Golden Gophers – Page 110 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Critics Speak Up on U Stadium Branding

Posted on July 7, 2021 by David Shama

The rebranding of the University of Minnesota’s on-campus football stadium has prompted strong criticism from Golden Gophers fans and former players. The announcement last week that TCF Bank Stadium will now be Huntington Bank Stadium included the news Huntington’s green and white logo will be displayed at the facility. That doesn’t sit well with some M men and fans accustomed to the maroon and gold look of the TCF logo.

University officials have been working with Huntington for awhile on the transition, and the renaming was officially approved by the school’s Board of Regents last week. A couple of days later a trail of emails was sent to Sports Headliners including this from former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson:

“…If our leaders love green and white so much, they can go to Michigan State or North Dakota for their paychecks. I would be perfectly willing to kick in a contribution toward some billboards advertising this appalling lack of loyalty. This would also deeply concern Huntington in that it harms their brand.”

Former Gophers football captain Jim Carter started the email trail sent to many former U players and others like Carlson who are passionate about Minnesota football. Carter, a critic over the years of U leadership in both athletics and school administration, wrote the following:

“The Board of Regents had the authority to ask Huntington to follow what TCF did and use the traditional maroon and gold colors in the signage and branding of the stadium. There was a motion made at a recent…meeting to negotiate with Huntington to NOT use green and white, but to continue our proud tradition of using maroon and gold. The board defeated the motion 8-3. …”

In a telephone interview Carter said he understands the importance of corporate sponsorship to U athletic revenues (the original $35 million long-term deal with TCF Bank is still in place) but he’s an ongoing critic of the Board of Regents who he believes “rubber stamp” agenda items offered by school leaders. To Carter, the U and Gophers athletics are symbolized by maroon and gold, and he didn’t see the passion by regents or other school leadership to fight for the school colors.

“The maroon and gold is a tradition that I think should be protected at the U,” Carter said. “…The folks that are now serving on the Board of Regents and the administration don’t think of it the way many of us care about it.”

TCF Bank entered into a naming rights agreement for the stadium before the facility opened in 2009. This year TCF merged with Huntington which will operate 80 branches in the Twin Cities area. The Columbus, Ohio based-bank will introduce its branding at the U stadium before it’s unveiled at Minnesota banks in October, according to Danny Olsen, a communications executive with Huntington.

Olsen, who is based here and formerly worked for TCF, told Sports Headliners that TCF’s logo colors of red and yellow were “tweaked” to look more maroon and gold at the stadium, creating “perfect colors” to match Minnesota’s. In the minds of critics, including those who have voiced their feelings on fan forum GopherHole, the green and white will be a startling look to what they have seen in the past.

The Huntington logo will be on the front and back of the large scoreboard at the stadium’s open end. The logo will also be on the field in two places, just like the TCF logo was between the 10 and 20 yard lines. Olsen said field logos weren’t in the original naming rights deal but were added more recently when TCF agreed to help with funding for the Athletes Village project.

The Huntington green and white will be displayed on ATM machines in the stadium’s interior. The logo will also be seen in the interior in any previous places where major sponsors like TCF, Coke and Dairy Queen had visibility. The words Huntington Bank Stadium (not the logo) will be in prominent lettering on the outside of the stadium in the blend-with-brick style TCF Bank Stadium used.

Olsen didn’t acknowledge any criticism he has received about Huntington and the stadium. He pointed out Coke and Dairy Queen, both of whom use red and white in their logos, have been displayed for years on the scoreboard. He said Huntington’s green and white colors are “not unlike having your normal logo if you’re a sponsor at a stadium.”

Huntington Bank plans a marketing effort at Minnesota’s opening game against Ohio State September 2 at the stadium. In attendance will be executives from Columbus. Huntington isn’t involved with sponsorship of the Buckeyes or other Big Ten programs.

Worth Noting

Before becoming a college athletic director Joel Maturi was a high school coach. The now retired U AD told Sports Headliners teams he coached had an extra focus when the opening game was against a prominent opponent. Highly ranked Ohio State will certainly deserve the attention of Minnesota players this summer.

“I think…every Gopher in that locker room knows who they are playing,” Maturi said. “They’re going to be playing the No. 1, 2, 3 ranked team in the country in Huntington Bank Stadium for the first game and they’re going to be prepared as such.”

Dick Jonckowski, the Gophers former public address announcer for basketball and baseball, is booking emcee and speaking engagements as the pandemic eases. Sometimes he does both at events and pronounces: “Here is a guy who needs no introduction.”

