Articles by Paul Koch

Excerpted from Chapter 5, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   “Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and if possible, it will have it…”     -Abraham Lincoln It’s a common misconception that Omaha’s airport was named after Boyd Epley, godfather of collegiate strength training. That honor…

Excerpted from Chapter 4, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1     "Courage; Generosity; Fairness; Honor; In these are the true awards of manly sport." -Inscription on the Northwest Corner of Memorial Stadium, Hartley Burr Alexander, former UNL professor of philosophy   Mama Husker Power: that’s Linda Ybarra. Though surrounded by alpha males in the confines…

Excerpted from Chapter 3, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   Bryan Pruitt Part 3 Walk-on, Offensive Guard, Midlothian, Illinois (St. Laurence)   Continued…   Author: Bryan, anybody behind the scenes play a large role in your development? BP: From an academic standpoint, I’ll be the first one to say Dennis Leblanc in Academics. That guy…

Excerpted from Chapter 3, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   Bryan Pruitt Part 2 Walk-on, Offensive Guard, Midlothian, Illinois (St. Laurence)   Continued…..   Author: Bryan, let’s continue talking about Coach Osborne... Bryan Pruitt: Sometimes you’d try to make a name for yourself in practice and you’d get into a fight with Jason or Christian…

Excerpted from Chapter 3, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   Chicago Police Officer Jim Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife? You pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital? You send one of his to the morgue. That's the “Chicago Way”! And that's how you get…

Excerpted from Chapter 2, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   Matt Turman Part 3 Walk-on, Quarterback, Wahoo, Neb. (Neumann)   Continued…   Q: Where were you for the ‘94 Orange Bowl versus Florida State? In the stands or on the sideline? MT: I was standing on the sideline. My redshirt freshman year. My redshirt year we…

Excerpted from Chapter 2, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   Matt Turman Part 2 Walk-on, Quarterback, Wahoo, Neb. (Neumann) Continued…   Q: Matt, is there anything you look back on today that makes you chuckle about that era? Matt Turman: Well, there was, I don’t know if you were familiar with the big meeting room…

Excerpted from Chapter 2, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   “We were that close to going out forever. But there was one man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal mother%*ers into junk. He turned it around. He brought us back from the brink.” - The…

Excerpted from Chapter 1, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1   David Seizys Part 2 Walk-on, Wingback, Seward, Neb. (Ft. Calhoun) Continued from previous…   Author: David, is there anything you wish you could do over again? David Seizys: It would have to be that field goal (to end the ’94 Orange Bowl). Q: Let me…

Excerpted from Chapter 1, No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1 To kick these interviews off in proper fashion I sent former athletic trainer and NU player-liaison Doak Ostergard an e-mail requesting contact info for a number of people. He was kind enough to mass-mail it out to the players from that era to get me started,…

Preface & Intro excerpted from No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era, Vol. 1 by Paul Koch   Prelude to a Miss or A Providential and Fortuitous Confluence of Events   Place-kickers aren’t normally prone to run this fast. “Yeee-haaw! Shit-fire, you sonsabitches! Shit-fire!!” Adrenaline coursing, tongue cursing and legs furiously back-pedaling across the grass, Byron Bennett crosses the…