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| Fun Facts |
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| First Bowl Game |
| The 1961 Rose Bowl may have been the Golden Gophers first bowl appearance, but it was not their first taste of success. Minnesota had already won five national championships. |
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| Rah-Rah-Rah for Ski-U-Mah! |
| Organized cheer leading is said to have began at Minnesota. A student named Johnny Campbell offered to lead cheers in an effort to end a losing streak, in 1898. |
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| Floyd of Rosedale |
| The trophy for winning the annual football game between Iowa and Minnesota is a bronze statue of a pig. The original Floyd of Rosedale was a real pig donated by Rosedale Farms, near Fort Dodge, Iowa. It was won by Minnesota in a bet between the Governors of the two states, and was named Floyd in honor of Floyd Olson, the Governor of Minnesota. |
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| Floyd's Movie Star Brother |
| Floyd of Rosedale’s brother was featured in the movie “State Fair” with Will Rogers. |
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Cinderella Was a Gopher |
| The University of Minnesota's Surprising National Championship of 1960 |
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| In the history of college football, few teams can match the surprising turnaround achieved by the Minnesota Golden Gophers of 1960. Minnesota finished at the bottom of their conference in 1959. In one season they would go from last place, to a tie for first in the Big Ten, and win a national championship. They would also see their embattled leader named national coach of the year. |
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| Murray Warmath went from being on the hot seat to being named AFCA National Coach of Year |
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For Minnesota, the path to success had been a long and winding road. In 1956 the Gophers had a fairly successful season, finishing 6 - 1 -2. It was not a bad record but it was a disappointment for a team with high expectations. They looked forward to an even better year in 1957. What the Gophers got instead was the beginning of a dismal downhill slide. The season ended with a losing record 4 - 5. The following year was an atrocious 1 - 8, and 1959 found them in the Big Ten cellar at 2 - 7. The one bright spot for the Gophers was, that in 1959, they had doubled their win total from the previous year.
Going into the 1960 season the prospects for the Gophers looked anything but golden. Fans had become disenchanted with head coach Murray Warmath. Some local business people wanted to buy out his contract. His home was vandalized. In spite of the distractions Warmuth had already begun a plan to bring Minnesota back from the doldrums. He had switched to a more national recruiting strategy, and he had begun to bring in more African- American players. His recruits included future All-Americans Sandy Stephens and Bobby Bell.
In the Fall of 1960, Warmuth’s plan did not get off to a promising start. In the preseason his team was upset by an Alumni squad 19 - 7. When they teed it up for real things began to look up. The Gophers gained confidence with an early season road win at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers were ranked 12th in the AP poll at the time, thanks to an upset win over 4th ranked Texas, at Austin, in the season opener. No one had expected Minnesota to beat the Cornhuskers. |
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The following week the Gophers were ranked 18th and climbing. They continued to show character with a come from behind, 4th quarter rally, to beat Illinois. A shut-out win over Michigan added to their momentum. As October came to an end, a showdown was looming, between the now third ranked Golden Gophers, and the top ranked Hawkeyes of Iowa.
On a cold and windy November 5th, fans shoehorned themselves into a packed Memorial Stadium, to watch the two teams battle for national supremacy. Iowa blinked first. In the first quarter a bad snap on an Hawkeye punt attempt, gave Minnesota the ball, on the Iowa 14 yard line. That set up a touchdown run by Gopher halfback Bill Munsey. Minnesota grabbed the lead 7 - 0.
In the second quarter, Iowa moved the ball to the Minnesota’s 6 yard line but a great play by the Gopher nose guard push the Hawkeyes back. On third down, Outland Award winner, Tom Brown stuffed the Hawkeyes' guard into their quarterback, and drove him into the fullback, knocking all three players off their feet for a five yard loss. Iowa had to settle for a field goal. |
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| Big Ten MVP, Tom Brown, won the Outland Trophy, and was the runner-up for the Hiesman Trophy. |
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Iowa took a 10 - 7 lead in the third quarter, thanks to a twenty yard touchdown run by their fullback, Joe Williams. The Gophers rallied, putting together an 81 yard drive, topped off by a quarterback sneak, to take the lead for good. Two Iowa fumbles led to two more Minnesota touchdowns. Minnesota earned a 27 - 10 victory. They scored more points in that one game than they had against Iowa in the previous five years combined. More importantly, the win catapulted the Gophers to the top in the national polls.
The following week Minnesota followed its big emotional win with a flat performance against Purdue, and lost 23 -14. Their loss put the University of Missouri in the number one spot, but the Tigers did not handle the situation any better than Minnesota had. They lost to Kansas the following week. So after a one week absence, Minnesota climbed back on top in the national rankings to stay. Minnesota ended the season on top in both the AP and UPI rankings and claimed the national championship.
Minnesota went on to play in the Rose Bowl . They suffered a disappointing, 17 - 7 loss to the Washington Huskies, but retained their national championships in both the AP and UPI. |
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| in 1961, Sandy Stephens became the first African-American quarterback to be named All-American. |
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At the time neither wire service had a poll after the end of the regular season. Since there was no poll by the AP or UPI after the bowl games the Gophers remained in the number one spot and were crowned National Champions. The Grantland Rice Award, the only group to take a poll after the bowl games went to the Ole Miss.
In spite of the seasons anticlimactic ending, the 1960 team brought many accolades for the resurrected Gophers. For his efforts to turn around the Minnesota program, Murray Warmuth was named national coach of the year. Big Ten MVP, Tom Brown, won the Outland Trophy, and was the runner up for the Hiesman Trophy. Sandy Stephens would be recognized the following year as the Big Ten MVP. In 1961, Bobby Bell and Sandy Stephens would be named All-Americans. Stephens was the first African-American quarterback to win that honor. In 1962, Bobby Bell would win the Outland Trophy.
In 1961, Ohio State declined an invitation to the Rose Bowl. That opened the door for Minnesota to make its second straight Rose Bowl appearance. The second time was the charm as they ended their season with a 21 - 3 win over UCLA. |
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| Acknowledgments: |
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PIGSKIN PRIDE: Celebrating a Century of Minnesota Football
by Ross Bernstein
50 YEARS of COLLEGE FOOTBALL: A Modern History of America’s Most Colorful Sport
by Bob Boyles & Paul Guido
COLLEGE FOOTBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Authoritative Guide to 124 Years of College Football
by Robert Ours
College Football Hall of Fame
www.collegefootball.org/ |
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