In Tales from the Minnesota Gophers Sideline, Ray Christensen tells nearly 200 tales from all 11 men’s sports at the University of Minnesota. The emphasis is largely on the last half of the 20th century, during which time Christensen did the radio play-by-play of Golden Gopher football for 50 consecutive seasons, 510 games, and U of M basketball for 45 straight seasons, 1,309 games. Christensen, a broadcasting award member of the College Football Hall of Fame, tells stories ranging from dramatic victories to more lighthearted, humorous events that combine to form a Big Ten tapestry, with the University of Minnesota at its core.
From the Minnesota wrestlers’ incredible comeback for a 2001 NCAA championship to the Gophers’ game-ending field goals that led to remarkable upsets to the golf team’s string of birdies that enabled the squad to make the cut and James McLean to capture the NCAA individual crown, the book covers it all. Perfect for the bookshelf of any fan of Gophers athletics!

Ray Christensen was active in radio broadcasting for 55 years. Before retiring in March of 2001, he did the play-by-play of University of Minnesota football for 50 consecutive seasons and Gopher basketball for 45 consecutive seasons. He was inducted into the Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2002 and received the 2011 Distinguished Minnesotan Award.

Dave Mona did color commentary alongside Ray Christensen during Ray’s final three years of Gopher football play-by-play. A winner of both the Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow awards for his 13 years of Gopher broadcasting, Mona’s Beyond the Sports Huddle: Mona on Minnesota topped the list of regional best-selling sports books in 2008. For the past 32 years he has co-hosted the WCCO-AM Sports Huddle with Sid Hartman. He is a 2013 inductee into the Minnesota Business Hall of Fame in recognition of his work in founding the region’s largest public relations business.