Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said after yesterday’s game he expects defensive tackle Kevin Williams, suspended for the team’s first two games, to rejoin the club for meetings starting today.
The September 12 issue of Sporting News Magazine lists the 10 greatest college football teams of all time including the 1956 Oklahoma Sooners at No. 5. Those Sooners were coached by Minneapolis native Bud Wilkinson who played for the Gophers. The magazine identifies Wilkinson as the only man in college football history to win three national championships each as a player and coach. Sporting News chose the 1971 Nebraska team as the No. 1 all time team.
Saint John’s football boss John Gagliardi, who has been coaching in the MIAC since 1953, saw his team forced into overtime by Concordia on Saturday but managed to win its league opener, 28-21.
A.J. Hammons, a 7-foot center from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, is interested in the Gophers and visited campus last weekend.
Former Gophers basketball captain Al Nuness transferred from Fort Dodge Junior College in Iowa to Minnesota in 1967. Nuness, now retired from an executive position with Jostens, has not only enjoyed an outstanding business career, but has also been involved with volunteer community work in Minneapolis for decades. On Saturday he will be inducted into not the sports hall of fame but the school hall of fame at Iowa Central Community College (formerly Fort Dodge). Nuness was a first team junior college All-American, the first player to earn that honor at Fort Dodge.
Magic Johnson comes to Minneapolis tomorrow for an event to promote Urban Ventures and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. Johnson will be speaking at the Colin Powell Youth Leadership Center.
Wonder if Timberwolves-Lynx owner Glen Taylor has delayed the Rick Adelman introductory news conference so as to not draw media and public attention away from the Lynx playoff games.
The Wild purchased 500 tickets for tomorrow night’s Lynx playoff game that were made available this morning to the first 250 callers at 612-673-8400 with a limit of two per customer.
Former North Stars, Twins and Gophers marketing leader Pat Forciea is marketing director for the Hell’s Kitchen restaurant downtown, according to a column by Jon Tevlin in the Star Tribune last week.
Minneapolis businessman Bruce Lambrecht, long ago a proponent for a Twins stadium in the Warehouse District, continues to believe in a Farmers Market site for a new Vikings stadium.
The Wild are scheduled to practice today at Xcel Energy Center, then open the preseason schedule tomorrow night in Edmonton. First home exhibition game is Friday night against Columbus.