Gopher Basketball
DG: Well, it’s been quite a whirl wind. Many, many teammates and family (are here today). It’s been quite a whirl wind. It has been great.
NW: Of course, you played with Charley Mencel, who has his jersey retires a few weeks ago. What’s it like to have your jersey retired in the rafters of Williams Arena with Charley?
DG: Well, Charley and I heard we were going to be retired this year, and we called Joel (Maturi) about having us both go at the same time. And we thought they would be probably better to split things up, so Charley was going to Palm Springs, so I told him “œCharley, you go ahead and go, and I’ll do it Feburary 6th.
NW: When we talked to Charley, we talked about how the game was different now, as opposed to how it was when you played. How is the game different from when you played?
DG: Well, the height difference, and the athleticism of the kids today, how they can move around, and what they can do. And I would say that the outside shooting”¦we would have loved to have the three-point in effect today. I would say that Charley and I would have done alright in today’s game. It would have been the big men have would have made the difference, not the little guys (laughs).
NW: You played in Williams Arena”¦what are your thoughts on the Barn?
DG: Williams Arena”¦I just loved when I was in high school to watch Whitey Skoog play, and he inspired me to work on my shooting, and I just emulated him. I used to listen to the Lakers games then, and listen to him in particular after he graduated. And lo and behold, three or four years later, he and I ended up as team-mates with the Lakers, and it was just a great experience.
NW: What was the atmosphere here like at Williams Arena?
DG: Well, pretty much what we see today. When we played Iowa in 1955 for the (Big Ten) Championship at the time, there were 22,000 people at the game, which was a record for the college game at the time. I understand that this arena had been dwindled down to about 15,000 people now, but the atmosphere is still there.
NW: What do you remember about some of the teams you played against? Who was the toughest team you played against?
DG: Oh, the Iowa team won the Big Ten championship (in 1955), so I’ll always remember them, and that they always had a good team. Illinois always had a good team. Unfortunately, about a month before our game here, we beat Iowa by one there, and I would have loved to have it the other way, but it wasn’t meant to be.
NW: That year, you finished second in the Big Ten, and the Big Ten was much different (where only the Big Ten Conference champion went to the NCAA Tournament). If you had been able to play in the NCAA Tournament, how would you have done?
DG: We probably would have killed him (Laughed). I’ll tell you one thing, if we have had Kevin McHale on our team in “˜54′ or ’55, we would have annihilated everyone in the nation!
NW: Now, is that because he was a big man, or is it because he was from Hibbing, where you were from?
DG: Oh, the Hibbing part of course helps! (Laughs) But seriously, just having the height and his kind of athleticism would have been fantastic. We needed someone with that kind of ability.