It usually happens spontaneously, by request, without any fanfare or cue.
Such a moment happened early in Minnesota’s season opener against then No. 2 Texas Christian on Sept. 3. Goldy Gopher, the Minnesota mascot with an oversize toothy head atop football garb, grabbed a first-row rail and pulled himself up to pose for a photo. Someone yelled, “Spin your head!”
With one hand, Goldy rotated his head halfway around. Then he reached back again and finished the revolution with a flourish. Applause followed, as did more photos. (Minnesota lost that game, but improved to 2-1 on the season by defeating Kent State 10-7 at home on Saturday.)
Minnesota football returned to campus in 2009 after 27 seasons at the Metrodome, and the time away left the Golden Gophers light on game-day traditions. Several years ago, coach Jerry Kill initiated a Victory Walk by the players and the marching band into TCF Bank Stadium two hours before kickoff, a ritual that is not unique. But Goldy’s spinning head is.
The tradition has roots in something acutely Minnesotan — hockey. Ross Bernstein, an author and board president of the Herb Brooks Foundation, said he invented the move while serving as Minnesota’s hockey Goldy from 1989 to 1991. Bernstein turned his experiences into his first book, “Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher.”
Bernstein said in an interview that he assumed mascot duties after failing to make the hockey team as a walk on.
“You had to be able to skate and be a complete idiot, and I qualified on both counts,” he said. “I was too fat to fit into the costume, so I wore my hockey uniform.”
During games at the original Mariucci Arena — now known as the Sports Pavilion — Bernstein climbed a ladder to a television platform behind one of the goals and thought up goofy antics to entertain the nearby student section. This was paramount, because, according to Bernstein, many students ducked out between periods for a quick beer at a popular bar up the street.
The costume may have been too tight for Bernstein, but the Gopher head was not. It was old and enormous, he said, lacking even a functional chin strap to hold it in place.
So one night Bernstein spun the head around, which was not difficult. “I was trying to entertain 10,000 drunk people, just trying to do something to get some laughs,” he said. “Whenever I would do it, the fans would go nuts.” It quickly became part of the act.
Sometime between Bernstein’s turn as Goldy and Kevin Kurtt’s, from 1996 to 1999, Goldy picked up two more signature moves — spinning his body, and spinning his tail like a rally towel. The body spin, Kurtt said, entails lifting the head slightly with two hands and keeping it facing forward while slowly rotating 360 degrees.
Now, Goldy cannot go anywhere without someone asking, in a staccato cadence, “Spin your head!” Pep rallies. Birthday parties. And especially football games.
“‘Spin your head’ is a staple of his character, of his antics,” said Kurtt, the managing editor of the Minnesota-based publication Let’s Play Hockey.
“I’m not sure Goldy has ever turned down a fan’s request to spin his head, body or tail. It’s just not in his DNA.”
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