Shama: Bobby Bell is arguably the most legendary Gopher football player still alive

BleedGopher

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per Shama:

Bobby Bell, who turned 78 on Sunday, is arguably the most legendary former Golden Gophers football player still alive. Bell was a two-time All-American defensive tackle and won the 1962 Outland Trophy. From 1960-1962 he was a major reason why the Gophers had a 22-6-1 record with two Rose Bowl appearances and one Big Ten title. The 6-4, 228-pound Bell was a high school quarterback and so athletic he could have played any of several positions for coach Murray Warmath.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!
 

I'd say Bud Grant wins "most legendary Gopher football player still alive". Carl Eller is certainly on the list as well. I'm guessing I'm forgetting several others who belong in the conversation... How we deciding what legendary is? Tony Dungy has a pretty impressive resume.
 

I'd say Bud Grant wins "most legendary Gopher football player still alive". Carl Eller is certainly on the list as well. I'm guessing I'm forgetting several others who belong in the conversation... How we deciding what legendary is? Tony Dungy has a pretty impressive resume.

Let's go by Twitter followers.
 

I'd say Bud Grant wins "most legendary Gopher football player still alive". Carl Eller is certainly on the list as well. I'm guessing I'm forgetting several others who belong in the conversation... How we deciding what legendary is? Tony Dungy has a pretty impressive resume.

If players aren't in the college or pro football halls of fame then they are not legendary. Grant and Dungy are hall of famers primarily because of their coaching records and not their playing records. That leaves only Bell and Eller in the running for "most legendary Gopher football player still alive".
 

If players aren't in the college or pro football halls of fame then they are not legendary. Grant and Dungy are hall of famers primarily because of their coaching records and not their playing records. That leaves only Bell and Eller in the running for "most legendary Gopher football player still alive".

Grant is in the CFL HOF. Back when Grant played, several top players were going to Canada because the exchange rate meant they were getting paid more there, so you can't outright dismiss it as being "lesser".
 


Grant is in the CFL HOF. Back when Grant played, several top players were going to Canada because the exchange rate meant they were getting paid more there, so you can't outright dismiss it as being "lesser".

You make a good point but I don't think Bud Grant's football playing career is the equal of either Bobby Bell or Carl Eller. Plus, I wouldn't vote for Bud as "the most legendary Gopher football player still alive" because he trashed the U during an interview on Danny B's show on KFAN several weeks ago. I have always wondered why Bud never goes to Gopher games or talks about his time as Gopher. It turns out he didn't like Bernie Bierman because he played favorites with his players and because Bud thought the U should have paid him a weekly "stipend" to cover his living expenses in addition to his scholarship. Bud claims Wisconsin did that for some of their players during the time he played for the Gophers. Bud has carried a grudge against the U ever since. Whenever Paul Giel would ask Bud to donate money to athletics at the U he would always turn him down by saying the U owes him money.
 

per Shama:

Bobby Bell, who turned 78 on Sunday, is arguably the most legendary former Golden Gophers football player still alive. Bell was a two-time All-American defensive tackle and won the 1962 Outland Trophy. From 1960-1962 he was a major reason why the Gophers had a 22-6-1 record with two Rose Bowl appearances and one Big Ten title. The 6-4, 228-pound Bell was a high school quarterback and so athletic he could have played any of several positions for coach Murray Warmath.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

I think Bobby Bell is in the conversation with some of the other ones that have been mentioned.
 

Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski.
He is a FOOTBALL Legend, drop the mike.....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 




Everything I've ever heard or read about Bell suggests that he was a truly exceptional athlete. His contemporaries have said that he could have started, and probably been the best player, at any position on the team. I remember hearing an interview (may have been with Sid) where Bell joked about wanting to play QB. The fact is, he was an All-State QB in HS. At MN, he was 3rd in the Heisman voting as a D-Lineman.
 

If players aren't in the college or pro football halls of fame then they are not legendary. Grant and Dungy are hall of famers primarily because of their coaching records and not their playing records. That leaves only Bell and Eller in the running for "most legendary Gopher football player still alive".

Precisely. Thank you for your incisive comment.
 


