STrib: 1972 hoops brawl made for one nasty night in U's sports history

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Curt Brown:

Clint Eastwood was daring moviegoers to “go ahead, make my day,” in his film “Dirty Harry.” Don McLean was singing about how the “halftime air was sweet perfume” in his No. 1 hit “American Pie.”

And President Richard Nixon was addressing the nation on TV, revealing secret negotiations to end the Vietnam War — a deal that collapsed as the war dragged on for another three years.

It was Jan. 25, 1972 — 45 years ago this week — and perhaps the nastiest night in Minnesota sports history. One of the state’s great all-time athletes, baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, went unpunished for throwing punches in a brawl-turned-riot that erupted near the end of the Gophers-Ohio State basketball game at Williams Arena.

Luckily for Winfield, nobody had a cellphone camera in 1972.

http://www.startribune.com/hoops-brawl-made-for-one-nasty-night-in-u-s-sports-history/411419775/

Go Gophers!!
 

"Go ahead, make my day" was from 1983's Sudden Impact, not Dirty Harry.
 

I prefer to remember that after the brawl, the Gophers were left with a very thin bench, and basically played the rest of the season with a 6-player rotation. The starters, known as the "iron five," almost never came off the court unless they fouled out. But, they battled every single game and had a heck of a season. I would love to see the current group of Gophers show the same determination as that group, who won the B1G title.

Yes, the brawl was ugly, but it shouldn't detract from what the rest of the team accomplished. Muss could coach. He had some trouble following the NCAA rules, but he could flat-out coach.
(at the same time, he broke my heart when he left for the ABA and took Olberding with him. Landsberger transferred, and broke up what would have been the most talented team in Gopher history, before or since).
 

This was the 1970s incident that set the program back at least a decade. Then there was the 1980s version with the Madison rape case. Then there was the 1990s version with the academic scandal. Thankfully we haven't had another once-a-decade scandal since, but the ghosts of these three still haunt men's basketball all these years later.
 

GopherVotary said:
"Go ahead, make my day" was from 1983's Sudden Impact, not Dirty Harry.
Click to expand...

The stib got rid of their fact checkers as part of a massive cost-cutting in the late 90's. As you can see, we're left with Fake News! :mad:
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I prefer to remember that after the brawl, the Gophers were left with a very thin bench, and basically played the rest of the season with a 6-player rotation. The starters, known as the "iron five," almost never came off the court unless they fouled out. But, they battled every single game and had a heck of a season. I would love to see the current group of Gophers show the same determination as that group, who won the B1G title.

Yes, the brawl was ugly, but it shouldn't detract from what the rest of the team accomplished. Muss could coach. He had some trouble following the NCAA rules, but he could flat-out coach.
(at the same time, he broke my heart when he left for the ABA and took Olberding with him. Landsberger transferred, and broke up what would have been the most talented team in Gopher history, before or since).
Click to expand...
Forgot about Olberding and Landsberger. And Mychal Thompson. Around ten years ago or so several players reunited including Witte and Corky Taylor and made peace. Since then I wondered why Muss stuck around for several years after the brawl since he was considered by some as one who incited the brawl with aggressive physical coaching. I never judged him, I was too young to understand much of what happened at the time.
 

macgopher said:
Forgot about Olberding and Landsberger. And Mychal Thompson. Around ten years ago or so several players reunited including Witte and Corky Taylor and made peace. Since then I wondered why Muss stuck around for several years after the brawl since he was considered by some as one who incited the brawl with aggressive physical coaching. I never judged him, I was too young to understand much of what happened at the time.
Click to expand...
Sorry for repeating about the reunite , just now reread the whole article and saw it was already mentioned. I was first writing to what I previously remembered.
 

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