| U of M Alumni Association | U of M Twin Cities |
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9/8/2003
In 1960, the University of Minnesota was perhaps at the height of its prestige and renown. It was the largest university in the Big Ten and the fourth largest in the nation. Five United States senators—Hubert Humphrey (B.A. '39) and Eugene McCarthy (M.A. '39) of Minnesota, Wayne Morse (J.D. '28) of Oregon, Everett Dirksen of Illinois, and Quentin Burdick (J.D. '32) of North Dakota—had attended the University of Minnesota. The first open-heart surgery had been successfully performed at the University Hospital six years before, and its medical school was known worldwide. But for U of M sports fans, one measure of glory remained elusive: The Golden Gophers had yet to win the Rose Bowl. In part, this was due to the simple obstinacy of the Big Ten. For years, conference members had jointly rejected post-season football bowl bids. The games were considered an excessive extension of a sport that already served as a distraction from the scholarly pursuits of student athletes and ordinary students alike. This sensibility changed in the post-World War II era, and by 1949, the Big Ten was eager to join in the New Year's Day football fest and agreed that a conference representative would accept an invitation, if offered, for the next Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. In January 1949, the executive board of the Minnesota Alumni Association exhibited a pretty sunny outlook toward future bowl bids by naming a committee "to determine the percentage of the total tickets which should be made available for alumni, to determine the criteria for selection of alumni to receive tickets, and . . . the method for handling tickets requested on the basis of the criteria determined." It would be 11 years before any of these matters became of practical importance, and even then, at the start of the 1960 football season, few would have predicted the Golden Gophers would be making the cross-country trip come January. The team had won just two games the season before, and the Big Ten, especially Iowa, was loaded with talent. For the Gophers, quarterback Sandy Stephens had played well on occasion as a sophomore, and there was a quality line, including Tom Hall. But as the gun sounded on the close of a season-ending win over Wisconsin, fans could be forgiven for their surprise. The 8-1 Gophers were the new Big Ten champions. Earlier
But for Executive Director Ed Haislet (B.S. '31) and the alumni association, it was no simple chore to organize for the event. When the invite finally came, and the planning wheels started spinning, they immediately became stuck in the mire of ticket distribution. Rose Bowl sponsors were notoriously tight about doling out tickets to their Big Ten guests, and Gopher fans experienced no exception to this tradition. A Tournament of Roses Committee appointed by recently named University President O. Meredith Wilson created a priority list based on the past experiences of Big Ten schools visiting the Rose Bowl. The list began with what was deemed "the official party"—including the team, coaches, University administrators, and the governor. Then came a class of University benefactors, "civic and state leaders," and alumni who had donated more than $100 to the University. Beyond these were students and faculty, dues-paying alumni association members, and season-ticket holders. The fact that some benefactors and civic leaders got their tickets before many of the alumni association members meant that Haislet would spend months afterward opening letters from irate Gopher fans grousing about the unavailability of tickets. Haislet had smaller matters to deal with as well. Another alumni correspondent, signed "An Ardent Gopher Fan," had some advice that he or she wanted passed on to the cheerleading squad regarding their costumes for the Rose Bowl: "Because the white shorts used by the cheerleaders simply emphasize bulging fannies and look more like underwear than anything else—PLEASE get the girls back into skirts and the men into regular trousers for the Rose Bowl game. I am proud of our team
Most moods had improved by the time a group of special alumni association-sponsored, Rose Bowl-bound trains left Minneapolis on December 26 for a 10-day trip to the West Coast. The tour included a five-hour layover in Las Vegas, daylong trips to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, tickets to the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game, as well as accommodations at the swank Biltmore Hotel. An added, 12-day "exclusive jet tour" to Hawaii was optional. On New Year's Eve day, the Minneapolis Tribune reported that the plush Beverly Hills Hilton hotel had hosted a gala for the visiting entourage from Minnesota the evening before. Stars at the party included emcee Bob Hope, as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gene Autry, and Gordon MacRae. Photos captured Gopher players in cheek-to-cheek grins with young blonde starlets. Whether heads were turned by all this glitterati is hard to judge, but the fact of the matter is the team came out flat on game day, January 2, 1961. The Gophers played the first half in a California smog of their own making and fell behind their opponents, the Washington Huskies, by a score of 17-0. Their second-half play was more representative of the team that had ended the season number one in the nation, but sadly, the Gophers couldn't overcome the deficit and lost 17-7. It was an era when the West Coast-Midwest sectional rivalry was intense. Newspapers from San Diego to Seattle felt little compunction about kicking the Gophers when they were down. "Watching Minnesota clomp ponderously about the grass last Monday, you had trouble envisioning this group as the top-ranked team in America," wrote one Los Angeles columnist. "Some of their backers insisted lamely that the Gophers at the start merely got left in their holes, but it's an immutable fact that even when they got to running they didn't show enough speed to catch a porcupine." For once, however, the phrase "there's always next year" held true. In the fall of 1961, the U of M football team returned Sandy Stephens and all-American Bobby Bell. The Gophers played well during the season but finished in second place in Big Ten-conference play.
And, once again, Ed Haislet was beset by ticket requests. About 6,500 West Coast alumni contacted the alumni association offices wanting a good chunk of the fewer than 17,000 tickets allotted to the Big Ten representative. Not all of them could be accommodated. There were also complaints about the fact that two-thirds of Minnesota ticket holders were placed in the end zone—another indignity imposed upon all visiting Big Ten teams by Rose Bowl organizers. The Biltmore Hotel was once more used as home-base for alumni association boosters, but instead of taking the train to the West Coast, charter alumni groups flew—a first for Big Ten alumni groups visiting the game. A trip to Disneyland remained a part of the tour package. The pregame party was again headlined by Bob Hope, but Minnesota's own Halsey Hall was brought in to serve as toastmaster and, according to Haislet, "ran the best party ever." The Golden Gopher hospitality room at the Biltmore featured free Hamm's Beer and cheese from the American Dairy Association of Minnesota. Regarding the refreshments, Haislet noted in a subsequent column in the Alumni News that: "Peculiar as it may seem, less beer was consumed this year than a year ago—but almost double the amount of cheese was used." Maybe the more pronounced Midwestern flavor to pregame festivities made the Gophers more comfortable this time around. Or maybe it was just their due. But unlike in their first Rose Bowl, the Golden Gophers played a superb first half against their opponents, the UCLA Bruins. With touchdowns from Stephens and Bill Munsey, Minnesota took a 14-3 lead into the locker room and never looked back. The final score was 21-3, and at the end of the game, the Gophers hoisted Coach Murray Warmath on their shoulders and strode off the field into the Pacific sunset. Up in the press box, West Coast reporters typed their stories with far less glee than they had a year earlier. Any gloating that could be heard in the Pasadena night came from alumni in the cheap seats in the end zone, and it felt pretty hard-earned. Tim Brady is a freelance writer living in St. Paul. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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