Several weeks ago Murray Warmath biographer Mike Wilkinson called with disturbing news. A Warmath caregiver had notified Wilkinson, author of the The Autumn Warrior, that the former Gophers coach was ailing and his health might soon fail him.
Since then the health of the 97-year-old Tennessee native has improved and plans are for him to attend Saturday’s game against USC and watch a ceremony honoring his 1960 national championship team at TCF Bank Stadium. Although confined to a wheelchair for years, Warmath has regularly attended Gophers home games at the Metrodome and now TCF Bank Stadium, but the many former players and others who love him worried earlier this summer that the coach wouldn’t be around to see the reunion of his most acclaimed team from his 18 years coaching at Minnesota.
Warmath’s longevity and resiliency is no surprise to Gophers coach Tim Brewster who recognizes how special it is to have the boss of the 1960 team be in attendance on Saturday. “He’s been struggling,” Brewster told Sports Headliners. “He keeps hanging on, and there’s a reason why he’s hanging on. There’s a reason why he’s not letting go. That maybe part of the reason that he wants to be on the field at TCF Bank Stadium with his team.”
Warmath has been a fighter, a survivor his whole life. His mother died when he was 10 years old and after that Warmath lived with relatives.
Warmath used football to start a career path after playing at the University of Tennessee. His coaching stops included being an assistant at Army where the staff included head coach Earl Blaik and an assistant named Vince Lombardi.
Warmath’s first head coaching job was at Mississippi State where he had enough success to interest Minnesota athletic director Ike Armstrong. Warmath arrived at Minnesota in 1954 and was not particularly welcome from the start. Media and fans considered him a southern outsider, not the right choice to coach the Gophers when there was a former Gopher named Bud Wilkinson dominating college football as head coach at Oklahoma.
By the end of the 1959 season anti-Warmath sentiment was at an all-time high. That year the Gophers finished last in the Big Ten with a 1-6 record. The conference record in 1958 was also 1-6, a ninth place finish.
The extreme critics had strewn garbage on the lawn of Warmath’s property in Edina. On campus the coach was hung in effigy. But Warmath had no intention of moving on.
By the late 1950’s the Gophers and other northern schools had begun recruiting African-American players. The Gophers landed players who would become among the greatest in school history.
The 1958 freshman team (freshmen weren’t eligible to play) included quarterback Sandy Stephens, a quarterback from Uniontown, Pennsylvania who had 50 schools or more recruiting him including Ohio State. After his career ended at Minnesota in 1961 he was the first NCAA black All-American quarterback.
Headlining the 1959 freshman class was quarterback Bobby Bell from Shelby, North Carolina. Bell was so gifted he could have excelled at several positions but settled in as a tackle for the Gophers and was a phenomenal pass rusher. He was a two-time All-American at Minnesota and won the Outland Trophy in 1962.
Warmath knew his team and record would be much improved in 1960 but even he couldn’t have imagined a national championship season. The team’s best player was senior defensive lineman Tom Brown, a rock of a man who played high school football in Minneapolis, went into military service and then came home to play for Warmath. Brown could be unblockable and he was honored after the 1960 season as the Big Ten’s MVP.
Back in 1960 the national champion was determined by the polls before the outcome of bowl games. The Gophers were 8-2 including a Rose Bowl loss to Washington. The Gophers also lost to Purdue to finish 6-1 in the Big Ten where they were co-champs with Iowa. During the season the Gophers defeated No. 1 ranked Iowa at Memorial Stadium in perhaps the greatest University of Minnesota game of all time.
The Gophers had gone from last in the conference to league champs and national kings. It was remarkable. “That’s got to go down in history as one of the great accomplishments ever in college football,” Brewster said.
On Saturday Minnesotans should cheer long and loud for all those 1960 players who will be back in town, and especially the old coach who made it happen and will live to see the 50th anniversary of the school’s sixth and last national championship.