Question about Ric Flair and Gopher football

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Did he actually play for the Gophers back in the day? I've seen it mentioned in various places, but never from a more official source.
 



Like it or not, you better learn to love it! WOOO!
 

Not totally related, but close... I'm at work and a customer came in. We started chit chatting & it turns out he played guard for the Gophers in the 60s. Told me some great stories about Murray Warmath & the year they won a 3 way share of the Big Ten title with Purdue & Indiana. Believe he said it 1967. Very interesting stuff.

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Ha! Watch PJ bring him in w Tony Dungy, Eric Decker, Pete Najarian, etc a la Jim Harbaugh and make a big gopher presentation. Hey, you gotta fight fire w fire if you wana play w the big boys. Those is facts....


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JTsolo612 said:
Ha! Watch PJ bring him in w Tony Dungy, Eric Decker, Pete Najarian, etc a la Jim Harbaugh and make a big gopher presentation. Hey, you gotta fight fire w fire if you wana play w the big boys. Those is facts....


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Ric is kind of a bandwagon hopper. He turned on his Panthers this year and rooted for their division rivals in the playoffs,the Falcons. If you offered Ric enough money to get more involved with the program he would though. He's got like 8 divorces worth of debt. I haven't seen him speak much about playing for the Gophers in the past but Id love to see him embrace it more as a guy who gets custom(bootleg) shirts made with whatever promotional stuff WWE is doing with Lesnar but with a U of M twist to it.

If you ever saw an EAT SLEEP CONQUER REPEAT- Gophers shirt it was either myself or "Kuato Lives"
 

Donkeypunch Jones said:
Ric is kind of a bandwagon hopper. He turned on his Panthers this year and rooted for their division rivals in the playoffs,the Falcons. If you offered Ric enough money to get more involved with the program he would though. He's got like 8 divorces worth of debt. I haven't seen him speak much about playing for the Gophers in the past but Id love to see him embrace it more as a guy who gets custom(bootleg) shirts made with whatever promotional stuff WWE is doing with Lesnar but with a U of M twist to it.

If you ever saw an EAT SLEEP CONQUER REPEAT- Gophers shirt it was either myself or "Kuato Lives"
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For being someone who spent the first 25 years of their life in Minnesota, he has sure seemed to not give a **** about this state over the years.
 

citywok said:
For being someone who spent the first 25 years of their life in Minnesota, he has sure seemed to not give a **** about this state over the years.
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I remember when I was a kid during the Monday Night Wars,WCW used to always promote Ric coming back to Minneapolis as a homecoming show and Ric embraced it but not much since then. I know N.C. is his adopted home but yeah I agree..Money is pretty much where his allegiance lies. Minnesota is where he was raised and went from Fliehr to Flair(in Verne Gagne's barn)Along with the Iron Sheik who is another wrestler with ties to the Gophers through the wrestling program. Without Verne Gagne forcing Flair to continue his training (after Ric quit 3 times) who knows where he would be today.

Greg Gagne(son of Verne) was also on the same Gophers football team, trained to wrestle with Flair, and went on to become a pro wrestler.
 



Donkeypunch Jones said:
I remember when I was a kid during the Monday Night Wars,WCW used to always promote Ric coming back to Minneapolis as a homecoming show and Ric embraced it but not much since then. I know N.C. is his adopted home but yeah I agree..Money is pretty much where his allegiance lies. Minnesota is where he was raised and went from Fliehr to Flair(in Verne Gagne's barn)Along with the Iron Sheik who is another wrestler with ties to the Gophers through the wrestling program. Without Verne Gagne forcing Flair to continue his training (after Ric quit 3 times) who knows where he would be today.

