When did you become a Gopher football fan?

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UpAndUnder43

UpAndUnder43

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Always a fun thread. Especially with new users and a lot of excitement around the program.

I was raised a “fan” but started attending games when I moved to the metro. Syracuse, TCU, PSU (win!!) and other shaped me into a diehard. My wife is more intense than I am. This is her true love. So we do away games, home games, planning on bowl games...its what we do. Neither of us went to the U, or had family go to the U.

What made you a fan? What turned you to the light side? Why is this your passion?
 

First game I watched on TV: Nebraska '83. So I really love it when we thrash the Huckers.

I became a fan in '84, when I was ten years old. Those two seasons with Lou Holtz (84-85) were really fun and exciting, and one can't help wondering what could have been.
 

Maybe around 78. The first Gopher game I clearly remember was the last game of the 1979 season. I remember we were splitting some wood and I was listening to the game on the radio. The splitter was gas powered and gave off a lot of interference so I had to listen here and there when we took a break. We rarely got to see games on TV, so I listened on the radio. I didn't see a game in person until the 90s.
 

My first Gopher game was 1984 against Northwestern. I was super young.

That game was no bueno!

I'd previously listened to games on the radio.
 
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Pretty sure at birth. Seven degrees from the U between my Dad, my brother, my sons, and me.
 


I started following Gopher football in the early to mid 90's when I was about 10 years old. It was during the Jim Wacker, Tutu Atwell and Cory Sauter era.
 

Studwell55 said:
My first Gopher game was 1984 against Northwestern.

That game was no bueno!
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1984 Spring Game for me. Remember getting Rickey Foggie's (and other players) autographs on the Dome field after the game.
 

I think it was the 84-13 game vs Nebraska.
I was listening to it while riding with my dad, and Ray Christensen's tone of voice told me everything I needed to know.

Prominent memories after that was Rickey Foggie vs Oklahoma trying to pull of the big upset. Watched it on the TV in my parents bedroom. Old 19" RCA. We had two TV's back then and not sure what other members of the family were watching on the other one.
 
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2013 season for football; 2012 season for basketball

I moved to Minnesota shortly after the turn of the century. Since I was an Iowa alum (for undergrad), it took me awhile to become a Gopher fan. I watched the Gopher football team occasionally before the 2013 season but not with any particular interest. What got me watching was upsetting Nebraska after getting crushed in their first two conference games, winning three more conference games, and finishing with an 8-4 season. The team has been reasonably competitive since I've been a fan but this is the potential season we've all been waiting for.

The interest started with the basketball team in the 2012 postseason. I thought a run to the NIT finals while playing all their games on the road with a young and depleted roster was inspiring. I've followed the basketball team continuously since then.

The U has the only D1 football and basketball teams in the state so if you want to have a home state favorite, the U is your only choice. I actually prefer a fave that is improving but has its struggles over one that has been very good for a long time. I think it would be really boring being an Alabama football fan.
 



First time poster here--but I lurk. U alum (graduated '95). Did lots of Dead touring during my college days, started making up for lost time in the football dept right after TCF was built (the Dome was gross). All-in now, with my wife and three daughters, one of whom is aiming to play for the Pride in 2021.
 

I couldn't give you an exact game, but my dad began taking me to all the home games about the time I was 4 or 5. So it would have been 1992 or 93.

Jim Wacker had just taken over as the coach, remember Tutu Atwell, Ryan Thelwell, Cory Sauter and Tyrone Carter all playing well in the Metrodome over his time as HC.

The first game I have any specific recollection of was a crazy high scoring game against Purdue, which appears to be this one - https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-10-sp-44300-story.html
 

cjbfbp said:
2013 season for football; 2012 season for basketball

I moved to Minnesota shortly after the turn of the century. Since I was an Iowa alum (for undergrad), it took me awhile to become a Gopher fan. I watched the Gopher football team occasionally before the 2013 season but not with any particular interest. What got me watching was upsetting Nebraska after getting crushed in their first two conference games, winning three more conference games, and finishing with an 8-4 season. The team has been reasonably competitive since I've been a fan but this is the potential season we've all been waiting for.

The interest started with the basketball team in the 2012 postseason. I thought a run to the NIT finals while playing all their games on the road with a young and depleted roster was inspiring. I've followed the basketball team continuously since then.

The U has the only D1 football and basketball teams in the state so if you want to have a home state favorite, the U is your only choice. I actually prefer a fave that is improving but has its struggles over one that has been very good for a long time. I think it would be really boring being an Alabama football fan.
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Glad you aren't like the WI people who move to MN and keep clinging for generations to their old state teams despite moving here decades ago.
 




Face The Facts said:
Glad you aren't like the WI people who move to MN and keep clinging for generations to their old state teams despite moving here decades ago.
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Why would you want people to switch allegiances based on where they live?
 

I have been a Gopher football fan since my Dad started taking me to games in 1951. I have had my own football season tickets since I started college at the U in the fall of 1956. I attended both of the Rose Bowls the Gophers played in while I was at the U. Yes, I am one of those seniors who can't stand as easily or for as long as I would like; but that makes me no less a fan.
 

