Al Papas Jr. grew up attending Minnesota Gopher football games with his father, who played for coach Bernie Bierman. A one-time sports cartoonist and newsroom artist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, he has also created artwork for the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and for teams in the NBA, ABA, and NHL. His illustrations are featured in Gophers Illustrated: The Incredible Complete History of Minnesota Football. Here, he recalls his experiences working in a newsroom (and compiling its sports section) in the 1960s.
You could count on extensive coverage of Gopher football in what was called the "peach" section of the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune. It was literally peach in color and stood out on Sunday morning to whomever grabbed the paper first. I worked on the section in the 1960s.
My first work, though, was a weekly cartoon for Star Sports Editor Bill Hengen. Hengen's favorite sport was bowling, for which he had a full-sized ball on his desk as a paperweight. I worked in the newsroom art department across the aisle from Sports. From there I got a good view of all the writers I had loved to read. One was Dick Cullum. (As a kid, I never left for school before reading "Cullum's Column.") He would sit, head tipped back in his chair, like Peppermint Patty. His eyes were closed behind Coke-bottle glasses and his arms were folded. After several minutes he would jump to life and pound furiously on his typewriter. Then he would fall back in silent repose and ponder again.
(keep reading)
One of the pages of Gophers Illustrated. Images created by Al Papas Jr.
Papas will discuss his book this Friday at the U of M bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union.
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