Posted March 21, 2011    

•Murray Warmath

•Bobby Bell

•Bud Wilkinson

•President John Kennedy

•Sandy Stephens

My Tribute to Coach Murray Warmath 

Murray Warmath made a difference in my life.  For that influence I offered a prayer on Thursday night after the news came by telephone that the 98-year-old former Golden Gophers coach passed away.   

In a silent prayer I thanked Murray for being my friend and coaching the Gophers to the heights of college football.  God bless you, Murray.  

Today his admirers will say goodbye at St. Stephen’s Church in Edina.  The funeral will be attended by many of his former players, men who have revered him for decades.   

Warmath, who coached the Gophers from 1954-1971, was a survivor who outlived not only many of his players and assistant coaches, but most of his family.  He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Louise, daughter Carol and son Billy.  Another son, Murray Jr., was with the coach during his final hours last week. 

In recent years Warmath’s memory declined but that didn’t stop a regular parade of visitors from going to his residence at Friendship Village in Bloomington.  I brought Tim Brewster out to meet the coach and also Brad Childress.  Chilly said: “Where do I sign up to be 95?” 

Although Warmath was interested in the Vikings, his DNA was maroon and gold.  He coached the Vikings defensive line for two seasons in the late 1970s, several years after he was forced out as Gophers coach.  He sometimes attended Vikings practices at Winter Park, located just a few blocks from Friendship Village.  

But it was at Gophers games that admirers could count on seeing the wheelchair- confined Warmath.  Even last fall, only weeks after old age seemed to have announced his passing was imminent, the former national championship coach was down on the field during a ceremony to recognize perhaps his greatest player, defensive tackle Bobby Bell.  

During his lifetime Warmath saw the Gophers in three football homes: Memorial Stadium, the Metrodome and TCF Bank Stadium.  At the Bank the largest locker room in football is named after him.  

In the five decades since he stopped coaching at the U, Warmath watched seven men try to replace him.  None of them has come close to accomplishing his national title, two Big Ten Championships and two Rose Bowl teams.  And that’s not to mention his longevity as Gophers coach.

  

 In the five decades since he stopped coaching at the U, Warmath watched seven men try to replace him.  None of them has come close to accomplishing his national title, two Big Ten Championships and two Rose Bowl teams. 
 

Warmath's Journey: From Failure to Roses 

His great teams and players provided Gophers fans with memories for the ages.  And to think it almost didn’t happen. 

Warmath was losing games and making enemies by the late 1950s.  The extreme critics dumped garbage on the lawn of the Warmath home in Edina, and hung him in effigy on campus.  Others raised money to buy out his contract.  

Warmath stubbornly refused to fold in the middle of such criticism even though he had options to coach at other schools.  Warmath insisted he was a “good football coach” and would prove it.   

That’s what he did, erasing the 1-8 and 2-7 seasons of 1958 and 1959 with a national championship in 1960.  During the early 1960’s the Gophers were among the elite of college football and then again in 1967 when Warmath won his last conference championship.   

Warmath and his staff were excellent coaches.  But as with any coach, talent was needed, too.  Warmath, who often spoke with colorful phrases, liked to say: “No mule ever won the Kentucky Derby.” 

Even as a kid I believed Warmath wasn’t fully appreciated in this state.  There were critics that seemed to resent his southern roots and Tennessee accent.  Then, too, he wasn’t supposed to be in Minneapolis leading the Gophers.  Former Gopher Bud Wilkinson, a Minneapolis native, was setting the college football world on its ear in the 1950s at Oklahoma and the Warmath critics said we had the wrong guy coaching on the sidelines at Minnesota.  

As sports editor of the Minnesota Daily I developed a rapport with Warmath in the 1960s.  One summer I convinced him to spend hours with me tape recording interviews about his life and approach to coaching.  The result was a series of articles in the Daily titled: “From Garbage to Roses.” 

Warmath recognized my passion for the Gophers.  It also didn’t hurt that I bought into his mantra of tough discipline for his players and his game day philosophy of total commitment to defense, field position and the kicking game.   

Even though Warmath was more than 30 years older, he sometimes confided in me.  He was paranoid about the intentions of both the University administration and local media, believing neither one was particularly supportive of his Gophers.  His mood could turn cranky on any number of subjects, perhaps complaining about recruiting or even two hippies he saw copulating in the bushes near campus.  At times I am sure he couldn’t wait to get home and enjoy a Jack Daniels. 

Warmath’s players could complain about him, too.  He pushed them so hard before the season began that some observers believed the Gophers had unnecessary injuries and were tired early in the season.  There was praise, however, when it was obvious the Gophers often were better conditioned than opponents during fourth quarters and in late season games. 

 

Warmath & U Football Deserved Biography 

During the years after Warmath quit coaching the Gophers, I stayed in touch not only with him but also some of his former players.  I knew Gophers football was slipping...the program's glory and pride was becoming a distant memory.  I was more than aware, too, that Warmath’s former players idolized him and were grateful for all he had done for them.   

By the late 1980s I was organizing the first and only Warmath biography.  I didn’t have time to write the The Autumn Warrior but turned to Mike Wilkinson, a local writer, passionate Gophers fan and a friend.  Former Gophers like Jim Carter, Bobby Cox, Paul Giel, Dick Larson, Mike Wright and others provided the financing to make the book possible.  

The coach who taught me and so many others about dealing with adversity and overcoming obstacles through discipline, hard work and preparation was given a tribute through this book.  In it he talks about his career including a candid reference to the famous 1962 Wisconsin game when controversial officiating cost the Gophers the game and another Big Ten championship.  

Warmath stormed into the officials’ room after the game, the last on the 1962 schedule.  He told them they had “stolen” the Big Ten title from the finest group of young men he had been associated with.  He would never forgive them for being so “incompetent and so unfair.”  

In the book Wilkinson quotes Warmath almost 30 years after the 1962 debacle in Madison, a game so infamous that even President John Kennedy remembered it.  “I’ll tell ya something,” Warmath said.  “It’s just been within the past year or two that I finally haven’t been awakened in the middle of every night of every week and started thinking about that goddamn game.” 

The Autumn Warrior documents Warmath’s great games and near misses, but at his funeral today a lot of people will remember their personal relationships with the coach. Former Gophers who needed a father, or at least another solid role model.  Maybe a player who had Warmath’s support during legal or medical problems.   

Warmath helped a lot of people including African-Americans who were not welcome at southern colleges during his coaching years at Minnesota.  He provided opportunities to play at Minnesota, despite criticism for making the Gophers among the most integrated teams in the country.   

Never was his stand on using black players more controversial than when he stayed with Sandy Stephens as his quarterback.  Stephens was inconsistent as a sophomore and even as a junior on the 1960 national championship team, but by 1961 he was a special player.  How special?  So good he became the first All-American black quarterback in major college football history.  

It took courage for both Warmath and Stephens to face down those who wanted them to fail.  They learned a lot about character and “characters” at Minnesota.  Today we can fully appreciate their legacy.   

When I say goodbye to Murray today I will have a lot of memories but one that will command attention is something he said to me several years ago: “Dave, I always felt like you were one of the few newspaper men I could ever trust.” 

That statement and our relationship mean so much to me.

 

  Murray Warmath
 

Bell (right), Judge Dickson & Joel Maturi