Greg Gagne(son of Verne) was also on the same Gophers football team, trained to wrestle with Flair, and went on to become a pro wrestler.
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You can add Bob Bruggers to the list of former Gophers who became pro wrestlers. Bruggers, who hailed from Danube, was a multi-sport athlete in high school and played at the U of M in the early to mid 60s. He could have played basketball too but chose to focus on football.
After college he went on to play linebacker for the Miami Dolphins. There he became friends with then teammate Wahoo McDaniel. After bouncing around in the AFL for awhile he retired from football and was convinced by McDaniel to start wrestling.
Bruggers was on a plane in 1975, along with a 26-year old Ric Flair, and three other wrestlers and pilot that crashed outside of Wilmington, NC. Only the pilot was killed. Bruggers and Flair suffered broken backs (the other wrestlers suffered some pretty bad injuries as well but I can’t recall to what extent).
After some recovery time, only Flair continued wrestling and made quite a name for himself while Bruggers experienced some lingering issues with his injury and decided to hang it up.
 


Why is Flair bandwagoning other programs and not the Gophers? Simple, we've sucked since he left the U of M. If we start kicking arse, he'll start bandwagoning us, along with a whole crapload of other former Gophers who haven't exactly embraced their alma mater over the years since they left town.

But what we really need is a hot chick fan who sits in the stands every week and gets seen on tv. Loni Anderson is too old. So who could be our young hottie in the stands???
 

KillmeNow said:
Why is Flair bandwagoning other programs and not the Gophers? Simple, we've sucked since he left the U of M. If we start kicking arse, he'll start bandwagoning us, along with a whole crapload of other former Gophers who haven't exactly embraced their alma mater over the years since they left town.

But what we really need is a hot chick fan who sits in the stands every week and gets seen on tv. Loni Anderson is too old. So who could be our young hottie in the stands???
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But didn't we just win 9 games last year? Can't get much better than that!
 



KillmeNow said:
Why is Flair bandwagoning other programs and not the Gophers? Simple, we've sucked since he left the U of M. If we start kicking arse, he'll start bandwagoning us, along with a whole crapload of other former Gophers who haven't exactly embraced their alma mater over the years since they left town.

But what we really need is a hot chick fan who sits in the stands every week and gets seen on tv. Loni Anderson is too old. So who could be our young hottie in the stands???
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Kate Mulgrew? No seriously..Why go with one when you can have 3? The Dahm triplets since they all attended the U and still look damn good.
 

I think both Flair and Gagne played freshman football. The one varsity player who was Gagne's partner in the High Flyers Jim Brunzell actually played varsity football.
 



KillmeNow said:
Why is Flair bandwagoning other programs and not the Gophers? Simple, we've sucked since he left the U of M. If we start kicking arse, he'll start bandwagoning us, along with a whole crapload of other former Gophers who haven't exactly embraced their alma mater over the years since they left town.

But what we really need is a hot chick fan who sits in the stands every week and gets seen on tv. Loni Anderson is too old. So who could be our young hottie in the stands???
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I don't mean to objectify at all, only to point out and appreciate facts, but pretty much the entire volleyball team, gymnastics, softball, swimming and diving, etc. My personal suggestion is Dalianliz Rosado. But Put her on the sideline and no one will even care about the game! [emoji23]


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Lordshawesome said:
Not totally related, but close... I'm at work and a customer came in. We started chit chatting & it turns out he played guard for the Gophers in the 60s. Told me some great stories about Murray Warmath & the year they won a 3 way share of the Big Ten title with Purdue & Indiana. Believe he said it 1967. Very interesting stuff.

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Yes it was 1967. I can't remember the players last name, but his first name is Ray. Played on that 1967 team. I met him at a tailgate a few seasons ago. Nice guy.

I couldn't find a link that told the "whole" story. Just that Bobby Bell was a HS QB that switched to DL.

http://www.startribune.com/ex-u-football-coach-warmath-dies-at-98/118139959/

One of my favorite Warmath stories is how he got Bobby Bell to switch to QB. I can't find a link to it but I'll try to give the cliff notes version. The story was that Bobby Bell came into coach Warmaths office. Warmath had a degree in psychology. Anyway, per the story coach Warmath was cleaning a hunting? gun when young Mr. Bell came in and I think they said Coach Warmath never looked up just said Mr. Bell would be playing line and asked if there was anything else... Not sure if true, but sounds funny... Well that is unless you were Bobby Bell at that time. It worked out well for Mr. Bell in the end.

Anyway, I was born into being a Gopher fan. Many people from that era have touched my life. I am so glad that the University was bold enough to give Bobby Bell, Sandy Stephens, Judge Dickson, Carl Eller, and many others.