It should be Tom Brown. Tom Brown should have his number retired 25 years ago. He belongs up there with Giel, Smith, Bell, Stephens, and Nagurski.
-Outland Trophy winner
-runner up for the Heisman
-B10 Player of the Year
- National Champion
-B10 Champion

Bell had a much better professional career and is much more well known than Brown, but I don't think there is much more than Brown could have done at the U while he was here.
 



You make a good point but I don't think Bud Grant's football playing career is the equal of either Bobby Bell or Carl Eller. Plus, I wouldn't vote for Bud as "the most legendary Gopher football player still alive" because he trashed the U during an interview on Danny B's show on KFAN several weeks ago. I have always wondered why Bud never goes to Gopher games or talks about his time as Gopher. It turns out he didn't like Bernie Bierman because he played favorites with his players and because Bud thought the U should have paid him a weekly "stipend" to cover his living expenses in addition to his scholarship. Bud claims Wisconsin did that for some of their players during the time he played for the Gophers. Bud has carried a grudge against the U ever since. Whenever Paul Giel would ask Bud to donate money to athletics at the U he would always turn him down by saying the U owes him money.

Hard to compare CFL vs. NFL, but Bell was supposedly the kind of player who would be in a HOF of HOF players, if you catch my drift, so you're probably right about not being equal. I was just pointing out that you can't dismiss Grant's playing career as it was HOF caliber (Cruze had mentioned he was only in the HOF as a coach).

Interesting about Grant holding a grudge all these years. It's too bad. I had hopes of him asking the crowd to do the Gopher. :)

It should be Tom Brown. Tom Brown should have his number retired 25 years ago. He belongs up there with Giel, Smith, Bell, Stephens, and Nagurski.
-Outland Trophy winner
-runner up for the Heisman
-B10 Player of the Year
- National Champion
-B10 Champion

Bell had a much better professional career and is much more well known than Brown, but I don't think there is much more than Brown could have done at the U while he was here.

Another guy who ended up in the CFL HOF (I didn't realize that prior to now). Probably the most overlooked star the Gophers have ever or will ever have. He was drafted 5th overall in the AFL draft and chose to go to Canada. As far as greatest Gopher player ever still alive (taking only their college career into perspective), it's hard to argue with Brown being in the conversation.
 

per Shama:

Bobby Bell, who turned 78 on Sunday, is arguably the most legendary former Golden Gophers football player still alive. Bell was a two-time All-American defensive tackle and won the 1962 Outland Trophy. From 1960-1962 he was a major reason why the Gophers had a 22-6-1 record with two Rose Bowl appearances and one Big Ten title. The 6-4, 228-pound Bell was a high school quarterback and so athletic he could have played any of several positions for coach Murray Warmath.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

In trying to read through the posts on this, I have to at least try to break through all sorts of stupidity. There are only two names that matter.......

-this is about players (and living players for the brain dead ) and Bud Grant is not an issue - coaching is why he is the HOF

-Tom Brown is dead

-most of the others mentioned are dead

-it comes down to Carl Eller (or Maroney and Barber if you liked them as much as I did in my short lifetime - does not count) and Bobby Bell.

So Carl Eller or Bobby Bell? A legit debate, but I'll take Bobby Bell mainly based on his Super Bowl win, but Eller was machine, and the question is a toss up.

. For the record I have been standing near both of them, and for men approaching 80 years old, they both are still both imposing figures, mentally and physically.
 

In trying to read through the posts on this, I have to at least try to break through all sorts of stupidity. There are only two names that matter.......

-this is about players (and living players for the brain dead ) and Bud Grant is not an issue - coaching is why he is the HOF

-Tom Brown is dead

-most of the others mentioned are dead

-it comes down to Carl Eller (or Maroney and Barber if you liked them as much as I did in my short lifetime - does not count) and Bobby Bell.

So Carl Eller or Bobby Bell? A legit debate, but I'll take Bobby Bell mainly based on his Super Bowl win, but Eller was machine, and the question is a toss up.

. For the record I have been standing near both of them, and for men approaching 80 years old, they both are still both imposing figures, mentally and physically.

