It’s 60 years ago this month that the Golden Gophers lost to Wisconsin in Madison in probably the most controversially officiated game in University of Minnesota football history. The Badgers and Gophers, both with 5-1 league records and top 10 ranked, played for the Big Ten championship on November 24, 1962, before a capacity Camp Randall Stadium crowd of 65,514.
For Minnesota fans old enough to remember the 14-9 loss, the game still prompts anger and regret. For those who don’t know about the debacle, and bleed maroon and gold, this review should be required reading.
The Badgers led 7-6 at halftime, setting up one of the most bizarre final two quarters in Big Ten history. In the second half Minnesota running back Bill Munsey had a touchdown nullified after the officials ruled he was illegally pushed by teammates into the end zone. The Gophers settled for a field goal and a lead of 9-7 that they were still trying to hold on to with less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Badgers started a long drive and were in Minnesota territory when Wisconsin quarterback Ron Vander Kelen dropped back to pass. Gopher All-American tackle Bobby Bell rushed Vander Kelen hard and the ball fluttered away into the waiting arms of Minnesota linebacker Jack Perkovich. With less than three minutes to play, the Gophers were ecstatic they had the ball and seemingly on their way to a second Big Ten title in three years and third consecutive Rose Bowl trip.
Elation was fleeting because referee Robert Jones, a dentist by profession, threw a flag and penalized the Gophers 15 yards for roughing the passer. It was a bad call and one that lives in infamy in Minnesota football history.
In a December 1962 Sports Illustrated story Vander Kelen said he didn’t know if he had been roughed while passing. “I just remember being mad that I had made a bad pass,” he told Sports Illustrated.
Bell, who won the 1962 Outland Trophy given to the nation’s outstanding lineman, was on a junket honoring All-American players after the season when he encountered President John Kennedy. Bell recalled the two of them meeting in the Murray Warmath book, The Autumn Warrior. The president said to him: “Bobby Bell! You’re the one who got that really bad roughing call against you a couple of weeks ago in that big game against Wisconsin, right?”
Warmath, the Gophers coach from 1954-1971, was incensed at the call by Jones. In his biography Warmath admitted he tugged at the sleeve of an official, asking about the roughing call. The response was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on Minnesota.
Back-to-back 15-yard penalties and the Badgers were in business on the Minnesota 13-yard line. A couple plays later Wisconsin was in the end zone, and with an extra point conversion led 14-9.
As if feeling guilty, the officials made calls in Minnesota’s favor during the last two minutes of the game, author Mike Wilkinson wrote in The Autumn Warrior. Three consecutive major penalties were called on the Badgers and the Gophers found themselves at the Wisconsin 14 with about a minute remaining. The penalty aided drive, though, ended with an interception by the Badgers in the end zone.
Earlier in the game the Gophers thought they had a touchdown on a recovered fumble in the end zone. In Ross Bernstein’s book about Minnesota sports, Sixty Years & Sixty Heroes, he recalled that the Gophers punted and the ball hit a Badger, with U players thinking they had recovered it in the end zone for a score. “The officials didn’t see it that way, however, and returned the ball to Wisconsin out on the 20-yard line,” Bernstein wrote.
At the end of the game the Gopher coaches, players and fans were furious. Wilkinson wrote that incensed linebacker Julian Hook hit one of the officials with his helmet and later heard rumors he would be suspended from school. Minneapolis newspaper columnist Sid Hartman, at the game and convinced the Gophers had been robbed, told Hook he would cover for him by reporting a fan hit the official.
Warmath was enraged and when he went to the door of the officials’ dressing room he found it locked (with the crew apparently hiding out). Finally, the door was opened and in went Warmath who told Wilkinson he grabbed one official by the throat and pushed him up against the wall. Then he let go and went around to each official telling them what he thought of their work. Warmath said they all sat in silence, and most wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“I told those guys that they had just stolen the Big Ten championship from the finest group of young men I had ever known and I would never forgive them for the fact they had been so incompetent and so unfair.”
For years after Warmath kept a large dart board in the image of an official in his U office. Knowledgeable visitors couldn’t help but wonder if it was supposed to Robert Jones.
It was about 30 years after the bizarre game in Madison when Wilkinson interviewed Warmath for the book. “I can’t help but think there was something fishy about the officiating,” Warmath said. “It was almost as if the game was rigged. I watched films for years afterward and was amazed at how ineptly the game was handled.”
To the last man, the Gophers coaches and players knew they had outplayed the No. 3 ranked Badgers. With a legendary run defense No. 5 Minnesota held the Badgers to 83 yards, per Sports Illustrated. Overall, the Gophers outgained their border rival 353 yards to 219.
The game marked the end of a dominant era for Minnesota football. From 1960-1962 the Gophers won Big Ten and national championships. They played in two Rose Bowls, winning the 1962 game 21-3 against UCLA. In a three year stretch the team’s record was 22 wins, 6 losses and 1 tie. Minnesota lost only four conference games from 1960-1962.
Well, Warmath and other witnesses would make that three league losses.
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