The 1952 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in the 1952 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second year under head coach

Wes Fesler Wesley Eugene Fesler (June 29, 1908 – July 30, 1989) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and basketball. He was a three-sport athlete at Ohio State University and a consensus first-team selection to ...

, the Golden Gophers compiled a 4–3–2 record and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 171 to 131. Halfback

Paul Giel Paul Robert Giel (February 29, 1932 – May 22, 2002) was an American college football and professional baseball player from Winona, Minnesota. He was an All-American in both sports at the University of Minnesota. Collegiate career Giel att ...

was named an All-American by the

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FWAA The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media ou ...

and Look Magazine. Giel received

Chicago Tribune Silver Football The Chicago Tribune Silver Football is awarded by the ''Chicago Tribune'' to the college football player determined to be the best player from the Big Ten Conference. The award has been presented annually since 1924, when Red Grange of Illinois wa ...

, awarded to the most valuable player of the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. Giel, running back Bob MacNamara and guard Percy Zachary were named All-Big Ten first team. Giel finished third in voting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. Paul Giel was awarded the Team MVP Award. Total attendance for the season was 270,292, which averaged to 54,058. The season high for attendance was against rival

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Schedule

References

{{Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Minnesota Golden Gophers football seasons

Minnesota Golden Gophers football The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its ince ...