Where are you seeing that?
 


In trying to read through the posts on this, I have to at least try to break through all sorts of stupidity. There are only two names that matter.......

-this is about players (and living players for the brain dead ) and Bud Grant is not an issue - coaching is why he is the HOF

-Tom Brown is dead

-most of the others mentioned are dead

-it comes down to Carl Eller (or Maroney and Barber if you liked them as much as I did in my short lifetime - does not count) and Bobby Bell.

So Carl Eller or Bobby Bell? A legit debate, but I'll take Bobby Bell mainly based on his Super Bowl win, but Eller was machine, and the question is a toss up.

. For the record I have been standing near both of them, and for men approaching 80 years old, they both are still both imposing figures, mentally and physically.

Show me where you find that Tom Brown is dead.
 

You make a good point but I don't think Bud Grant's football playing career is the equal of either Bobby Bell or Carl Eller. Plus, I wouldn't vote for Bud as "the most legendary Gopher football player still alive" because he trashed the U during an interview on Danny B's show on KFAN several weeks ago. I have always wondered why Bud never goes to Gopher games or talks about his time as Gopher. It turns out he didn't like Bernie Bierman because he played favorites with his players and because Bud thought the U should have paid him a weekly "stipend" to cover his living expenses in addition to his scholarship. Bud claims Wisconsin did that for some of their players during the time he played for the Gophers. Bud has carried a grudge against the U ever since. Whenever Paul Giel would ask Bud to donate money to athletics at the U he would always turn him down by saying the U owes him money.

I would vote for Bud Grant to be the biggest skinflint of all former Gopher athletes in any sport. I am not surprised by the above.

I find his annual "garage sale" antics quite irritating.
 



Tom Brown is still alive... Vince Lombardi described him as "a hellava' football player"....

Yes, I stand corrected, Tom Brown is 81 years old and I hope doing very well!

I had heard Tom Brown was one of the greatest Gopher OL players ever and I for some reason associated him with those post WWII Bierman teams that Bud Grant was on. I do realize that Clayton Tonnemaker and Leo Nomellini were some of the most dominant linemen in CFB in that era and it is too bad Minnesota did not get another National Championship in the post war era those two guys played in . I associated Tom Brown with that era for some reason.

I do stand by my belief that Bobby Bell is #1 though, but maybe Carl Eller is not #2. I had heard the screw job the officials put on the Gopher team in Madison in the Bell era is astounding. Apparently, if Sid can be believed, a roughing the passer call was made, after a sack because Bell? or Carl Eller hit the QB "too hard" when tackling him with the ball in hand. (no targeting or other special treatment rules back then either) My recollection of of Sid's comments was that this call cost Minnesota a 3rd trip to the 1963_Rose Bowl (UW lost to USC )-

We hear a lot about how players in the old days were much smaller but Eller 6'6 260, Bell 6-4 250, were very imposing figures back then and still today in their old age. They probably were especially known for being quick and fast at the size they played at.
 

What this dive into the 1949- 1963 Gopher Football story means for the future, as related to PJ Fleck and recruiting is that it tells us something about today. Minnesota was great in the old days partially because Minnesota had more better players than most of other Big Ten teams, for long stretches of time. This went back the Bierman era and the Warmath era when all the great Black players arrived.

As much as Fleck's style rubs me the wrong way, there is no denying his recruiting results and that counts for a lot. Many of Brewster's classes washed out before they played a down, and this staff does not seem to be lacking in in the area of evaluating academic readiness, although we still do not know that for sure. I also think Fleck has a pretty good handle on what he wants to do as far as X and Os, so is not going to fail like Brewster did when Brewster started changing his mind constantly.

If Fleck stays and keeps bringing in talent, there is no way this program does not rise to a higher level, even if he is a little goofy.
 

I like Bell but as a Gopher I really don't remember any games where he really stood out (I saw every game). Eller stood out. But Tom Brown was someone who dominated and really stood out. Jon Leverenz is another one who stood out. Rick Upchurch stood out. Of course so did Decker and Maroney. So I would say there are many players in this discussion. Grant? NO
 






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