Where are they now? GopherHole catches up with Willie Burton

Donate To GopherHole


Willie B was amazing. I will never forget that game in the Barn in 1990 against MSU. It was like a heavyweight fight between Willie and Steve Smith (2 future NBA'ers). The Gophers lost in overtime or was it double overtime but I knew the postseason would be special.
 

Thank you - I think it's actually one of my top 5 favorite interviews I've ever had the opportunity to do. Just hearing his stories and excitement is contagious.

One other thing - of course, I did have to ask him about Royce White (this was before he met him Royce the following day), but we didn't want to make the interview with this legend about anything else other than him, his team, and experience. So if you're interested this was his response, which was basically just the kid of positive reply Ariel McDonald gave:

GH: Patrick Reusse reported that some of you had an opportunity to talk to Royce White, were you one of the players that had the opportunity to speak to him?

WB: I kind of don’t want to comment on anything to do with Royce White. As of right now, today, I have not talked to Royce White but it’s really important that some of Royce White’s privacy is respected, especially if the guy is trying to turn some things around and he’s really focused on doing some things different here. I don’t want to hurt that, but as of today, I have not spoken to him, as of right now. Royce has a lot of talent and a bright future.
Click to expand...
 

Thanks for the great interview with Willie, GL. Well done, kudos to you.
 


Maybe the best where are they now article yet. Willie and that team are very special in Gopher history. Thanks for the read. Seeing his rookie card reminded me that I have about 15 Burton Rookie cards.
 

Excellent article Nadine

Keep up the good work. About the cards LG, I too have a bad habit - I have 36 different Burton cards. My favorite is his Star Pics card in his Gopher uniform.
 

row19gopher said:
Keep up the good work. About the cards LG, I too have a bad habit - I have 36 different Burton cards. My favorite is his Star Pics card in his Gopher uniform.
Click to expand...

I have the rookie card of every Gopher that had one through the Final 4 team. Included in that is Dick Garmaker's rookie card from 1958 I believe and Lou Hudson's and Archie Clarks. I do have that Star Pics card of Burton also, I like the old Gopher uniform
 

Georgia Tech game

We would have won that game if we could have gotten it to Willie for the final shot!!
 




GopherHole Staff said:
In our ongoing Where Are They Now series of articles, Nadine Babu interviewed Gopher legend Willie Burton following the 1989-90 Elite 8 team reunion this past weekend. Follow the link to see what Willie had to say about the weekend, his memories of the U, and what he is up to today.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1134
Click to expand...

That Gopher team was UC's opponent in November 1989 at the opening game of the Shoemaker Center (now called something else). I was there. UC won (luckily) on a last second, catch-&-shoot 3-point FG by football walk-on Steve Sanders.
 

LG

It sounds like you have a similar addiction as I....self proclaimed card geek. I also have the cards you wrote about. I'm currently looking at some Landsberger cards...I know it's a bad problem. Anyway, about the uniforms, my preference are the Minnesota Gophers lettered uniforms of the Thompson/McHale era.
 




Fan of RW

I also have several Ray Williams cards as I'm sure LG has also.
 

row19gopher....I missed Lincoln gophers post. He really does have the cards. Lg, do you have one of Mark Olberding? Also, where could a person find the stats of the year Olberding was at the U? If you would happen to know. Thanks.
 

row19gopher said:
It sounds like you have a similar addiction as I....self proclaimed card geek. I also have the cards you wrote about. I'm currently looking at some Landsberger cards...I know it's a bad problem. Anyway, about the uniforms, my preference are the Minnesota Gophers lettered uniforms of the Thompson/McHale era.
Click to expand...

The uniforms you mentioned are absolutely the best. That time period does coincide with the time I was in school, so I am prejudiced. Abouth the cards, have more than I care to admit, gave it up long ago. I must admit as I look at it now, I have some incredible cards. Not sure what I will ever do with them.
 

Oberding

fan of Ray Williams said:
row19gopher....I missed Lincoln gophers post. He really does have the cards. Lg, do you have one of Mark Olberding? Also, where could a person find the stats of the year Olberding was at the U? If you would happen to know. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I looked for old stats at a couple of sites I know about and could not his stats from his year here. The earliest card I have of Oberding is the 79-80 Topps which was his 5th year. It may have been his first card, I can't prove that now, but when I put my rookie list together, I did a fair amount of research. I can only assume now that the above mentioned card was his first. Some tough ones to find were the McHale card which was out of a regional Topps set where his card was only sold in the East because of playing for Boston. And the Star cards of the early 80's were very rare and Tucker, Peterson and Breuer's rookie cards were all Star cards of which I do have.
 

Fan of RW & LG - Re:Olberding

I have several Olberding cards, don't know if his Gopher stats are on any of them or not. You're best bet, if someone doesn't chime in with a website, might be an old Gopher yearbook.

LG: I understand your card dilemma(sp?). I limited my collection years ago to MN oriented cards and bought an old card catalog from the local library. At least they are organized, are they worth anything? Not much. We put a new bar in our basement a few years ago, so now I have about 400 photocopies of my favorite cards under several layers of polyurethane as the surface of our bar. (My wife's DIY idea.) Probably the only good use that has come of them. The installer about killed me, but once he got the adhesive on he calmed down.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
That Gopher team was UC's opponent in November 1989 at the opening game of the Shoemaker Center (now called something else). I was there. UC won (luckily) on a last second, catch-&-shoot 3-point FG by football walk-on Steve Sanders.
Click to expand...

I remember that. Season opened with a loss!
 

row19gopher said:
Keep up the good work. About the cards LG, I too have a bad habit - I have 36 different Burton cards. My favorite is his Star Pics card in his Gopher uniform.
Click to expand...

This may be a stupid question...but what does one do with 36 cards of one player? I'm totally clueless about this stuff - do you pass them along to your kids, sell them, etc?
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom