Big Ten Icons

Early in 2013 I was doing some research on University of Minnesota bobbleheads.  I found some information on a Big Ten Network (BTN) set of Icon bobbleheads.  It appears that BTN promoted these bobbleheads in 2010 in connection with a show called Big Ten Icons.  Sidenote: when BTN first launched, I had Comcast and there wasn't an agreement in place so I wasn't able to watch BTN from its conception, but ever since Comcast had BTN in their lineup, I've been a loyal viewer (of course of Gopher sports and related content!) There were 11 bobbleheads in the set, one from each school in the Big Ten (at the time).  Here's a promotional picture of the bobbleheads.

The Gopher bobblehead was of all-time football great, Bronko Nagurski.  I knew I'd like to add this bobblehead to my collection, but the problem was - how?  I scoured the internet for a few months and never found anything.  Well in late 2013, I got lucky!  I reached out to a contact at BTN.  I heard back right away and we emailed several times over the next few months.  He (and BTN) were incredibly gracious and willing to help!  From the emails, I might even say, he was even a bit excited to add to my collection.

I wasn't sure what to expect.  In all the email conversations we had, it seemed like he would do whatever he could to get me the Minnesota bobblehead.  Well...I came home from work the other day and had a package waiting for me...and it wasn't a small box (which is what I was expecting since these were mini bobbleheads).  When I saw who it was from, I was downright giddy...since I wasn't entirely positive what was in there...I was thrilled when I opened the box and saw quite a few little boxes just waiting to be opened!  This is what I found...

Thank you so much to everyone at BTN who helped with this!!  Not only did I get the Bronko Nagurski bobblehead, but each of the other 10 bobbleheads as well - to form a complete set of Big Ten Icons!

Want List (Part 3)

My want list today is pretty simple.  Any bobbleheads from the University of Minnesota.  I'll even take doubles and triples of what I have currently.  The picture below is of 4 bobbleheads that I don't have. There are others that have the M on them, I know Janel McCarville had a bobblehead while playing at the U - very similar to Whalen bobble below.

The first bobblehead is of Bronko Nagurski.  This was produced by the Big Ten Network (BTN) in a collection known as the Big 10 Icons.  It featured one "Icon" from each school in the Big Ten (at the time).  A total of 11 bobbleheads make up the set.  

The Goldy gymnast bobblehead was given out at gymnastic meets several years ago.  The Goldy hockey bobblehead was produced by Gold Country (as you can see on the plaque) and finally the Whalen bobblehead.  I know besides the McCarville bobblehead I mentioned earlier there is another Goldy with a maroon shirt (M on his chest) with his arms outstretched that I currently don't have. There are others out there, but these are my most desired U of M bobbleheads!