It all started in 1857 with a satirical drawing depicting Minnesota politicians as rodents following the introductions of legislature created to build railroads in Minnesota. Now I will not bore you with the story about the “Five Million Loan” bill, but is seems like a weird reason to call your state the Gopher State.
Others think the name came to be because of gophers that chew farm crops.
So…? Ok.
While several Minnesota sports teams were referred to as gophers in local newspapers dating back to 1901, football coach Clarence “Biggie” Spears appears to have been given credit for Minnesota sports teams taking on the gopher name, as he called the football team the Gophers in 1926.