Seasons
SEASON: 23 | YEAR: 1971
HEAD COACH: PAUL R. GIEL
Game 190 | January 19, 1971 | Foster Brooks, Bill Rigney, Gene Autry, Joe Cronin
Brooks emceed the annual Mid-Winter Baseball Banquet. Autry, America's "Singing Cowboy," became owner of the expansion Los Angeles Angels when they were created in 1961. The Angels retired the number 26 in his honor as the 26th man on a 25-man roster. Rigney was on his way to a fifth-place finish in his second year as Twins manager, and Cronin, a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Washington Senators and Boston Red Sox, was American League president from 1959-1973.
(LtoR) Back row: Howard Fox (physician), Foster Brooks, Bill Rigney, Paul Giel; Front row: Gene Autry, Joe Cronin
Game 191 | April 7, 1971 | Calvin Griffith, Frank Lane
Shortly before his 75th birthday, "Trader" Lane was hired as general manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. He made more than 400 trades over his long career in baseball--some 241 with the White Sox alone. He traded future Hall of Famers and major stars such as Norm Cash, Rocky Colavito, Roger Maris, Red Schoendienst and Early Wynn, and once traded his manager, Joe Gordon, to Detroit for their manager, Jimmy Dykes.
Game 192 | April 22, 1971 | Dick Nolan, George Connor, Jim Finks
An outstanding defensive back with the New York Giants, Nolan coached the San Francisco 49ers to three straight NFC West Division titles from 1970-1972. Winner of the 1944 Outland Trophy at Notre Dame, Connor starred at defensive end and linebacker for the Chicago Bears from 1948-1955 and is a member of both the college and pro football halls of fame. Before the 1972 season, Finks, the Vikings general manager, made a trade with the Giants to bring Fran Tarkenton back to Minnesota.
Game 193 | May 14, 1971 | Dan Devine
Moving to Proctor, Minnesota, as a youth, Devine starred in football and baseball at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. After successful stints as head football coach at Arizona State and Missouri, in January 1971 Devine succeeded Phil Bengston as coach of the Green Bay Packers. He held that job for four seasons before replacing the retiring Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame.
Game 194 | May 18, 1971 | Bud Wilkinson
After an unsuccessful run at a U.S. Senate seat in Oklahoma in 1964, Wilkinson moved into the football broadcast booth. He became the lead color commentator on ABC's college football coverage with Chris Schenkel and, later, Keith Jackson. He left the broadcast booth to return to coaching with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978 and part of 1979.
Game 195 | July 23, 1971 | Bill Musselman
Bill who? A Gopher basketball search committee had just hired Murray State Coach Calvin Luther, who accepted and resigned in a 24-hour period. Enter the second choice, 30-year-old Ashland College coach Bill Musselman. He surrounded center Jim Brewer with junior college recruits Ron Behagen, Clyde Turner and Bob Nix, and instituted a Harlem Globetrotters-type pregame show, and the Gophers became an instant Big Ten contender, winning the Big Ten title in 1972.
(LtoR) Back row: Fran Hubbard, Sid Hartman (physician); Front row: Bill Musselman, Kevin Wilson
Game 196 | August 9, 1971 | Charlie Fox, Rosy Ryan
In his second year as manager of the San Francisco Giants, Fox led his team to a 90-72 record and the Western Division Championship in the National League, earning him Manager of the Year honors. His major league playing career consisted of only three games, but he managed five years with the Giants and part of two other seasons with the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs. He was succeeded as Giants manager by former Giants' catcher; Wes Westrum, a native Minnesotan.
Game 197 | August 18, 1971 | Bill Light, Doug Kingsriter
Interest in Gopher football was waning in 1971, in what would turn out to be Murray Warmath's final season. Two of the team's best players were former Lake Conference standouts Light (Hopkins) and Kingsriter (Richfield). Playing against Iowa in 1970, Light set a record with 32 tackles, a single-game mark that has never been surpassed. His 172 tackles that year are another all-time Gophers record. Kingsriter was the team's leading receiver in 1970, '71 and '72 and was named AP All American following the 1971 season. He became a Dunkers member in 2008.
Game 198 | September 1, 1971 | Chuck Tanner
After a solid career as a major league outfielder, Tanner got the first of four major league managing jobs with the Chicago White Sox in 1970. He managed there for six seasons before moving to the Oakland A's. From Oakland, he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates, where he had his greatest success, leading them to a World Series title in 1979. He was traded by A's owner Charles Finley to Pittsburgh in exchange for catcher Manny Sanguillen.
Game 199 | September 28, 1971 | Norm Snead
A three-time Pro Bowl selection who played collegiately at Wake Forest, Snead spent the 1971 season as the Minnesota Vikings quarterback. When Fran Tarkenton came back from the New York Giants to quarterback the 1972 Vikings, Snead signed with the Giants and had one of his best seasons as Tarkenton's successor.
Game 200 | October 25, 1971 | Howard Cosell
A lawyer by training, Cosell first became familiar to U.S. television audiences as a boxing commentator in a number of fights featuring Cassius Clay/ Muhammad Ali. In 1970 ABC's Roone Arledge hired the outspoken Cosell to be a commentator on Monday Night Football along with Frank Gifford and Don Meredith. He was as outspoken as he was controversial, and his voice became one of the most imitated in U.S. broadcasting history. He broke the news of John Lennon's fatal shooting on a Monday Night Football broadcast in 1980.
(LtoR) Back Row: Paul Giel, Max Winter, Sid Hartman (physician); Front row: Howard Cosell
Game 201 | November 12, 1971 | Lorne John "Gump" Worsley, Doug Mohns
Worsley had already had a Hall of Fame career as a goalie with New York and Montreal when he was lured out of retirement to team with Cesare Maniago of the Minnesota North Stars. Already 42 years old, Worsley had one of his best seasons in 1972 when he was second in the league in goals allowed and appeared in the NHL All-Star game. He died in 2007 at age 77. Mohns, a 22-year NHL veteran, played three years with the North Stars and was one of the first NHL players to wear a protective helmet.
Game 202 | December 17, 1971 | Bob Short
A Minnesota hotel owner and successful businessman, Short purchased the Minneapolis Laker's in the late 1950s and moved the team to Los Angeles following the 1959-60 NBA season. In the fall of 1968 he purchased the struggling Washington Senators baseball team. He hired Ted Williams as manager in 1969, but moved the team to Dallas to become the Texas Rangers in 1972. He ran for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 1972, losing to Republican Dave Durenberger.