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University of Minnesota Athletics
Answers From The Alumni - Judge Dickson
3/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Gophersports.com recently caught up with former University of Minnesota standout fullback Judge Dickson, who was part of the Gopher team that went from finishing last in the Big Ten in 1959 to winning the Big Ten and the national championship in 1960. He was also part of the 1961 team that won the Rose Bowl over UCLA 21-3. Dickson also is involved with the Sandy Stephens Endowed Scholarship Fund.
GS.com: What did it mean to you, Carl Eller and Bobby Bell to come back and address the team at practice last week?
JD: It was so heartwarming. It was incredible to have the chance to talk to the players about the history of Gopher football and what it means, because it means so much to us. We have a tradition of learning and this is where we learned to get better and grow as people, where we developed respect and developed relationships. This is how you enable leaders and this is how you build champions, and once you build champions you have that for the rest of your life. We got the opportunity to grow as individuals and to build a foundation, and we built a mutual respect, which has translated into 50 years of friendships with all of our teammates. That’s something you can take with you as you go into business or anything else in life.
It’s just important for guys to know as they go through these practices where the coaches are evaluating them that everybody is at square one. People are going to be moved around. The guys have to be willing to move around, work hard and do something different, grow from their teammates, make commitments to their teammates, trust each other and work together. It’s important for them to get that message from us so they can see they’re not being asked to do anything we weren’t asked to do. That’s how we became a championship team and that’s why we just love this coaching staff and the atmosphere they have brought with them. We’re just overwhelmed.
GS.com: How much has it meant to have a coaching staff that embraces the tradition that came before them?
JD: I had the good fortune to be here the day of Coach Brewster’s press conference, and he stressed how important it was that first day. From that very first day I was excited because I knew then that all the right ideas were there. The only thing that is needed now is the execution of those ideas. The execution of that is the work part and the coaches are all doing it. We just appreciate that our contributions are recognized and that we get the opportunity to help in it. To be able to go out and talk to the guys and tell them we went through the same thing – it makes it a little easier for them to do the hard work. To see young people grow is just exciting. It’s wonderful.
GS.com: What kind of impression do you hope to leave with the players?
JD: We had a chance to meet some of them because of the Sandy Stephens Endowed Scholarship, and this is just building on top of everything we wanted to do with the Sandy Stephens Endowed Scholarship, which is to develop people. We want them to grow and instill in them leadership, courage and the ability to work hard and work as a team. Sandy would be the happiest person in the world today.
GS.com: How important is it to have people want to come back and give back to the program?
JD: In terms of coming back and making a contribution, I agree with Coach Brewster. The reason I came here, along with Bobby Bell and Carl Eller, is because of the tradition. Bobby and I were talking today about the first time he met Bronko Nagurski. At that time, Bobby was an All-American, but when he met Bronko Nagurski, he came back to the dormitory and raved about it for hours – the fact that he met Bronko, shook his hand and how big his hand was. Like we talked about today, it’s the coming-together of two different eras. A lot of people don’t belong to something. The Big Ten, and especially Minnesota, has so much heritage. Anybody who plays in our program here and has a good experience, it’s something you’ll never forget. For Coach Brewster to reach out to us makes it really special, and for the young guys to see it and to see us all together, you see the value of mutual respect and the value of being on a team where you have accomplished something. Then as you move ahead with your lives, even though you may go different ways, the commonality of the relationship stays the same. It’s like the team never breaks up.
GS.com: What did it mean to you, Carl Eller and Bobby Bell to come back and address the team at practice last week?
JD: It was so heartwarming. It was incredible to have the chance to talk to the players about the history of Gopher football and what it means, because it means so much to us. We have a tradition of learning and this is where we learned to get better and grow as people, where we developed respect and developed relationships. This is how you enable leaders and this is how you build champions, and once you build champions you have that for the rest of your life. We got the opportunity to grow as individuals and to build a foundation, and we built a mutual respect, which has translated into 50 years of friendships with all of our teammates. That’s something you can take with you as you go into business or anything else in life.
It’s just important for guys to know as they go through these practices where the coaches are evaluating them that everybody is at square one. People are going to be moved around. The guys have to be willing to move around, work hard and do something different, grow from their teammates, make commitments to their teammates, trust each other and work together. It’s important for them to get that message from us so they can see they’re not being asked to do anything we weren’t asked to do. That’s how we became a championship team and that’s why we just love this coaching staff and the atmosphere they have brought with them. We’re just overwhelmed.
GS.com: How much has it meant to have a coaching staff that embraces the tradition that came before them?
JD: I had the good fortune to be here the day of Coach Brewster’s press conference, and he stressed how important it was that first day. From that very first day I was excited because I knew then that all the right ideas were there. The only thing that is needed now is the execution of those ideas. The execution of that is the work part and the coaches are all doing it. We just appreciate that our contributions are recognized and that we get the opportunity to help in it. To be able to go out and talk to the guys and tell them we went through the same thing – it makes it a little easier for them to do the hard work. To see young people grow is just exciting. It’s wonderful.
GS.com: What kind of impression do you hope to leave with the players?
JD: We had a chance to meet some of them because of the Sandy Stephens Endowed Scholarship, and this is just building on top of everything we wanted to do with the Sandy Stephens Endowed Scholarship, which is to develop people. We want them to grow and instill in them leadership, courage and the ability to work hard and work as a team. Sandy would be the happiest person in the world today.
GS.com: How important is it to have people want to come back and give back to the program?
JD: In terms of coming back and making a contribution, I agree with Coach Brewster. The reason I came here, along with Bobby Bell and Carl Eller, is because of the tradition. Bobby and I were talking today about the first time he met Bronko Nagurski. At that time, Bobby was an All-American, but when he met Bronko Nagurski, he came back to the dormitory and raved about it for hours – the fact that he met Bronko, shook his hand and how big his hand was. Like we talked about today, it’s the coming-together of two different eras. A lot of people don’t belong to something. The Big Ten, and especially Minnesota, has so much heritage. Anybody who plays in our program here and has a good experience, it’s something you’ll never forget. For Coach Brewster to reach out to us makes it really special, and for the young guys to see it and to see us all together, you see the value of mutual respect and the value of being on a team where you have accomplished something. Then as you move ahead with your lives, even though you may go different ways, the commonality of the relationship stays the same. It’s like the team never breaks up.
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