1960

John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States. Baby Boomers were anywhere from 14 years of age to, well, still waiting to be born. But, the young, charismatic Kennedy, compared to the old, grey and boring Dwight D. Eisenhower, seemed like a change from black & white to color, from an old world to a new and exciting world. If we had only known, Ike in fact had held back a tide of right-wing extremism and of militarism that had threatened to break loose in the 1950s. He was a great man and a great president. It would be 40 years before us young bucks would realize that Kennedy wasn't half the man that Ike had been. 

All of that aside, 1960 was the biggest year ever in Minnesota sports, even setting aside the announcements that the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings would both begin play in 1961. Just what happened on Minnesota’s football fields and basketball courts was enough even without that, though that announcement added an air of anticipation and optimism to our sporting affairs. Minnesota Gopher football and baseball, U.S. Olympic hockey and Edgerton high school basketball all thrilled Minnesota sports fans in 1960. 

#16 (Tie) Season Minnesota Gophers Football 1960-1961 The Minnesota Gophers struggled to a 2-7 record in 1959. In 1960, they won their first seven games, including a 27-10 whipping of #1 Iowa. They lost to Purdue but got a share of the Big 10 title and the undisputed national title over 9-0-1 Mississippi. Murray Warmath won coach of the year honors. Guard Tom Brown was a consensus all-American and won the Outland Award as the top lineman in the nation. The national championship was awarded based on the regular season. So, the Gophers lost to Washington 17-7 in the Rose Bowl but hung on to the national title at 8-2. Mississippi defeated Rice 14-6 in the Sugar Bowl to finish 10-0-1. Even before the bowl games, the Gophers got just 17 first place votes in the final poll, while Mississippi got 16 and Iowa got twelve. Even Washington got two, and that was before they defeated the Gophers to finish 10-1.  In 1961, the Gophers opened with a 6-0 loss to Missouri, but they then won eight straight games, including against #1 Michigan State and #7 Purdue. A  23-21 loss to Wisconsin cost them the Big 10 title but, then, inexplicably, Ohio State turned down the Rose Bowl bid, so second place Minnesota went instead. This time, the Gophers took care of business, dominating UCLA 21-3. QB Sandy Stephens and lineman Bobby Bell both won all-America honors.

#13 Coach Murray Warmath In 1932, the Gophers had reached down into the deep south to hire Tulane coach Bernie Bierman as their new coach. In 1953, they tried a similar tactic, hiring coach Murray Warmath from Mississippi State. The difference was that Bierman was a Minnesotan, a U of M alum. Warmath was a true-blue southerner and a Tennessee grad. Warmath’s Gophers went 16-9-2 in his first three seasons. Okay. But, over the next three years, he was 7-20. Minnesota fans were not amused and demanded Warmath’s ouster. Meanwhile, Warmath decided he couldn’t win with Minnesota kids, and he started recruiting African-American athletes from the south who couldn’t play at segregated southern colleges. It worked like a charm, and in Warmath’s third trio of seasons, he went 21-6-1 with a Big 10 title and a Rose Bowl title. Another Big 10 title followed in 1967.  Southern colleges were soon integrated, however, and the Gophers talent pipeline dried up. In Warmath’s last three seasons, the Gophers were 11-18-2. Only now does his overall record of 87-78-7 begin to look pretty darn good. His 87 victories remains #3 in Gopher history behind Doc Williams and Bernie Bierman.

Honorable Mention Seasons U.S. Olympic Hockey Beats Russians, Wins Gold  in the First Miracle on Ice The U.S. national hockey team had done okay. It was 32-11-3 going into the 1960 games, with five silvers and a bronze and only twice out of the medals. It was not the massive underdog it is sometimes made out to be. On the other hand, the world had begun to feel the power of the Soviet hockey team. Ice hockey was first played in Russia in 1946, and the first games against foreign competition were played in 1948. But, it was only in 1954 that the Soviets sent a team to the world championships, and they surprised everybody by winning the gold medal—and, especially, beating Canada, 7-2. Canada had won 22 of 23 Olympic and world championship gold medals up till then. In 1956, the Russians shut out the U.S. and Canada to win the gold, while the U.S. shocked Canada 4-1 for the silver. In 1957, Russia again won the gold as neither Canada nor the U.S. participated. In 1958 and 1959, Canada beat the Russians to win the gold while the U.S. failed to medal. So, it seemed unlikely that the U.S. could do better than third in 1960.  Instead, the U.S. beat Canada 2-1 as goalie Jack McCartan, a Minnesotan, stopped 39 of Canada’s 40 shots. Then, they beat the Russians 3-2 as Minnesotans Bill and Roger Christian each scored two points and McCartan had 27 saves. Bill Christian and John Mayasich were the #2 and #3 scorers for the U.S. with 13 and 12 points, while McCartan was named the top goaltender.