Jonckowski recovered from lymphoma cancer earlier this year and is feeling fine.

The Collegiate Preferred Seating Exemption provision in the Tax Bill that passed that passed in the state legislature last week will benefit the budgets of Minnesota universities and colleges. Included is the University of Minnesota with predicted savings of more than $1 million per year to help fund scholarships and other programs for athletes, according to the Maroon and Gold Rising nonprofit that advocated for the exemption. Legislative leadership came from Representative Mohamud Noor and Senator Greg Clausen.

Former Gophers administrators Beth Goetz, now AD at Ball State, and John Cunningham, AD at Cincinnati, might draw interest to fill the Nebraska athletic director opening.

Football great Herschel Walker, whose career stops included with the Vikings, may run for U.S. Senate in his native Georgia.

Best guess is everyone on the disappointing Minnesota Twins roster is subject to possible trade this summer. Put an asterisk before the name of No. 1 starter Jose Berrios, with the disclaimer it will take what team brass considers a mega return for the right hander.

The club’s pitching is underwhelming, but the American League All-Star Game roster includes former Twins pitchers Kyle Gibson, Liam Hendriks, Lance Lynn and Ryan Pressly. That’s one-third of the 12-man pitching crew for the July 13 game against the National League in Denver.

KARE 11 sportscaster Eric Perkins announced on Twitter this morning he is leaving the station after 25 years. He didn’t detail future plans but mentioned he is looking forward to more time with family.

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100-Year-Old Swain a Gopher Treasure

Posted on July 5, 2021July 5, 2021 by David Shama

Tom Swain owns eight season tickets for University of Minnesota home football games. That might prompt a yawn, but here is the rest of the story: he or his family have owned season tickets every year except one since 1921.

“The year of my birth,” Swain told Sports Headliners.

This is birthday celebration week for the U grad, class of 1942 with a business and accounting degree. He celebrated his 100th birthday with family on Sunday. The U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs will host a celebration Wednesday afternoon at the McNamara Alumni Center, and admirers will pay tribute to their friend whose professional career has crisscrossed the private and public sectors including the state’s flagship university. On Saturday he will be recognized for his milestone birthday, military service and dedication to climate change before the Minnesota Twins game at Target Field.

What does 100 feel like? Swain lives independently in a Lilydale care facility. He has spinal stenosis and uses a walker. He has peripheral neuropathy and difficulty with his larynx. But he is an articulate, active, humble and grateful centenarian.

“There are such few people that get there (to 100), I feel very gratified,” Swain said. “I am very fortunate to have made it this far because growing old is a privilege denied to many. I am not sure why I deserve to get to 100 but I am very grateful.”

Swain is a believer in staying active and finding a cause. “It gives you something to wake up for and get involved in,” he said.

When people asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, he brought up climate change. He describes it as the most important issue facing the world and believes much has to be done to avoid “an ominous end to this planet.”

The Swain Climate Policy Fund has raised over $300,000 to create awareness and pay for speakers and programs at the U. At Wednesday’s party attendees will learn more about the initiative that is particularly focused on making younger generations more aware of the climate change story and issues ahead.

Swain has four children, seven grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He spent most of Sunday with family and he learned his grandkids have been writing to their representatives in Congress urging them to create better national policy. “The future is pretty bleak for my great grandchildren unless we get involved in more vigorous solutions,” he said.

Tom Swain (Photo credit University of Minnesota)

Swain grew up in Minneapolis and attended Washburn High School. When he was 17 years old his father vanished and no one ever learned what happened to him. Swain drove his dad to the Milwaukee Depot train station for a business trip to Madison, Wisconsin. That was the last he saw of a father who left behind a wife and four children. This was during the devastating U.S. Depression. Resourcefully, Swain’s mom became a successful life insurance agent at a time when women were mostly homemakers and less than 20 years after women were granted the right to vote in the United States.

Swain financed his education at the U by working in the Gophers’ ticket office. When he eventually earned the lofty sum of 50 cents per hour, he was supposedly one of only four students on campus rewarded that much for their jobs.

Swain loved Gophers football as a young man. While he was a student at the U, coach Bernie Bierman’s powerhouse teams won national titles in 1940 and 1941. Swain got to know the players, who were his peers at the U. His life changed, though, when he joined the Army Air Corps during World War II. In 1946 his military commitment ended and he was unsure of the path ahead.

