Francis (Pug) Lund: Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Class of 1990

As a halfback for the University of Minnesota, Francis "Pug" Lund was a triple threat who could pass, run and kick.

The highlight of his Gophers career was a game against the University of Pittsburgh in 1934. It's been called the most important football game a University of Minnesota team ever played.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Lund, playing injured, took a lateral pass and then threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Robert Tenner in the fourth quarter. The 13-7 victory over the East Coast power propelled the Gophers to an undefeated national championship season.

"It was 60 minutes of tremendous football," teammate Babe LeVoir told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1994. "You couldn't write enough laudatory things about him."

Following the 1934 season Lund, a native of Rice Lake, Wis., was named an All-American for the second consecutive season.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1958.

According to his bio on the College Football Hall of Fame's website, "He was more than a limelight performer. Lund was a magnificent blocking back, blessed with a feel for play flow and timing. He was also an indestructible athlete."

The bio also quoted Gophers coach Bernie Bierman, "He was our spark plug. He was battered and broken up, teeth knocked out, finger amputated, thumb broken, and through all that he carried on. Our opponents might break him in two, but they couldn't stop him."

Lund's son Gordy told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1994, "(Coach Bernie) Bierman said that he was one of the finest competitors he'd ever coached, and he was able to rise to levels needed to achieve victory."

Lund had several offers to play professional football but he turned them down and took a job to support his family after his father became ill.

Class: 1990.

Sport: Football.

Team: Gophers.