1.
Minnesota Golden Gophers football
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The Minnesota Golden Gophers football program represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, the program is one of the oldest in college football, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its inception in 1896 as the Western Conference. The Golden Gophers claim seven national championships,1904,1934,1935,1936,1940,1941, since 2009, the Gophers have played all their home games at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In January 2017, the Gophers fired head coach Tracy Claeys, the Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team played its first game on September 29,1882, a 4–0 victory over Hamline University. Eight years later in 1890, the Gophers played host to Wisconsin in a 63–0 victory, with the exception of 1906, the Gophers and Badgers have played each other every year since then. The 124 games played against each other is the most played rivalry in Division I-A college football, students began gathering to play the game recreationally and its popularity grew. Once the sport had taken off, it was only a matter of time before a team was formed to play against other schools, early teams were very loosely organized, not requiring all of the players to be students and not having designated coaches. The players on the team started to recruit faculty members who had played football at schools in the East to help organize the team, some years, they played without a coach. Other years, they played with multiple coaches, in total, from 1882 through 1899, the team played 16 seasons of football and had 15 different coaches. As the years went by, the structure started to become more formal. In 1900, the hiring of Dr. Henry L. Williams, the Gophers enjoyed quite a bit of success in the early 20th century, posting winning records from 1900 to 1919. Head coach Henry L. Williams developed the Minnesota shift, a predecessor to later quick line shifts, also Henry L. Williams led Minnesota to one of the NCAAs longest unbeaten streaks of 35 games, from 1903 to 1905 with 34 wins and 1 tie. In 1932, Bernie Bierman became the Gopher head coach and led the Gophers to their first dynasty, from 1934 to 1936 the Gophers went on a run of winning three straight National Championships, the last Division I team to accomplish this feat. During the run, Minnesota went unbeaten in 28 straight games,21 of which were consecutive victories, the school record for consecutive victories is 24, which spanned 3 seasons from 1903 to 1905. The Gophers also won two national championships in 1940 and 1941. Those two seasons comprised most of an 18-game winning streak that stretched from 1939 to 1942, after some mediocre seasons throughout the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, the Gophers rose back to prominence in 1960 with their seventh national championship. That national championship followed a 1-8 record in 1958 and 2-7 record in 1959, Minnesota played in bowl games the two following years as well, in 1961 and 1962. The Gophers earned their first berth in the Rose Bowl by winning the 1960 Big Ten title, the following year, Minnesota returned to Pasadena despite a second-place finish in the conference
2.
1887 Michigan Wolverines football team
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The 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1887 college football season. The team compiled a 5–0 record and outscored its opponents by a score of 102 to 10. The 1887 season capped three consecutive undefeated seasons in which Michigan won its games by a combined total of 258 to 10. The captain of the 1887 team was John L. Duffy, on November 12,1887, the team opened its season against Albion College at the Ann Arbor Fairgrounds. The Chronicle of Ann Arbor reported, The weather was fine, and the contest was witnessed by a crowd of spectators. The game was preceded by the continuation of a match between two heavyweights named Malley and Jackson. Three-hundred spectators watched the match, which lasted for between 30 and 45 minutes. The football game began between 3,00 p. m. and 3,30 p. m. Albion kicked off to start the game and Duffy immediately kicked the ball back to the middle of the field. In a scrimmage that followed, John Duffy slipped through, scored Michigans first touchdown, Michigan scored two additional touchdowns and a safety in the first half, with the scores being made by Jim Duffy, Royal Farrand and Ernest Sprague. After a ten-minute break between halves, neither team scored in the first 18 minutes of the second half, John Duffy scored Michigans fourth touchdown, and the kick for goal was successful. James Duffy scored Michigans fifth touchdown, the coming to him on the bound from the punt-out. The Michigan Argonaut summarized Michigans play as follows, On the whole the boys played a good game and their passing and running were excellent. Some of the new material is a strengthening to the eleven. The inability to hold the line well was the greatest fault. Two of the players on Michigans 1887 team, George Winthrop DeHaven, Jr. in October 1887, DeHaven wrote to Brother Paul, who ran Notre Dames intramural athletics program, telling him about the new game of football. On November 22,1887, the Michigan football team departed from the Michigan Central Railroad Depot in Ann Arbor on the late train. After breakfast in Niles, Michigan, the team changed trains, the team was greeted by Father Superior Walsh and spent two hours touring the university buildings and departments of Notre Dame. The game was the first played by Notre Dame, and the Michigan team was credited with teaching the Notre Dame team the game play began
3.
