getting those VHS tapes converted over to disc (not like DVD's are a super modern platform anymore either, but still).

Had a bunch of my home made VHS recordings of a bunch of Clem era games shifted over to DVD like 10 years ago.

Often times will put them on after getting home from the bar at night, just to feel something resembling the good old days...
 


I'd recommend getting those VHS tapes converted over to disc (not like DVD's are a super modern platform anymore either, but still).

Had a bunch of my home made VHS recordings of a bunch of Clem era games shifted over to DVD like 10 years ago.

Often times will put them on after getting home from the bar at night, just to feel something resembling the good old days...
Astound has gotten so much of our money in recent years, and they will get more, including these tapes. Just converting the camcorder tapes of our daughters growing up was many hundreds of dollars, and those were done during their big sales!
 






Audio cassette tapes have...inexplicably.
To me that one is really puzzling. They don't sound as good as CDs/Digital and are quite prone to break.

I was living in LA though circa '96 and we had a rare heavy frost. I used a cassette tape to scrape of the windshield, rather than waiting for the defrost to kick in.
 




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