Moved to MN in 1991, started paying attention in 1993. How could you not love the Wacker era uniforms. My first game was the 7-58 thrashing by Michigan in 1993, you can’t help but be a fan after that.
 

gopheraddict said:
I have been a Gopher football fan since my Dad started taking me to games in 1951. I have had my own football season tickets since I started college at the U in the fall of 1956. I attended both of the Rose Bowls the Gophers played in while I was at the U. Yes, I am one of those seniors who can't stand as easily or for as long as I would like; but that makes me no less a fan.
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Less of a fan??? Man, you’re twice the fan. You lived the glory days and the worst days. Thanks for sticking it out. You’re an inspiration.
 

When I was a little boy in the 50's I listened on WCCO radio to all the Gopher games. I loved Paul Giel and hand sowed a number 10 on a sweatshirt and pretended.... We couldn't afford to go to the games but it was so real on the radio. I'm sure it was Ray Christianson behind the mike.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Less of a fan??? Man, you’re twice the fan. You lived the glory days and the worst days. Thanks for sticking it out. You’re an inspiration.
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Love this story. I went in the military in 1963. Got out in 67 and enrolled at the U under the GI Bill. Immediately got my "punch card" for football/basketball/hockey. Loved every minute of it!
 

1960. I remember watching the Iowa game on "educational tv" channel 2. Also watching, with my Dad, Rollie Johnson's tv show of highlights of the glory days of the Golden Gophers from the 1930s and early 40s.
 

Mid-50's I was a Bobby Cox fan, but I really didn't become a fanatic until 1960. Saturday afternoons in the fall and I would be in front of the radio listening to Ray. Sunday after church and I would be reading everything about the game in the Peach section of the Tribune. I loved the feature of taking the big plays and running a series of photographs showing the play. They'd also usually have a large photo with a dotted line showing you the path of the runner or the flight of the ball.

Tom Brown was my favorite player but, thinking I'd be an end, I also was a big fan of Tom Hall. I'll bet close to half the state was listening to the game where the Gophers beat Iowa who was number one at the time. Pretty sure I went to every game at Memorial Stadium from 1964-1968, though as a senior more than a few were watched in somewhat altered state of mind.
 

Goofers71 said:
1960. I remember watching the Iowa game on "educational tv" channel 2. Also watching, with my Dad, Rollie Johnson's tv show of highlights of the glory days of the Golden Gophers from the 1930s and early 40s.
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I remember that too. Black and white TV for you too? Great memory. A lot of "congrats" on TV in short blurbs about the Gophers going to the Rose Bowl.
 

I was born into it. My pops is from Minnesota, raised me in Los Angeles.
First true Gopher memory would be making the Final 4 in basketball. beating UCLA to get there. (I'm 29 years old)
 
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2015 when I was a freshman at the U. Haven't missed a game since then.
 

1983. My dad was running for city council and I spent my Saturday's listening to the Gophers while he dropped literature. First game I attended was 1988 vs Michigan. Had my own season tickets since 1996.
 

Mulligan said:
Mid-50's I was a Bobby Cox fan, but I really didn't become a fanatic until 1960. Saturday afternoons in the fall and I would be in front of the radio listening to Ray. Sunday after church and I would be reading everything about the game in the Peach section of the Tribune. I loved the feature of taking the big plays and running a series of photographs showing the play. They'd also usually have a large photo with a dotted line showing you the path of the runner or the flight of the ball.

Tom Brown was my favorite player but, thinking I'd be an end, I also was a big fan of Tom Hall. I'll bet close to half the state was listening to the game where the Gophers beat Iowa who was number one at the time. Pretty sure I went to every game at Memorial Stadium from 1964-1968, though as a senior more than a few were watched in somewhat altered state of mind.
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Same. I'd cut those little footballs out of the Peach Section and paste them on things. Wonderful days. Great memories. Thanks for sharing.
 

We did this a month or two ago. Perhaps someone can locate the thread and merge it.
 

Dad started taking me around 1997-1998. I was 6 or 7. The Dome Days in the start of the Mason era. I’ve been to just about every home game besides maybe 4 since I was 6. Dad bought season tickets in 2000, started with just 2, and then bumped it up to 3 when we went to TCF Bank Stadium, and then in the last 2 years of his life he bumped it up to 4 tickets. My Mom signed two of the four into my name, so now me and my wife have owned two for the last two seasons. I’ve seen a lot of horrible in my 21 years of watching and being a diehard fan. I can say though that I’ve witnessed both of Minnesota’s most recent 2 wins against the Badgers. Touched the axe, the pig, and the jug. My wife has always enjoyed Gopher sports too, but became a diehard Gopher football fan as we continued to date. I plan to never stop owning tickets, never stop attending games, make it to one road game every season (been to Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Citrus Bowl, and this year is Iowa), and hope that my future children will enjoy going with my wife and I.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Pretty much at birth as my dad played for the Gophers. Paul Geil was at our house the night I was born, 1959. Since 2009 I have taken my boys to a Gopher game. Usually at TCF, but we've been to Iowa City, Lincoln and this year my son moved to New Jersey, we went to Rutgers. The boys are all about the Golden Ones
 

1974. I was the youngest and my older brothers lost interest in going. I didn't and have been going since. I was too young to have any detailed memories, but I remember my sister daited Ron Kulus in H.S.. so there's that. I guess I do have have a few faded mental pics of Rick Upchurch and Tony Dungy still floating around. I do remember Marion Barber and Gary White in 1980 well. Barber was my first favorite player. It's been so cool to have all of the Barbers through the years. And of course Ray was the man growing up in the 70's.
 

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