Turned out his connections to the U Athletic Department opened a door for him. Athletic director Frank McCormick had heard complaints from football players that they needed assistance with school work. Swain became the first academic advisor for athletics at Minnesota. “It was my job to get them in school and get keep them eligible,” he recalled. “Now they got an army (of advisors) doing that.”

During his professional career Swain had 16 salaried positions. And with self-deprecation he said, “I had a lot of jobs, I couldn’t hold them.”

At age 75 he became an interim vice president at the U. Then at 83 he came back to campus with the same title, specializing in communications and government affairs. He’s been an advisor to presidents and athletics directors including Joel Maturi.

As a volunteer member of the athletics advisory board, Swain impressed Maturi. “Tom wasn’t afraid to speak his mind,” Maturi said Sunday. “He always did it respectfully but if he didn’t agree with you he said so. I’ve always respected that and admired that.”

Swain has known most of the Gophers athletic directors and he gave present AD Mark Coyle an endorsement, calling him “extremely capable.” These are challenging times for college administrators including at Minnesota. The financial hit because of the pandemic and other developments has caught Swain’s attention. “I hate to see some of the difficulties they’re experiencing now,” he said.

A longtime resident of Lilydale, the town decreed Sunday, July 4 as Tom Swain Day. At age 85 he was elected Lilydale’s mayor, succeeding a 91 year old in what Swain describes as a “youth movement.” He served two terms as mayor and is still on the town planning commission.

Politics has long interested Swain. He was campaign manager for former governor Elmer L. Andersen, who led the state in the early 1960s. Andersen served just one term, failing to be re-elected in a close election. Swain was charged with heading the Andersen recount effort and joked that some folks held him responsible for his boss becoming an ex-governor because he couldn’t find 91 more votes.

Swain, whose private sector career included executive leadership with insurance companies, wrote a memoir in 2015, Citizen Swain: Tales from a Minnesota Life.

Since then he could certainly add more chapters.

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Humble ‘Billy Rob’ Still a Commissioner

Posted on June 21, 2021 by David Shama

Friends call him “Billy Rob.” It’s a nickname you might expect to hear when kids are choosing teams for a hockey game at a neighborhood pond. “Yeah, Billy Rob, you play goalie, okay?” When spoken by adults, the nickname shows how comfortable people are with Robertson who has a decorated behind-the-scenes career in professional sports.

Bill Robertson has many friends and admirers, and they celebrated his success a few days ago when the United States Hockey League announced that the St. Paul native is its new president and commissioner. Facebook, text, telephone and in-person messages congratulated Robertson on his new assignment to lead one of the world’s best junior hockey leagues. The total may have been about 1,000 well wishers including the likes of hockey’s Ryan Suter and baseball’s Paul Molitor.

Two years ago Robertson, then commissioner of the men’s WCHA, sat with a friend in a Bloomington restaurant and wondered what he might be doing in the summer of 2021. Most of the member schools in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association had announced in 2019 they were forming a new league for the 2021-2022 season. The end of the historic WCHA was more than a possibility. In the months following that Bloomington lunch Robertson continued to lead the WCHA, hoping to secure new members, but knowing that in June of 2021 and beyond he could be with another organization.

Several career possibilities were in play this spring, with Robertson telling Sports Headliners he had been talking with the USHL since the beginning of the year about succeeding his friend Tom Garrity as league commissioner. “When they told me several weeks ago that I was their candidate, and they would be forwarding me an agreement, there was a big sigh of relief,” Robertson said. “I sat in my chair for a few minutes, and put my head down, and thanked God for watching over me. To be honest…I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up next.”

Dave Mona, who built a public relations empire in Minnesota, wasn’t surprised Robertson landed with another hockey league that will have its leader based in the Twin Cities. “Bill is very good at what he does and he makes friends along the way,” Mona said. “So I think he’s on everyone’s list when someone says, ‘Hey, there’s an opening, do you know somebody?’

“Bill’s got a pretty board skill-set and I think he’s been extraordinarily skillful… making friends at all levels, people who enjoy being with him. He does what he does well. I don’t think he has to apply for a lot of jobs. People say, ‘Well, what about Bill Robertson?’ ”

During seven years leading the WCHA, Robertson successfully brought playoff games back to campuses, introduced the 3-on-3 overtime and shootout format to league games, and championed safety provisions. His commitment to a fan-friendly league that included overhaul of the WCHA’s digital operation, and he developed external corporate partnerships and sponsorships.