University of Minnesota
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The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses are approximately 3 miles apart, and it is the oldest and largest campus within the University of Minnesota system and has the sixth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 51,147 students in 2013–14. The university is the institution of the University of Minnesota system, and is organized into 19 colleges and schools, with sister campuses in Crookston, Duluth, Morris. Minnesota is one of Americas Public Ivy universities, which refers to top universities in the United States capable of providing a collegiate experience comparable with the Ivy League. Founded in 1851, The University of Minnesota is categorized as an R1 Doctoral University with the highest research activity in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Minnesota faculty, alumni, and researchers have won 25 Nobel Prizes and three Pulitzer Prizes. Notable University of Minnesota alumni include two Vice Presidents of the United States, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, and Bob Dylan, who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities is also a member of the Association of American Universities which is an association of the 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. In its 2017 edition, U. S. News & World Report ranked Minnesota 38th in their Best Global University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2015 ranks Minnesota 46th in the world. In 2015, Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the university 11th in the world for mathematics, the University of Minnesota is ranked 14 over-all among the nations top research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance. The U. S. News & World Reports 2016 rankings placed the program of the University as the 69th-best National University in the United States. Additionally, nineteen of the Universitys graduate-school departments have been ranked in the nations top-twenty by the U. S. National Research Council, in both 2008 and 2012 U. S. News & World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 2nd in the nation. 2016 U. S. News & Report now rank the College of Pharmacy 2nd in the nation. In 2011, U. S. News & World Report ranked the School of Public Health 8th in the nation, the University of Minnesota ranked 19th in NIH funding in 2008. Minnesota is listed as a Public Ivy in 2001 Greenes Guides The Public Ivies, the university developed Gopher, a precursor to the World Wide Web which used hyperlinks to connect documents across computers on the internet. However, the produced by CERN was favored by the public since it was freely distributed. The University also houses the Charles Babbage Institute, a research, the department has strong roots in early days of supercomputing with Seymour Cray of Cray supercomputers. Notable faculty of the department are Yousef Saad, Vipin Kumar, Jaideep Srivastava, John Riedl, some notable alumni of the department are Ed Chi, Imrich Chlamtac, Leah Culver, Jeff Dean, Mark P. McCahill, Arvind Mithal, and Calvin Mooers. Puffed rice - Alexander P. Anderson led to the discovery of puffed rice, transistorized cardiac pacemaker - Earl Bakken founded Medtronic, where he developed the first external, battery-operated, transistorized, wearable artificial pacemaker in 1957
4.
Minneapolis
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Minneapolis is the county seat of Hennepin County, and the larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. As of 2015, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota, Minneapolis and Saint Paul anchor the second-largest economic center in the Midwest, after Chicago. Minneapolis lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul. It was once the worlds flour milling capital and a hub for timber, the city and surrounding region is the primary business center between Chicago and Seattle, with Minneapolis proper containing Americas fifth-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies. As an integral link to the economy, Minneapolis is categorized as a global city. Noted for its music and performing arts scenes, Minneapolis is home to both the award-winning Guthrie Theater and the historic First Avenue nightclub. The name Minneapolis is attributed to Charles Hoag, the citys first schoolteacher, who combined mni, a Dakota Sioux word for water, and polis, Dakota Sioux had long been the regions sole residents when French explorers arrived around 1680. For a time relations were based on fur trading, gradually more European-American settlers arrived, competing for game and other resources with the Dakota. In the early 19th century, the United States acquired this territory from France, fort Snelling was built in 1819 by the United States Army, and it attracted traders, settlers and merchants, spurring growth in the area. The United States government pressed the Mdewakanton band of the Dakota to sell their land, the Minnesota Territorial Legislature authorized present-day Minneapolis as a town in 1856 on the Mississippis west bank. Minneapolis incorporated as a city in 1867, the rail service began between Minneapolis and Chicago. It later joined with the city of St. Anthony in 1872. Minneapolis developed around Saint Anthony Falls, the highest waterfall on the Mississippi River, forests in northern Minnesota were a valuable resource for the lumber industry, which operated seventeen sawmills on power from the waterfall. By 1871, the west river bank had twenty-three businesses, including mills, woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, paper, sashes. Due to the hazards of milling, six local sources of artificial limbs were competing in the prosthetics business by the 1890s. The farmers of the Great Plains grew grain that was shipped by rail to the citys thirty-four flour mills, a father of modern milling in America and founder of what became General Mills, Cadwallader C. Some ideas were developed by William Dixon Gray and some acquired through industrial espionage from the Hungarians by William de la Barre, pillsbury Company across the river were barely a step behind, hiring Washburn employees to immediately use the new methods. The hard red spring wheat that grows in Minnesota became valuable, not until later did consumers discover the value in the bran that Minneapolis
5.
