Gophers To Host Big Ten Golf Meet Coach Greg Harvey's University of Minnesota golf team will serve as host for the 1981 Big Ten golf championships at the U of M Golf Course on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 15-17. Teams will enter six golfers and then count their five best scores for a team total. Par is 71 on Minnesota's 6,123 yard course. One round is set for Friday, two on Saturday and the concluding 18 holes on Sunday. Harvey hopes his Gophers will find their home course to their liking, and he'll be counting heavily on his two upperclassmen, Tom Lehman and Bill Folkes, to lead the way. A senior from Alexandria, Lehman ranks as Minnesota's top All-America candidate this season. He concluded the 1980 cam­ paign with a top-20 finish in the NCAA meet, and over the summer he won the U.S. Amateur Championship. He has twice been an All­ Big Ten choice and has captured top honors in eight major tourneys. Folkes also ranks as a solid performer who will be shooting for top honors in the Big Ten meet. A senior from Coon Rapids, he played well last summer and had a good fall tour in 1980. Other Minnesota golfers figuring in Harvey's plans are Steve Oftelie from Waconia, Kirk Snider from Hastings and Jay Swan­ son from Minneapolis. All are juniors and were impressive last fall. Harvey entered the 1981 season with optimism. "Overall this should be our best season in quite some time," he said. "The schedule put us on some good courses against good teams. We need good performances from our veteran players, and we need leader­ ship from our seniors. If we get those things, our results could turn out ok." Gridders Recall Hotel Fire On Thursday, September 24, 1936, the University of Min­ nesota football team was "routed out of bed in the early­ morning hours" when a fire broke out in the Florence Hotel in Tom Lehman Missoula, Montana, where the Golden Gophers were spending the night enroute to Seattle, Washington, for a Saturday after­ noon contest against the University of Washington Huskies. Headlines in various papers stated: GOPHERS FLEE BLAZ­ ING HOTEL, and another said BERT BASTON OVERCOME Dome Stadium Negotiations Open ON RESCUE DASH. Another proclaimed GRID ASSIS­ Interest in the new dome stadium in downtown Minneapolis con­ TANT, HERO OF FIRE, IS GIVEN FIRST AID. Still another tinues to run high, and while the biggest question seems to center proclaimed NARROW ESCAPE PUTS ENTIRE SQUAD ON around the projected completion date, University of Minnesota EDGE, while another pointed out that HALF MISSOULA football fans usually ask, "Will the Gophers play there?" BUSINESS BLOCK DESTROYED. At this point, the Gophers still don't know. There have been Charlie Johnson of the Minneapolis press corps wrote: preliminary talks between representatives of the U of M and the "Completely recovered from their hurried departure from their Dome Stadium commission, but no agreement has yet been reach­ burning hotel this morning at 4 o'clock the Minnesota Gophers ed. apparently benefited rather than suffered from their exciting ex­ Paul Giel, director of intercollegiate athletics for men, recently perience of a few hours before." indicated "The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has One member of the Gopher team retained a coveted souvenir given our Central Administration permission to enter into negotia­ of the Florence Hotel that memorable night. The player was tions with the Stadium Commission. Obviously any negotiations LOUIS MIDLER, and his souvenir was a candlestick holder conducted by our representatives then would have to be approved now on display in the Bierman Building trophy case. by our Regents, but we are happy to say that negotiations are The Men's Intercollegiate Athletic Department offers its underway. We hope to have more information in the very near thanks for the gift ofthat memorable item and an account of the future." fire from Belmont Mayer. 