#48 Athlete  Jack McCartan John William McCartan was not quite a “jack of all trades,” but he was a master of third base and of the goalie’s crease. He played baseball and hockey at the University of Minnesota, and helped the Gopher baseball team to their first-ever national title in 1956 with eight home runs and a .436 batting average. In 1958, he won all-American honors. The Gophers were 75-24-2 in his three years as a Gopher. But, he was even better at hockey and was by far the biggest star of the first Miracle on Ice, the U.S. hockey gold in 1960. He was a two-time all-American though the Gophers only went 28-26-2. But Marsh Ryman, the freshman coach at Minnesota and also coach of the 1959 U.S. national team, almost cost McCartan his spot in the 1960 Olympics. Jack Riley, coach at Army, who would also coach the 1960 Olympians, watched Ryman’s team play, of course, as Ryman chose to play goalie Don Cooper ahead of McCartan. Riley assumed, logically enough, that if Ryman wasn’t playing him, then McCartan must not be very good. So, Riley cut him from the national team. It was only later that Ryman told Riley that, in fact, McCartan was better. But, his team, he said, played better in front of Cooper because they knew he needed the help. Riley invited McCartan back for another tryout. The rest is history. McCartan stopped 39 of 40 Canadian shots, and the U.S. shocked Canada 2-1. Overall, McCartan made 134 stops and allowed eleven goals. He was named the top goaltender in the 1960 Olympics. He quickly got a tryout with the New York Rangers. He didn’t stick, but in one of his earliest NHL games he made a save, and one of his defenseman skated over to say, “Nice save on Gordie Howe.” “Who is Gordie Howe?” McCartan was reported to have said.

• The Gopher baseball team won the NCAA title, beating USC 2-1 in extra innings in the final as 2B John Erickson won the MVP award.

• Edgerton became the smallest high school from the smallest town ever to win a state high school basketball championship, defeating favored Richfield 63-60 in overtime in a classic final. Edgerton was the best ever at getting to the free throw line. In each of their eight post-season games, they made more free throws than their opponents shot. They scored just one field goal in the fourth quarter plus overtime against Richfield, and won. Their records of 82 free throws made out of 116 attempted stood for almost 50 years. Not only that, but the Richfield game was the first state tournament game ever to feature two 1,000 point scorers, Bill Davis of Richfield and Dean Veenhof of Edgerton. More than 19,000 fans saw Edgerton win their semi-final and championship games at Williams Arena.

• The St. Paul Saints hockey team won the championship of the IHL.

• And, again, Minnesota would be a big league city starting in 1961. Calvin Griffith announced that his Washington Senators would be moving to Minnesota and would become the Minnesota Twins. The NFL announced that Minnesota was awarded an expansion franchise and it would be called the Vikings. But, as the Twins and Vikings arrived in town, they passed the Minneapolis Lakers by as they packed up their things and moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
1960	1. Tom Brown, Minnesota Gopher football 2. Jack McCartan, U.S. Olympic hockey (silver medal) 3. John Erickson, Minnesota Gopher baseball	1. Edgerton basketball (27-0, state champion) 2. Minnesota Gopher football (8-2, Big 10 co-champion, national champion) 3. Minnesota Gopher baseball (34-7-1, NCAA champion)	1. Murray Warmath, Minnesota Gopher football 2. Dick Siebert, Minnesota Gopher baseball 3. Fred Shero, St. Paul Saints hockey (International Hockey League champion)	1. The Minnesota Gophers beat #1-ranked Iowa 27-10 to tie for the Big 10 title. 2. The Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings were both announced, and the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles. 3. Edgerton edged Richfield 63-60 in OT en route to the state basketball title.