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
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The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome was a domed sports stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was also the home of the Minnesota Strikers of the North American Soccer League in 1984, on January 18,2014, the Metrodome roof was deflated, signaling the beginning of demolition work. The Vikings played at the University of Minnesotas TCF Bank Stadium for the 2014 and 2015 NFL seasons, the stadium had a fiberglass fabric roof that was self-supported by air pressure and was the third major sports facility to have this feature. The Metrodome was similar in design to the former RCA Dome, the Metrodome was reputedly the inspiration for the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The stadium was the facility to have hosted a Super Bowl, World Series, MLB All-Star Game. The Metrodome was the ninth-oldest stadium in the NFL, locally, the Metrodome had several nicknames such as The Dome, The Thunderdome, and The Homer Dome. The Metrodome was torn down in sections while construction of U. S, by the early 1970s, the Minnesota Vikings were unhappy with Metropolitan Stadiums relatively small capacity for football. Before the AFL-NFL merger, the NFL had declared that stadiums with a capacity smaller than 50,000 were not adequate for their needs. The biggest stadium in the area was the University of Minnesotas Memorial Stadium, supporters of a dome also believed that the Minnesota Twins would benefit from a climate-controlled stadium to insulate the team from harsh Minnesota weather later in the season. The Met would have likely needed to be replaced in any event, broken railings and seats could be seen in the upper deck by the early 1970s, and by its final season they had become a distinct safety hazard. Construction success of other domed stadiums, particularly the Pontiac Silverdome near Detroit, Downtown Minneapolis was beginning a revitalization program, and the return of professional sports from suburban Bloomington was seen as a major success story. A professional team hadnt been based in downtown Minneapolis since the Minneapolis Lakers left for Los Angeles in 1960, uncovering the Dome by Amy Klobuchar describes the 10-year effort to build the venue. The stadium was named in memory of former mayor of Minneapolis, U. S. Senator, vice President, Hubert Humphrey, who died in 1978. The Metrodome itself cost $68 million to build—significantly under budget—totaling around $124 million with infrastructure and it was a somewhat utilitarian facility, though not quite as spartan as Metropolitan Stadium. One stadium official once said all the Metrodome was designed to do was get fans in, let em see a game. The Metrodome is the venue to have hosted a MLB All-Star Game, a Super Bowl, an NCAA Final Four. The 1985 MLB All-Star Game, several games of the 1987 and the 1991 World Series, Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, the NCAA Final Four was held at the Metrodome in 1992 and 2001. The Metrodome also served as one of the four venues for the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship in 1986,1989,1996,2000,2003,2006
6.