2 Spring Grid Game Slated May 9 Golden Gopher football fans will get a chance to preview the 1981 season on Saturday, May 9, when Coach Joe Salem puts his University of Minnesota Gridders through their paces in the annual Spring Game. That event is on tap at 10 a.m. in Memorial Stadium, and no ad­ mission will be charged. U of M officials hope that Gopher baseball fans planning to attend the Minnesota-Wisconsin baseball game at Siebert Field that afternoon make a day of it by coming to the cam­ pus a few hours early and also seeing the '81 gridders in action. The game will conclude 20 days ofspring practice for Salem as he winds up preparations for his third season as head coach at his Alma Mater, and there is no secret about Smokey Joe's hopes that this year will be the best so far. Coming into spring drills, however, there were some unanswered questions about the Gopher squad and some areas that obviously were in need of improvement if Minnesota was to better its 5-6 finish of last fall. Big concern had been finding replacements for the Gophers' top three running backs of 1980... Marion Barber, Garry White and Joey Ray Glenn Lewis. Also on Salem's priority list has been the improve­ ment of the wide receiver position (where Roy Artis has departed) and finding additional help for Tim Salem at quarterback. On the credit side of the ledger, Salem does have most of his of­ Ray Shows Courage fensive line returning, and that has given him a solid foundation If Joel Ray had not been injured during his high bar routine, upon which to re-build the Golden Gopher attack. Coach Fred Roethlisberger's Golden Gopher gymnastic team in all Ken Dallafior, a 6-4, 274-pound senior, has been elected Min­ probability would have grabbed its sixth straight Big Ten title. nesota captain for '81, and is anchoring that front line from his left Instead Minnesota finished second... by one ONE-TENTH of a tackle position. Expecting to team with Dallafior at the other tackle point... as Ray, a freshman from Chicago, fell during his perfor­ spot is Wally Kersten, a 6-5, 281-pound senior who backed up the mance and suffered a head injury requiring 12 stitches. graduated Kent Penovich last fall. While most people would have thrown in the towel right there, The guard position appears solid with starters Bill Humphries Ray showed spectacular courage by continuing with his routine and (6-3, 242) and Todd Hallstrom (6-6, 239) returning. Both will be placing second in that competition. juniors. Ed Olson, a 6-3, 236-pound junior, also is back at center. Coach Roethlisberger was concerned early in the season because Other lettermen who will battle for positions in that interior line are ofthe fact that he found himself coming into the 1980-81 campaign Mike Moe (6-2, 207 So.) and Randy Rasmussen (6-2, 242 Jr.) at with an extremely youthful club. But Ray, and Ben Sander, fit in center along with Eric Peterson (6-4, 240 Jr.) at guard. well. At tight end, Salem has Mike Curtis (6-4, 216 Jr.) returning while The big guns throughout the season and in the Big Ten meet were the lone runningback with any experience is Duane Gregory (5-10, Brian Meeker, Danny Price and Jeff Murray. All three qualified 197 Sr.). Wide receivers available are Ken Hughes (5-9, 199 So.) for the NCAA championships where Meeker led the way with a and Chester Cooper (6-2, 202 Sr.). seventh place finish in the All-Around competition. 1980 UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA SIGNEES A junior, Meeker had the highest all-around total in the Big Ten NAME POS. HGT. WGT. HOMETOWN this season... a 56.05. He also led the Gophers in floor exercise, vault and high bar. Brown, Tony RB 5-10 180 Flint, MI Christopherson, Joe FB-LB 6-2 205 Austin Ferguson, Melvin LB 6-4 200 Miami, FL SWIMMING Glenn, Kerry TB-LB 5-10 170 E. St. Louis, IL Graffunder, Craig TE-DE 6-3 205 Fridley With new coach Paul Stearns at the helm, Minnesota's swim­ Hare, Andy QB 6-2 170 Appleton, WI ming team posted a 2-5 season dual meet record and wound up Henderson, Terrence CB 6-0 180 Los Angeles, CA sixth in the Big Ten meet with 230 points. Hohensee, Mike QB 6-1 190 Rowland Hgts., CA The Gophers also qualified four tankers and a relay team for the Hunter, Tony RB 5-10 180 Memphis, TN NCAA meet and wound up shattering another varsity record... Jacobs, Frank TB 6-0 200 Cincinnati, OH something that has become a habit with Stearn's competitors. James, Jimmie DE 6-1 220 Cleveland,OH Art Griffith and Scott Maim Johnson, Tony HB-CB 5-10 168 Roseville were two of Minnesota's top Kelly, John C-DT 6-4 192 Roseville performers. Griffith finished Lilleberg, Jon TE 6-4 213 Atwater 26th in the 50 yard freestyle at PalO, Mark C-DT 6-4 246 Clairton, PA the NCAA and 14th in the 100. Pryor, Michal OT-DT 6-5 227 Memphis, TN He owns both Minnesota Roller, Willie DB 6-2 190 Minneapolis records. Maim wound up 30th Ross, Walter RB 6-1 190 St. Petersburg, FL in the NCAA's 100 yard back- Schlichting, Jack HB-LP 6-2 205 Brooklyn Center Paul Steams stroke and 21st in the 200. Sieffert Greg DB 6-5 190 Anoka Frank Oman had two divers in the NCAA meet.