University of Minnesota Athletics
Gopher Athletics Timeline (1950-1959)
1950
Fieldhouse is remodeled and renamed in honor of long-time great football coach Henry L. Williams. The building is split into a hockey arena and a basketball arena.
Rifle is eliminated as a varsity club sport at the U of M. Among varsity competitors during the program were future Minnesota governor Harold Stassen and two-time Olympian shooter Emmett Swanson.
Ike Armstrong is hired as the sixth athletics director at the U of M following a 25-year run as the head football coach at Utah.
1951
The Midwest Collegiate Hockey League forms with Minnesota as one of the original members. In 1959, the league would be renamed the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).
1952
John Mariucci (left), who had played hockey and football at Minnesota, returns after an NHL Chicago Blackhawks career to become Golden Gophers coach; he will become known as the “Godfather” of college hockey.
1952
Gopher mascot comes to life for the first time when assistant bandmaster Jerome Glas purchased a fuzzy wool suit and asked a student to climb in the suit.
Neil Ofsthun repeats as an NCAA boxing champion at 125 pounds. He is the only two-time winner during the program's short history.
1953
Paul Giel is named the Big Ten Player of the Year in football for the second straight year and finishes as the runner-up in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. Giel would also earn first team All-America honors on the baseball diamond in 1953 and 1954.
The University drops varsity boxing after six years due to the absence of competitive high school programs and the lack of Big Ten schools sponsoring the sport.
1954
Murray Warmath becomes head football coach; his team will win the 1960 national championship, shared Big Ten titles in 1960 and 1961, and a Rose Bowl win in 1962.
1956
Minnesota wins the College World Series and with it, the national baseball title.