TCF Bank Stadium
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TCF Bank Stadium is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The 50, 805-seat horseshoe style stadium cost $303.3 million to build and is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000 and it is the first new Big Ten football stadium constructed since Memorial Stadium at Indiana University opened in 1960. TCF Bank Stadium also boasts the largest home locker room in college or professional football, the stadium is the third on-campus stadium and fourth stadium used for U of M football. Previous venues have been Northrop Field, Memorial Stadium, and Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Gopher football program played its first game there on September 12,2009 against the Falcons of the United States Air Force Academy, prevailing 20-13. This was the first football game played on-campus since November 21,1981, the highest-ranked AP Top 25 team to visit was #2 TCU in 2015. Iowa is 1-3 against Minnesota in rivalry games played at The Bank, at the conclusion of the 2014 season, the Gopher football team has an all-time record of 23 -19 in games played at TCF Bank Stadium. The stadium is located on the northeast side of the Minneapolis campus, near the site of the former Memorial Stadium, the site was previously the Huron Boulevard Parking Complex, where the universitys four largest parking lots were located. The address is 2009 University Ave S. E, the stadium is part of a 75-acre expansion of the Twin Cities campus, the largest since the West Bank was built in the 1960s. Current plans for the call for the construction of as many as ten new academic buildings by 2015. The METRO Green Line light rail runs near the stadium, with a station in Stadium Village serving the facility, construction of the Green Line began in 2010 and opened June 14,2014. The two other major Twin Cities stadiums are located along this line, within a short distance, an environmental impact assessment of the stadium site was conducted by the university between December 2004 and March 2006 at a cost of $1.5 million. The results were approved by the Board of Regents on March 27,2006, the stadium is a horseshoe-style stadium which organizers said would have a traditional collegiate look and feel. On December 7,2006, the university announced that the field would be laid out in an unorthodox east-west configuration. This layout, similar to that of Memorial Stadium, provides a view of downtown Minneapolis, on September 18,2009, the University of Minnesota announced that the stadium was awarded LEED Silver Certification, the first college or professional football stadium to achieve LEED certification. The centerpiece of the stadium is the scoreboard, designed. At 48 by 108 feet, the HD-X light-emitting diode video scoreboard is currently the ninth largest in college football-only stadiums, and was the third largest at the time of construction. The playing surface is FieldTurf, an artificial turf. Located on the ground level is the Murray Warmath Locker Room
7.
University of Minnesota Marching Band
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The University of Minnesota Marching Band is the marching band of the University of Minnesota and the flagship university band for the state of Minnesota. The Pride of Minnesota serves as the ambassador, representing the school at major events both on and off campus. Here is a link to the Intro Video and fight songs of the Pride of Minnesota, the band performed its first halftime field show during the 1910 football season at Northrop Field. Among the formations included was the Block M that now serves as the Universitys logo, the Block M formation is still present in the bands pregame show. However, both bands were decommissioned along with the Regiment at the conclusion of the war, following the war, university students who were members of the band were offered a position in a separate University Band, with the word cadet having been dropped from its name. In January of 1965, the band was featured in the Inaugural Parade in Washington. In 1982, the bands performances moved once again after the opening of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, throughout much of its history, the marching bands facilities were located in the universitys historic Northrop Auditorium, where it shared space with several other campus organizations. Additionally, the serve as the offices for the marching band, study space for members. When it was formed, the band consisted of exclusively males. Women were first allowed to perform with the band in 1943-1945, in 1950, a Womens division of the band was created, which lasted for several years. Women were finally allowed to be members of the band in 1972. Molly Watters was selected in 2006 as the first female Drum Major in the history of the band. In July 2016, Betsy McCann was named the director of the band, becoming the first female director in the history of the band, the Minnesota Marching Band primarily uses the traditional chair step for performances, similar to other bands of the Big Ten Conference. The bands pregame show is performed almost entirely with this type of step and it consists of bringing the leg up so that the thigh is parallel to the ground and the shin is completely vertical and toes are pointed at the ground. Halftime shows are performed using a low step marching that allows for more musicality. Run-Cadence is the method of getting on and off the field for a show. It consists of a double-time chair step, although the pace of it necessitates that at times neither foot is in contact with the ground. The University of Minnesota Marching Band has had 19 directors, some of which held the position at multiple points throughout the bands history
8.
