After waiting 62 years, Twin Cities couple savor Gophers' Rose Bowl return
PASADENA, CA. — The year was 1955. Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States. The Minnesota Vikings and Twins were still a few years away from arriving in town. So Gopher football was the top dog in Minneapolis.
Then 20-year-old Vince Settergren was a college student in the Twin Cities and caught the fever, buying season tickets to the Gopher games.
"The first game I ever saw at Memorial Stadium was, we played Washington and the running back was Hugh McElhenny," Vince Settergren said.
Around that time, Settergen asked a small-town girl out on a date to a game. It didn't go very well.
"I put on nice clothes and the weather was horrible it turned out," said Ramona Settergren. "It started to rain and ended up snowing."
But the romance survived. Throughout their 62-year marriage, the Settergrens have been a staple at Gopher football games. They've traveled to almost every bowl game.
The Gophers played in the Rose Bowl in 1961 and 1962, but haven't been back since. The Settergrens should have been there for those two games, but Vince had business trips in Canada.
"When I heard that UCLA had joined the Big Ten and we were scheduled to play them, I said, 'Well, we're going,'" Vince Settergren said.
"He's a Gopher nut [laughs]!" Ramona Settergren said.
So 1962, meet 2024. It was a special day for two very special fans.
"It's exciting to see it," Vince Settergren said from his seat inside the Rose Bowl before the Gophers kicked off their game against UCLA. "We waited a long time for this event."
They proved that dreams do come true, even if it takes a little while.
"By this time, we've done a lot of these things together," said Ramona Settergren, in her maroon and gold T-shirt. "So I've kind of gotten to be a Gopher nut, too."