With more than 600 victories and seven national championships, the Minnesota football program is one of the greatest in history. Legendary players like Bruce Smith and Bronko Nagurski helped the Gophers dominate Minnesota sports for the first sixty years of the twentieth century. This book provides a look at some of the most memorable players, coaches, and games of the last seventy-five years. From the Golden Era of 1934–41, which included five national titles, Sonny Franck and Bill Daley recall their most memorable games. The Gophers won another national title and went to two Rose Bowls in the early ’60s under coach Murray Warmath and quarterback Sandy Stephens, who became the first black quarterback to earn All-America honors at a major college. Warmath remembers the second Rose Bowl as his most memorable game. Other memorable Gophers include future NFL legend Bud Grant, future NFL coaching great Tony Dungy, and current Denver Broncos player Eric Decker, all of whom are featured in Game of My Life Minnesota Gophers.

With more than 600 victories, six national championships and 16 former players in the College Football Hall of Fame, the University of Minnesota football program is one of the top programs in the history of NCAA Division I football. The University of Minnesota fielded its first football team in 1882 and for much of the 20th century, the Gophers football team was the biggest thing in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.The Gophers gained national prominence when they won five national titles in an eight-year span (1934-1941). The Gophers won another national title and went to two Rose Bowls in the early 1960s. After a drought for much of the 1980s and 1990s, the program has been revitalized under coach Glen Masongoing to six bowl games in seven years entering 2006.Game of My Life: Minnesota Golden Gophers was able to connect with some of the most memorable Gophers and some of the most memorable games from those Golden times. From the Golden era of 1934-41, there is George Sonny Franck and Bill Daley. From the early 1960s, there is coach Murray Warmath and Outland Trophy winner Tom Brown and future NFL Hall of Famer Carl Eller.Former Gopher quarterback and future NFL coach Tony Dungy is here as is the stunning upset of No. 1 Michigan in 1977 and the come-from-behind victory over No. 2 Penn State in 1999the highlight of a season which saw the Minnesotas first bowl berth in 13 years.

Although Tony Dungy was passed over in the 1977 NFL draft, Coach Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers recognized his athleticism and understanding of the game and signed him as a free agent. Later, at the age of 25, Dungy began his NFL coaching career with the Steelers. He went on to coach the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then considered retiring from football. Instead, he accepted a coaching job with the Indianapolis Colts and in 2007 became the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl. Find out how Dungy’s intellect, strength of character, and leadership qualities have made him a champion on and off the field.

The remarkable story of a championship college football team and the sacrifices the young athletes made when Pearl Harbor forced their country into war. As the United States veered towards war during the fall of 1941, the University of Minnesota football team completed an undefeated national championship season—just fifteen days before the strike on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, players left behind college football stardom to command PT boats in the South Pacific, sweep mines on the beaches of Normandy, and join the invasion of Iwo Jima along with so many others from the Greatest Generation. In From the Gridiron to the Battlefield, Danny Spewak shares the struggles and triumphs of the Golden Gophers’ 1941 season, recalling how players battled on the field even with the threat of war hanging over their heads. When the United States finally entered the war, every member of the team participated in the war effort in one way or another. As Spewak recounts, some players remained stateside in the U.S. Navy, others sailed to the Pacific Theater and faced direct combat at Iwo Jima, while another earned a Purple Heart for his heroism at Normandy. Now more than 80 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, From the Gridiron to the Battlefield reveals the sacrifices and courage of the Greatest Generation through the eyes of the 1941 Golden Gophers.

It was the fall of 1940, and Americans turned to college football for relief from the turbulent world around them. The Depression still had its grip on the nation and, across the Atlantic, the Battle of Britain raged. As war crept closer every day, the nations first peacetime draft called Americans to the defense of the country. While the great Tom Harmon of Michigan set new standards on the gridiron, on other fields black stars struggled for the right to play. At Stanford, coaching genius Clark Shaughnessy reinvented the game and in the process engineered the greatest turnaround in the history of college football. But the team everybody was talking about was Cornell. Fueled by the most powerful offense in the country, the Big Red dominated the national rankings until, on a snowy field at Dartmouth, they eked out a win with a touchdown on the last play of the gameor did they? When it came to light that the touchdown had been scored on a grievous error by the officials, Cornell, undefeated and in the race for the national championship, faced a wrenching decision. The 1940 season was one of the most exciting on recordand one that taught America about the values that really matter.

A. J. Hawk can isolate the game of his life, the 2006 Fiesta Bowl against Notre Dame, not because of individual statistics, but because of what the game represented. “I think the fact that it was the end of an amazing four years—four big Bowl wins; three Michigan wins; lots of victories in those four years; and an amazing group of teammates and coaches—is why it felt like the game of my life,” Hawk said. Jan White has a different reason for the game of his life: He scored his first touchdown as a Buckeye, playing a position he didn’t necessarily want to play. “It became a footrace I was determined to win,” White says of his 72-yard reception from Rex Kern against Northwestern in 1968. Whoever they are and whatever the reason, there always is “the” game in a player’s memory bank. The folks, whose stories are chronicled in Game of My Life Ohio State Buckeyes, tell you why a certain game was the best, providing the detail, the color, and the emotion that only a player can share. Football fans, most especially those card-carrying members of Buckeye Nation, will be enlightened and entertained by these stories. Buckeye greats such as Archie Griffin, Cris Carter, Mike Lanese, and Bob Hoying relive their legendary moments—from the sidelines to the huddle, from the depths of impending defeat to the pinnacle of glory. It just doesn’t get any better.

Learn to live and lead with enthusiasm and optimism, impact your team, and transform your culture In Row the Boat, Minnesota Golden Gophers Head Coach P.J. Fleck and bestselling author Jon Gordon deliver an inspiring message about what you can achieve when you approach life with a never-give-up philosophy. The book shows you how to choose enthusiasm and optimism as your guiding lights instead of being defined by circumstances and events outside of your control. Discover how to put the three key components of row the boat into practice in your life: The Oar: The energy. Only you can dictate whether your oar is in the water or whether you take it out and decide not to use it. The Boat: The sacrifice. The more you give, serve, and make your life about helping others, the better and more fulfilled your life will be, and the bigger your boat gets. The Compass: The direction. The vision you have for your life and the people you surround yourself with help create the dream of where you want to go. Perfect for athletes, coaches, business leaders, and anyone else who hopes to squeeze a little more enjoyment and productivity out of life, Row the Boat will propel leaders, teams, and organizations to greater heights than they have ever reached before.