T formation
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In American football, a T formation is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterback, forming the shape of a T. The T formation is said to be the oldest offensive formation in American football and is claimed to have been invented by Walter Camp in 1882. However, as the pass was legalized, the original T became obsolete in favor of formations such as the single wing. Innovations, such as a smaller, more throwing-friendly ball, along with the invention of the snap in the 1930s. The original T formation is used today, but it was successful in the first half of the 20th century. The formation led to a faster-paced, higher-scoring game, Shaughnessy helped the Bears prepare for the game against the Redskins. He has been called The father of the T formation, the T-formation was viewed as a complicated gadget offense by early football coaches. Shaughnessy was as an advisor to Halas in the 1930s athehead coach at the University of Chicago, the T became much more viable in 1933 when passing was legalized anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. Halas recruited Solly Sherman, the Quarterback for the University of Chicago because of his experience with the T-Formation under Clark Shaughnessy, Solly then taught Sid Luckman the system. Sherman, a half back, had torn his meniscus in college. Eventually he played backup to Sid Luckman with the Bears in 1939 and 1940, Sid Luckman went on to win four NFL championships in the 1940s. The last team to run the single-wing in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers, since that time, the T, and all its variants, have dominated offensive football and created the American football now employed throughout the NCAA and NFL. The T is referenced in the Chicago Bears fight song, Bear Down, Chicago Bears, well never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T formation. Additionally, two books detail the development of the T with the Bears, the Chicago Bears by Howard Roberts written in 1947, credits several coaches including Ralph Jones and Clark Shaughnessy for upgrading the T and teaching it to a succession of Bears QBs. The Wow Boys by James W. Johnson written in 2006 tells the story of the Stanford University football season of 1940, the arrival of Shaughnessy and his T offense led to a 10-0 season and a victory in the Rose Bowl over heavily favored University of Nebraska. The Bears thumping of the Washington Redskins 73-0 a few weeks later caused a sensation, the T swept college and pro football. The brain trust that created the T was always anchored by Coach Halas, who had the savvy for what worked, while unpopular today, the key innovations of the T still dominate offensive football. The T was the first offense in which the quarterback took the snap from under center, other offenses used the QB primarily as a blocker and the snap usually went to a halfback or tailback
9.
Memorial Stadium (University of Minnesota)
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Memorial Stadium, also known as the Brick House, was an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It was the home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team for 58 seasons, prior to 1924, the Gophers played at Northrop Field. Starting in 1982, the Gophers played their games in the new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. After 27 seasons indoors, the Gophers returned to campus in 2009 at the new TCF Bank Stadium, a block from the site of Memorial Stadium. Opened on October 14,1924, the stadium was dedicated to the 3,527 students, graduates, and workers who served in World War I and it sat on approximately 11 acres. While Memorial Stadium was its home, the team won six national championships including three consecutive. The championship years were 1934,1935,1936,1940,1941, the official capacity of the stadium during the 1970s was listed as 56,652. The stadium seated approximately 66,000 people with temporary bleachers. The stadiums attendance record was 66,284, set in 1961 against Purdue on November 18, Memorial Stadium also served as the universitys track and field venue, and was an occasional back-up venue for professional football and soccer. In 1969, the NFLs Minnesota Vikings played a season game on October 5 against the Green Bay Packers at Memorial Stadium. It was due to a conflict with a Minnesota Twins playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium, the Vikings also played a pre-season game at Memorial in 1971, its second season with artificial turf. The artificial Tartan Turf was removed after seven seasons and returned to grass in 1977. The Minnesota Kicks soccer team of the NASL played once at Memorial Stadium, the game was moved due to a schedule conflict with the Twins at Met Stadium. Ancel Keys founded the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene underneath Memorial Stadium, here thirty-six conscientious objectors were confined during the yearlong Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Memorial Stadium served as the anchor for Stadium Village, a commercial area at the southeast portion of the Twin Cities campus. Pressured by downtown Minneapolis business interests and athletic boosters, the elected to move out of the stadium to the new Metrodome. Athletic director Paul Giel cited the advantages of recruiting by playing in a new NFL venue, also, the attendance was expected to go up in the late fall with protection from harsh weather. The stadium had been neglected by time, and was badly in need of renovation
10.
