Neil Young, Whiskey and Forgiveness
By Dan Whenesota
With an assist from Michael Brodkorb
Embedded Files
This past September, U.S. Bank Stadium played host to the Farm Aid 40 concert. During that concert, one of the headline acts - and one of Farm Aid’s founding members, 79-year-old Neil Young, played his iconic 1972 song, “Old Man”.
I first heard the song listening to classic rock radio in my teens. But as I’ve gotten older, the nostalgia of “Old Man” has turned more personal.
I’m not completely sure how Neil Young intended the lyrics to be interpreted. Apparently the song is about an elderly caretaker of a ranch that Young owned.
But to me, the song seems like a story about youthful mistakes. It has a reflective tone about choices someone has made throughout their life.
Neil Young's Farm Aid 40 Performance of "Old Man"
The song also reminds me of story I’ve thought a great deal about this past year as a certain 50th anniversary approaches. A story close to home. One rooted in Minnesota sports history.
That story is about a man that I’m going to refer to as John Doe. (John is a very real person, but that’s clearly not his real name).
John is a Minnesotan - born and raised. He attended college in Minnesota and married a Minnesota gal. They’ve been married for over 45 years. John and his wife had three children. Sadly, two of them passed away in their 30s. John is also a Grandfather.
John started his own business 35 years ago. He’s in his 70s now and still runs that business to this day.
In his free time, John is an avid outdoorsman and a Minnesota sports fan.
By all means, John is a typical Minnesotan in every way. He has lived his life like the rest of us. He’s a hard-working entrepreneur who’s provided for his family. He’s experienced highs, lows and tragedies, and in between he’s tried to enjoy some of life’s simple pleasures.
John could be your uncle, your neighbor, or your coworker. He’s an everyman.
But when he was in his early 20’s, John made a mistake. A mistake that played out in the public eye.
“24 and there’s so much more.” 🎵
On December 28, 1975, the Minnesota Vikings were set to face the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game at Met Stadium in Bloomington. The winner of that game would go on to compete in Super Bowl X. The Vikings had been to the Super Bowl three times in previous years and had come up short each time.
However, that 1975 team was viewed as the best of all the 1970’s Vikings teams and thus considered Minnesota’s best chance to win a Super Bowl during that era.
The Vikings held a 14-10 lead late into the 4th quarter. With 32 seconds left in the game and the ball on the 50-yard line, the Cowboys’ Quarterback Roger Staubach, threw a deep pass to receiver Drew Pearson. Pearson caught the ball at the 5-yard line and ran into the end-zone for what would turn out to be the game winning touchdown for Dallas. Staubach said after that game, “It was a Hail Mary pass. I threw as hard as I could and prayed.”
(The NFL won't allow embedding the video. Here's a link to watch the "Hail Mary" play on YouTube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qubj0zNjmi0
But there was controversy on the play. Replay showed that Pearson appeared to push Vikings defender Nate Wright to the ground before making the catch.
Vikings' players were incensed that pass interference wasn’t called on Pearson. Fans were similarly angered. After the Cowboys kicked the extra point, a spectator threw an empty glass bottle toward the field. That bottle hit 54-year-old referee Armen Terzian, cutting his head open and causing him to briefly lose consciousness. After awakening, Terzian had his head bandaged and left the field under his own power. It was reported that he didn’t require any further medical care.
As this story has been told and retold over the past 50 years, it has become canon that the bottle that hit Terzian was a “whiskey bottle”. However, that may be more myth than fact. It is not known whether it was actually a whiskey bottle, or some other kind of bottle.
Following the game, Vikings President Max Winter, advertised a $5000 reward for information about the bottle thrower’s identity.
A composite sketch of the man was drawn from witness accounts. The investigation led to John Doe being arrested on June 10, 1976. He was charged with misdemeanor simple assault and disorderly conduct. The assault charge would be dismissed but Doe plead guilty to disorderly conduct to avoid going to trial. In February 1977, he was given $100 fine and a 30-day workhouse sentence. That sentence was “deferred” as long as he stayed out of trouble for one year.
John Doe was 22 years old at that time.
“I’m a lot like you were.”🎵
When I think about John Doe’s story, it reminds me of when I was in my 20’s. I know this won’t shock any of you, but I was no choir boy. I even lived in a fraternity house during college.
My life during that time was not far from what’s depicted in the movie “Animal House”. I went to class, did my work and received good grades. But after school? I had a really, REALLY good time. I also made some REALLY poor decisions.
For example, one night after having a few beverages, I shot an arrow down the hallway of the Fraternity house.
You heard that right. I took a high-powered, deer hunting, compound bow and shot an arrow - down the hallway of a residence - within city limits. That hallway had 6 doors leading to bedrooms on both sides. The arrow landed and stuck in another door at the end of the hallway.
Why did I do it? Because I’m an idiot, of course. But also, because there was an often-told legend in the house that someone who lived there long ago had done something similar.
It was incredibly reckless. What if someone had walked out of one of those doors and into the hallway right at that moment? That person’s life could have changed drastically - and mine as well.
AND?…That wasn’t the only dumb thing I did during my college years. It was the early 1990’s!!! I was lucky the internet didn’t exist yet, and that there were no cell phones or social media.
“I need someone to love me the whole day through”🎵
Following that NFC championship game in 1975, Armen Terzian continued to officiate NFL games until 1981. After stepping away from on-field officiating, he became a replay official until retiring in 1988. He died in 1989 at the age of 74.
Drew Pearson, Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys lost the Super Bowl that 1975 season to the Pittsburgh Steelers. A few years later, they again beat Minnesota in the NFC championship game and went on to win Super Bowl XII defeating the Denver Broncos. Both Pearson and Staubach are in the Professional Football Hall of Fame.
Nate Wright and the Vikings had one final chance at winning the big game in 1977. Unfortunately, they were soundly defeated by the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI. It was the last time Minnesota played in a Super Bowl.
What about John Doe?
I reached out to him and requested an interview. Understandably, he didn’t respond.
It's no mystery why. The fact that he's in his 70s and doesn’t want to talk about it suggests that it might still bother him. And who among us hasn’t made a questionable misstep in our youth? We all have. Now, imagine if yours was on film. Unlike John, most of our foolish mistakes didn’t play out in public or the media.
The good news is that Minnesotans are inherently kind and forgiving. We refer to it as “Minnesota Nice”. But “Minnesota Nice” isn’t about pretending we’re perfect. It’s about believing people can grow.
And to be clear, what I wrote above about growth, wasn't necessarily referring to John. He's suffered far worse in real life, than anything that happened on that football field in 1975. When I said growth, I was referring to the rest of us.
Fifty years is long enough. If the Chicago Cubs can forgive Steve Bartman for interfering in that 2003 playoff game (they gave him a championship ring after winning the World Series in 2016) maybe it’s time we embrace John and welcome him back as a Minnesota sports fan again.
And let’s be honest, why would anyone in Minnesota be mad at John in the first place? He wasn’t the one who pushed Nate Wright.
That was Drew Pearson. Does Minnesota forgive him? Hell no. He pushed off.
Sources
Photos
https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune/115316241/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115316418/
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-mississippi-press/184307565/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115316474/
Old Man Video - YouTube
https://youtu.be/oCHhICBVzUA?feature=shared
Hail Mary Video - YouTube
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