Many players starters and reserves were instrumental in peoples lives.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Gophs can probably scratch Ric off the list at this point...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/04/09/ric-flair-kicked-out-fort-wayne-bar/100272794/
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This isn't even close to the worst thing Ric has ever done and if a PG company like WWE still books him..Im sure the Gophers would be fine using him. Look up the "WWE Plane ride from Hell" Perfect and Brock shoot wrestling in the Aisles of the plane,Flair buck naked except for a robe strutting down the aisles flashing people,Micheal Hayes almost pissing on Linda McMahon..much more. LOL Road stories are the reason I love the business.
 

Donkeypunch Jones said:
This isn't even close to the worst thing Ric has ever done and if a PG company like WWE still books him..Im sure the Gophers would be fine using him. Look up the "WWE Plane ride from Hell" Perfect and Brock shoot wrestling in the Aisles of the plane,Flair buck naked except for a robe strutting down the aisles flashing people,Micheal Hayes almost pissing on Linda McMahon..much more. LOL Road stories are the reason I love the business.
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No doubt, point taken. Guessing if he's on a list, he's way towards the bottom.
 

PMWinSTP said:
No doubt, point taken. Guessing if he's on a list, he's way towards the bottom.
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Ric is nowhere near the bottom. In a world where crack addict's like the Iron Sheik and Jake Roberts can be rehabilitated and brought back by a publicly traded company..Ric is a saint.People love a comeback story. Hell,even Hogan (N-Bombs and All) will likely be back. Ric just loved living his gimmick AND (for the record) never got into trouble with anyone for doing it as far as I know. Just lost most of his money from failed marriages.
 

Husker is correct

husker70 said:
I think both Flair and Gagne played freshman football. The one varsity player who was Gagne's partner in the High Flyers Jim Brunzell actually played varsity football.
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Only Brunzell played varsity, Flair and Gagne were only members of the freshman squad. Flair dropped out of school and I think Gagne finished up at Notre Dame.
 

Donkeypunch Jones said:
Ric is nowhere near the bottom. In a world where crack addict's like the Iron Sheik and Jake Roberts can be rehabilitated and brought back by a publicly traded company..Ric is a saint.People love a comeback story. Hell,even Hogan (N-Bombs and All) will likely be back. Ric just loved living his gimmick AND (for the record) never got into trouble with anyone for doing it as far as I know. Just lost most of his money from failed marriages.
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What list are you talking about? I'm talking about a list of celebs with ties to the U to showcase at a FB game.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/04/10/ric-flairs-long-list-legal-troubles/100284810/
 


Donkeypunch Jones said:
Ric is nowhere near the bottom. In a world where crack addict's like the Iron Sheik and Jake Roberts can be rehabilitated and brought back by a publicly traded company..Ric is a saint.People love a comeback story. Hell,even Hogan (N-Bombs and All) will likely be back. Ric just loved living his gimmick AND (for the record) never got into trouble with anyone for doing it as far as I know. Just lost most of his money from failed marriages.
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In an industry where the current World Champion on a Live Tuesday night show is known for his "practical joke" of leaving a steaming pile of welcome in other wrestlers gearbags, smart marks, er, fans don't blink twice at the failed marriages and bar room shenanigans of "Legends."



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Ewert86PC said:
In an industry where the current World Champion on a Live Tuesday night show is known for his "practical joke" of leaving a steaming pile of welcome in other wrestlers gearbags, smart marks, er, fans don't blink twice at the failed marriages and bar room shenanigans of "Legends."



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I hate Randy and always have since he went AWOL from the Marines. X-pac did the same thing to Sable in the past but was afraid to say it in case Brock heard and beat the ever loving crap out of him. There is lots of scumbags in the biz and there are a lot of good people too.
 

Donkeypunch Jones said:
I hate Randy and always have since he went AWOL from the Marines. X-pac did the same thing to Sable in the past but was afraid to say it in case Brock heard and beat the ever loving crap out of him. There is lots of scumbags in the biz and there are a lot of good people too.
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It's the Diversity of back stage shenanigans that make fans crazy in an detached but interested way

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