Sunday Q&A: Bob Stein, former U player under Warmath

Bob Stein has quite a résumé. The St. Louis Park native was a star football player at the University of Minnesota, was part of the Gophers last team to win a share of the Big Ten title (1967), was an all-America selection -- both academic and athletic -- in 1967 and '68, and was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs team that beat the Vikings in the Super Bowl. He attended law school during his pro career and also served as the first president and CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Stein took a few moments to talk with the Star Tribune's Kent Youngblood about his relationship with and memories of Murray Warmath, who died Wednesday at age 98.

On his first reaction upon hearing the news:

My first thought was, the condition he was in during the last weeks and months weren't the way he'd have wanted to live. He was a proud guy as well as a tough guy.

On Warmath staying close with former players through the years:

Nobody was close when we played for him. We were just afraid of him. But, through the years, as you got to know him in a different way, he was a wonderful guy, a dear friend.

On Warmath recruiting African-American players long before most big-time schools were doing it:

That was a huge deal. There were a lot of great coaches, great leaders. [Warmath] was a civil rights leader without ever intending to be. Did you know [former Grambling coach] Eddie Robinson was a huge Gophers fan? And it was for that reason. He considered Murray to be the guy who really opened big-time college football to black players. Five years ago, Judge Dickson [an African-American player from Pennsylvania who was a back on the Gophers' 1960 national championship team] gave Murray a thick collection of articles from black community newspapers discussing how [Warmath] had broken down color barriers.

Murray once told me an interesting story. It was during the mid-60s he had a university VP walk into his office. Now, this guy was circumspect about what his real message was. But he was clear. He said: "Some of those colored players are pretty good. How many do we have now?" His implication was we have too many. Murray said he looked at him and smiled. "I don't know," he said, "but based on the kind of guys they are, I'd like to get a lot more." He basically told the guy to shove it. That's the way he was. As gruff as he could be on the outside, I didn't realize it until many years later that he had a sympathetic side, too.

On Warmath's reputation as a tough disciplinarian:

His father left when he was young, and he struck out on his own when he was 15 or 16. He was totally independent. To me, that explains a lot about his mental toughness. In February of my freshman year my dad died of a massive, sudden heart attack. I hadn't played a lick, and I wasn't a superstar recruit or anything. But he went to the funeral and had all the assistants with him. I didn't think of it at the time, but that showed class.

Bob Bossons was our defensive coordinator, and probably the coach we were most afraid of. Weeks later, at a conditioning class, he came up, clapped me on the shoulder and said, "I think you're not just going to make it, but you're going to make it big." I thought, what was this? I didn't realize until many years later that never would have happened unless Murray had said, "Go buck up this guy." I don't think [Warmath] was able to say it, that wasn't him. But he did the right thing.