Author: David Shama

The return this Saturday of Gophers senior safety Kyle Theret from suspension will help the secondary where true freshman James Manuel and junior college transfer Christyn Lewis have been the starting safeties.  Senior Kim Royston, who like Theret was expected to be a starter, probably won’t play against USC because he’s still recovering from a broken leg, according to coach Tim Brewster. The starting secondary could eventually have Lewis and Ryan Collado as cornerbacks, with Theret and Royston at the safeties.

The Vikings face a Miami team on Sunday with a reputation for being a physical group, even by NFL standards.  Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams, about 317 pounds, expects to be ready.  “I like to mix it up,” he said. “I just go out there and play dirty.  I am just an old fashioned, dirty player.”

Williams is a car collector and his eight automobiles include a Rolls Royce.  He’s “fixing” his cars and is a seller, not a buyer.  The goal is to reduce inventory to four.  Williams said total value of the eight cars is about $700,000, with the Rolls Royce accounting for about half.  “I am about to get rid of my Rolls Royce and sell it,” he said. “I am kind of tired of it.”

Vikings offensive tackle Steve Hutchinson, who joined the Vikings in 2006, likes this area so well he and his family are building a home on Lake Minnetonka.

Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie redshirted at the University of Miami before becoming a first round NFL draft choice.  Redshirting might have been a smart move for another Hurricane offensive tackle, former Cretin-Derham Hall prep All-American Seantrel Henderson but Henderson has already played some game minutes and is no longer redshirt eligible.

Hopkins basketball coach Ken Novak told Sports Headliners that his senior guard-forward Joe Coleman will likely decide on a college choice by month’s end.  He’s already visited the Gophers, with upcoming stops at Santa Clara and Iowa State.

Novak said one of his former players, Royce White, is adjusting well to school and surroundings at Iowa State.  Novak helped White choose a school earlier this year and said Kentucky coach John Calipari wanted him “pretty bad” but Iowa State was a “better fit.”

Novak became involved in White’s decision because of concern that the former Gopher, who never played here as a freshman last season, would opt for the NBA draft or pro ball in Europe.  “I thought it would be in his best interest to go to school,” Novak said.

Bob Zender, the 6-7 center for the great Edina High basketball teams in the mid-1960s, passed away in Kansas on Sunday.

Dave Stead, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, will be the speaker at the next CORES luncheon on November 11.  CORES members can make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.  CORES had an attendance of 147 last week to hear Brewster talk about the Gophers.  CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

Quarterback Michael Dunham and defensive end Perry Patterson, both from Concordia College in Moorhead, and Saint John’s kicker Jimmie Mattson are the MIAC offensive, defensive and special teams players of the week.  Dunham threw three touchdown passes while Patterson had eight tackles in Moorhead’s 35-0 win last Saturday against Valley City State.  Mattson was perfect on two field goals and two extra points in his team’s overtime loss to Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

While Vikings coach Brad Childress and Brewster have their critics in Minneapolis, it’s difficult to believe there’s much negative said in Duluth about Bulldogs football coach Bob Nielson who has UMD ranked No. 2 in the Division II national coaches poll.  UMD won the national championship in 2008 and made the quarterfinals last year.

The Minnesota Swarm selected a familiar local name when the franchise chose Eagan native Ryan Hurley of Cornell University in the third round of the National Lacrosse League Entry Draft last week.  A high-school All-American at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Hurley made a reputation nationally during his four-year career at Cornell, which included leading his team to the 2009 National Championship game against Syracuse.  https://www.mnswarm.com/news/news.asp?news_id=783

Roy Smalley told Sports Headliners the Twins might have fewer abilities “on paper” than the Yankees and Rays but Minnesota is still a formidable potential playoff team with its talent and attitude.

Smalley, who follows the team as an analyst for Fox Sports North, said if the Twins had an additional high quality pitcher it could be a difference maker for Minnesota in a playoff series.  “In a short series it just comes down to who can step up,” he said.

Still, the Twins have turned heads this year.  Yes, there is talent with pitchers like Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano, and position players such as Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, Jason Kubel and Danny Valencia.  Bench contributors have been impressive, too, players who have come from Triple A Rochester to sub for injured regulars, or players filling roles assigned to them last spring like clutch slugger Jim Thome (six home runs in the last 10 games).

But the Twins’ resiliency in overcoming injuries and determination to keep winning, including close games, prompts Smalley to speak with conviction about the franchise he helped to a World Series title in 1987.  “Very tough in the gut,” Smalley said of the 2010 Twins who have won six of their last 11 games by one run.

The patience and perseverance to win close games has shown up in the team’s competition against the White Sox this season.  The two teams have played nine one- run games.  The Twins lead the season series 10-5 going into tomorrow night’s final three games between Chicago and Minnesota.

The series has the host White Sox in a predicament.  With each team having only 19 games remaining, Chicago is six games back of the Twins in the Central Division standings.  The Twins are the likely winners of the division even if they win only a game or two this week in Chicago.

What’s also important is for the Twins to maximize their wins and possibly finish with the best record in the American League.  That would assure home field advantage in the league playoffs.

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 50^th anniversary of the school’s sixth and last national championship.