Warmath’s last team finished with a 4-7 record. Recruiting success and fan support had slipped since the 1960s and a nervous administration decided to change head football coaches, but no one since has been able to duplicate Warmath’s achievements at Minnesota.
In recent years Carol travelled frequently from her home in Kansas City to see her dad, now 97. He’s often in a wheelchair and living in a suburban Minneapolis retirement facility. She was here in March, despite her fight with cancer.
Carol, 65, had won a battle with melanoma a few years ago. Like her dad, she was a fighter and survivor.
Warmath saw his youngest child, Billy, pass away years ago at age 30. He lost his wife Mary Louise in 2002 and now Carol. Warmath’s oldest child, Murray Jr., attended the funeral on Friday.
Franzen said Warmath frets about the fates of his children and wife while being grateful for his own longevity and blessings. “He feels it’s unfair that they went so early,” Franzen said. “That they didn’t have a long life like him.”
Warmath is often reminded of Billy’s passing by the four seasons of the year. “He will say Billy would be fishing, or we’ll drive by someplace where he and Billy played golf,” said Franzen who was a good friend of the younger Warmath.
Warmath loved the outdoors, including hunting and fishing. These days most of his time is spent at his residence where he often has visitors including players from all his years coaching the Gophers.