With the USHL, the 60-year-old Robertson will contribute extensive marketing experience and one of his initiatives will be how to grow the sport, not just for his 16 league franchises, but hockey in its entirety. He wants to see the expense issue of playing hockey addressed and with the best initiatives there will be more participation by both boys and girls. USA Hockey, the NHL and colleges are partners he looks forward to working with.

Robertson’s ties with hockey go back to childhood as the son of Norbert Robertson who played collegiately for both Minnesota and St. Thomas. Brother Mike played hockey at Boston College in the late 1960s. Bill was an executive with the startup Minnesota Wild from 1998-2011.

It was in those early Minnesota Wild years that Robertson and Patrick Klinger became acquainted. Klinger worked for the RiverCentre event complex in St. Paul and later became an executive with the Minnesota Twins. “We very quickly became fast friends and have been best of friends ever since,” Klinger said.

How did the bond form and stay in place all these years? “He’s such a high integrity individual,” said the 57-year-old Klinger. “You know, we share a lot in common. We have two children. Each of us has one that has special needs. We sort of grew up in the sports industry together…and here we are 20-plus years later, and my admiration and respect for Bill is greater than it ever has been.

“We play a ton of golf together. We talk, we go out to dinner. We do a (cable) television show together. I love the man, I really do.”

Klinger recognizes a flaw or two in his pal. “He’s an awful, awful putter. I am telling you what, Stevie Wonder would putt better. Watch him get to the green and then putt, and putt again, and a third time. Sometimes we just have to bite our lips. You know, he gets a little feisty.”

Klinger fondly recalls an “epic match” involving the two at a Hastings, Minnesota golf course. “There was some money on the line and it got to the 18th hole,” Klinger said. “Bill had literally like an 18-inch putt, maybe not even that much to tie the match, to tie me. It would have gone into sudden death. I wouldn’t give him the putt. Of course, he missed it. He’s never let me forget it.”

Robertson recently celebrated his USHL hire in South Carolina, with daughter Brooke, and son Brett and his wife Maritza. The trip had been planned for awhile to get in some long overdue family time, and turned out to be more special than anyone could have imagined.

“I don’t think there’s any greater gift than to have children, and I have two wonderful people,” Robertson said. “One is in his late 20s, my son, and my daughter is in her mid-20s. The thing that made me just tickled as a father was the fact that I watched the two together…in South Carolina and how they meshed together like when they were really young. It was so wonderful to see. I had some tears in my eyes watching how they interacted and how the older brother helped the younger sister with a lot of tasks. Just trying to help her continue to develop more skills and her independence.”

In recent days Robertson might have reflected on his career in the sports industry. He was Director of Communications with The Walt Disney Company, and in that role he led communications efforts for the Mighty Ducks of the NHL and Anaheim Angels of MLB. Before that he was the media relations boss of the NBA expansion Minnesota Timberwolves in the early 1990s.

Mona commented that media folks are often a cynical bunch but Robertson didn’t treat reporters, columnists and talking heads as adversaries. “They all speak highly of him, even though they may have known him two or three jobs ago,” Mona said. “They have lunch with him a couple times a year. When their kids graduate from college and you read the Facebook comments, one of the first comments is from Bill Robertson. He’s got really good people skills and he’s got…a knowledge of, and a track record of, being able to bring people together and get things done.”

Klinger has long observed how Robertson relates to people in various positions. How he treats individuals with authenticity and sincerity, no matter who they are.

“What you see with Bill is what you get,” Klinger said. “He really genuinely cares about people. …

“He knows that I am going through a difficult time with my back. He’s the guy that’s gonna pick up the phone, call me almost every day to check in, or send me a text. If something else is going on in life, in business, in family, I know I can call Bill and he’ll drop everything. We’ll get together and talk things through. And vice versa. We’ve done that for each other for a long time.

“He’s just that person that’s authentic and genuine and kind-hearted. He’s somebody that will do anything for his friends and family.”

While growing up in St. Paul, Robertson dreamed of having a baseball career, perhaps becoming the next Paul Molitor. He was passionate about the sport as an infielder at Cretin-Derham Hall.

His passions also include the city he reveres. “You know, he was born and raised in St. Paul, on St. Paul Avenue,” Klinger said. “Went to Cretin, loves the city. He’s in the Mancini’s (Sports) Hall of Fame. St. Paul is in his blood.”

So is hockey.

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