Goldy Gopher
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During the year, Goldy makes over 1000 appearances and is at virtually all home games for University teams, usually wearing the appropriate sporting attire. Minnesota became known as the Gopher State in 1857, the result of a political cartoon ridiculing the $5 million Railroad Loan which helped open up the West, the cartoon portrayed shifty railroad barons as striped gophers pulling a railroad car carrying the Territorial Legislature toward the Slough of Despond. The first U of M yearbook bearing the name Gopher Annual appeared in 1887, Goldy Gopher became a fixture with the Marching Band and Pep Band, as each year a band member was chosen to don the suit for that season. Wherever these two bands performed, Goldy was there to glad-hand with the crowd, hug the little kids, torment the cheerleaders, during the early 1960s, Goldy was actually written into the football pre-game and halftime shows with a specific place to be. Limited visibility from within the suit made it difficult to see out, One benefit during the cold games at Memorial Stadium in November was that Goldy Gopher was one of the few fans that stayed warm. Each band member who was allowed the joy of being the Gopher developed an individual personality, the style of the gopher suit changed many times through the years, sometimes by chance, sometimes by design. Until the early 1970s, the head was narrow and pointy-nosed, then in 1972, Goldy suddenly grew chubby cheeks and a wider, forward-looking face, almost cherubic in appearance. In fact, the gopher of the 1970s and early 1980s was comparable in appearance to a teddy bear, for a brief period in 1985, a fierce-looking “mega-rodent“ appeared, with a barrel chest, clown feet and sinister eyes. This look didnt last long, and Goldy soon again became a lovable, with a propensity for attracting tail-pulling kids, Goldy relied on the band to save him from their clutches. And when the teams cheerleaders or band members managed to “kidnap” the unfortunate rodent. The marketing wing of the Athletic Department officially took charge of Goldy in 1992, the students that portray Goldy maintain anonymity throughout their tenure. They are also recognized as student athletes due to their vigorous schedule and he placed 3rd in 2009 and 2010. Goldy won his first National Championship in 2011, in 2012, Goldy placed 5th, but in 2013, he won the championship again, giving him 2 wins in three years. In 2015 he finished 3rd and in 2016 Goldy finished as runner-up, Goldy was nominated to and made the 2004,2007, and 2010 Capital One All-American Mascot Team. In 2007 he finished second to Zippy from the University of Akron, due to the contributions from students, faculty, family, alumni, and friends, the University of Minnesota’s Student Union was able to fund the creation of an all bronze statue of Goldy the Gopher. This was an issue for some in the University community because of the rising costs of tuition. The goal of the statue, located in the front of Coffman Memorial Union, was to promote school spirit, the University of Minnesota Administration hopes the iconic symbol will help students interact with the spirit and new traditions involving Goldy the Gopher. The statue is 6 feet,3 inches tall and made of bronze granite, next to the statue is a solid granite M that is 63 inches in width,24 Inches in depth, and 48 inches in height
11.
Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads
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The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads comprise the cheerleading organization at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Being the first program ever to form worldwide, the University of Minnesota is the Birthplace of Cheerleading, today, there are four separate squads, a co-ed squad, an all-girl squad, a dance team, and a hockey cheer squad. The Goldy Gopher mascot is also a part of the program, the squads consistently perform well at national competitions including a 4-peat in dance, 2nd-place finish for All-Girl in 2013 and two time national champ Goldy Gopher in 2011 and 2013. Their current head coach is Sam Owens, the precursors of cheerleading began appearing at Princeton University in the latter half of the 19th century. In the 1880s when a Princeton graduate name Thomas Peebles brought the game of American football to Minnesota, Minnesota won the game 17-6 with the credit for that victory largely going to Campbell and his squad. In the 1920s, gymnastics and other motions were first incorporated into routines by Minnesotas cheerleaders. It was also at this time that cheerleading transformed from a male activity to a largely female activity. The Spirit Squad coaches have remained consistent, since Sam Owens took over the program after graduation from it in the early 90s. The 2012-2013 list of coaches is below, mostly they appear at Gopher football and basketball games and are an annual participant of UCA Finals. This squad has all women as members, Cheer at football and womens basketball games and are an annual participant of UCA Finals. Placed 3rd in 2011, 5th in 2012 and 2nd in 2013, the Minnesota Dance Team consists of 19 women dancers. Typically they perform at Gopher football and basketball games as well as post-season play. Between 2003 and 2006, these women won four national championships in UDA Jazz competitions. They won another 4-peat National Championship in both Division 1A Jazz and Pom in 2010,2011,2012, and 2013, although the Minnesota Spirit Squads compete annually in national competitions, the Hockey Cheer is now the only non-competitive squad in the program. The all female squad competed at Collegiate cheerleading camps until the mid-1990s and this squad, cheers at every regular season home and post-season neutral site game of mens ice hockey. On occasion they also appear at pep fests and other Golden Gopher sporting events, in general, there are anywhere between 9-15 cheerleaders, usually around 12. They are known for their figure skating abilities and perform on-ice stunts, despite stunting now being somewhat limited, they continue to use modified stunts, figure skating abilities, and uniform selections that critics favor among collegiate squads. Members of the 2007-08 squad portray cheerleaders for a high school hockey team in the 2008 film Killer Movie directed by Jeff Fisher
