Husker
Dan
100 REASONS
WHY I'M A CORNHUSKER FAN
Readers:
When I first got the
idea for this piece, I thought it might be a stretch to think of 100
reasons for being a Husker fan. But the more I wrote, the more
I realized how difficult it was to limit the total to just
100. There are many great moments in Husker football history that
didn't make the cut, not because they weren't important, but because of the
constraints of space.
Please email Husker Dan with some of the reasons YOU are a
Husker fan. What would you include in your TOP 100? Send your comments
to HD will post
the best responses in a future Husker
Dan column. Be sure to list your name and town.
Your name will be used unless you specify otherwise.
1.) Bob Devaney's
arrival in 1962. In the 20 years before he arrived,
Nebraska had only 3 winning seasons. During that time, the Huskers
averaged only 3 wins a year and went through seven head coaches before hiring
Devaney. Husker football was a study in futility. In
fact, in the '61 Colorado game played in Lincoln, the Huskers
didn't register a single first down the entire game. Big
Red was nearly dead.
Then in 1962 all hell broke loose.
I knew something was up that
year. While attending football games at Omaha University in
'62, I noticed the crowd would yell and cheer at odd times, during
time outs, halftimes etc. I couldn't figure out what was going on.
Then it dawned on me that the people were listening to the Husker games
and cheering them on.
Nebraska was winning and winning big that
year. The Huskers won at Michigan; there were home wins over Iowa
State, South Dakota, North Carolina State, Kansas and Oklahoma State. By
season's end, the Huskers were 9-2 and had won their first bowl game
in school history. It was the year everyone knew Husker football
was again something special. But no one had any idea that for the
next 40 years, the program would remain one of the most dominate programs in
college football.
2.) It's THE only game in
town. Weddings, baptisms, reunions and even funerals are
planned around Husker games. It's true the state doesn't have any
mountains, or an ocean or any major league sports teams. So who
cares? We have the Cornhusker football team and not much else
matters.
3.) The
records
255
consecutive home sellouts
41
consecutive years without a losing season
34
consecutive years in a bowl game
5
National Championships
3
Heisman Trophy winners
8
Outland Trophies
Over
300 Academic All-Conference players
Over
480 All Conference players
4.) Tom
Osborne-the classiest and best college football coach,
ever
5.) Nebraska's stunning upset of Oklahoma in Lincoln in
1959
6.) The '71
NU-OU game (it's the best regular season college football
game, ever)
7.) Johnny Rodgers'
punt return in the '71 NU-OU game
8.) Johnny
Rodgers' late 4th quarter 3rd down reception on "The Drive" in the '71 NU-OU
game
9.) Any
Johnny Rodgers' punt return
10.) Lyle
Bremser ("Good afternoon, football fans. They're
jam-packed to the rafters for this one today..."). He was the best
Nebraska announcer-ever. End of story. End of
discussion.
11.) Mike
Rozier (best NU running back, ever)
12.) The
Tunnel Walk on HuskerVision just before the team comes on to
the field
13.) Memorial Stadium on Game
Day
14.) Memorial
Stadium on a Big Game Day
15.) A night game at
Memorial Stadium (awesome!)
16.) The fact
that there are only 1.6 million people in the entire state
and yet it has produced such great players as Johnny Rodgers (Heisman),
Eric Crouch (Heisman), Dave Rimington (the only 2 time Outland Trophy winner),
Bobby Reynolds, Tom Novak, Jeff Kinney, Scott Frost , Ahman Green, Cory
Schlesinger, Tom Rathman, John Parella, the Kelsay brothers, Bob Churchich
etc.
17.) The
Cornhusker name. We're not the 'Cats, Wildcats,
Panthers, Cowboys, Lions, Tigers or Bears (oh, my). We grow a buttload
of corn in the state and we're proud to be known as The
Cornhuskers.
18.) Huskerpedia.com (hey, it never hurts to
suck up a little)
19.) When people in Nebraska ask you, "How do you
think they'll do this year", you know they
don't mean corn futures, the stock market or politicians.
20.) Rich
Glover (maybe the best Nebraska player ever)
21.) The
"Miracle in Missouri" (1997 in Columbia)
22.) "The
Catch" by Matt Davison
23.) Scott
Frost's pleading the Huskers' national championship cause after the '98
Orange Bowl
24.) The spirit, the play and the
class of Brook
Berringer
25.) The '71
Orange Bowl (NU's first National Championship)
26.) The '72
Orange Bowl
27.) The '95
Orange Bowl (TO's first National Championship)
28.) The '96
Fiesta Bowl (watching Steve
Spurrier fall apart during the Husker
onslaught-priceless!)
29.) Cory
Schlesing-yah's two TDs in the '95 Orange Bowl
30.) Tommie
Frayz-yah's late 4th quarter runs that tightened the noose around the Miami
Hurricanes' neck in the '95 Orange Bowl
31.) The '78
NU-OU game (Osborne's first win over the Sooners)
32.) The '81,
'82 and '83 NU-OU games
33.) The
Cornhusker Marching Band playing "The Band Song" and "Hail Varsity" as they
march down Stadium Way before each home
game
34.) Mike
Rozier's "Heisman" run against UCLA in '83
35.) "There
Is No Place Like Nebraska" anytime, anywhere
36.) The beautiful photography of Nebraska's own
Michael Forsberg
37.) The
Sandhills in the
spring
38.) "Iron
Man" anytime, anywhere
39.) "Come A
Runnin' Boys" anytime, anywhere
40.) The
class of the Husker fans in the North Stadium as
they applaud Husker opponents as they leave the field
41.) The '83
NU-Minnesota game in Minneapolis (NU 84-MU 13)
42.) The
works of Mari Sandoz, John Neihardt and Willa Cather all of
whom wrote brilliantly about the people, the land and the history of
Nebraska
43.) The 1966
NU-Missouri game in Lincoln (the first Husker
game HD ever attended)
44.) The fact
that you can go to a Husker game 1,500 miles away and you swear
it's a Husker home game
45.) The Sea
of Red at Notre Dame in 2000
46.) Kent
Pavelka and Gary Sadlemyer (the second
best play by play broadcast team in "modern" NU history)
47.) Denny
Claridge
48.) Will
Shields
49.) Mike
Brown
50.) Roger
Craig
51.) Bill
"Thunder" Thornton (the original Thunder).
52.) The
late, great Jake Young
53.) Bob
Churchich
54.) Josh
Brown's last second field goal that allowed NU to beat
Colorado in Lincoln in 2000 (maybe the most dramatic Husker home
win)
55.) Eric
Crouch's "Heisman" run at Missouri in 2001
56.) Fresh
Nebraska home-grown sweetcorn
57.) The '71
and '95 Husker teams (maybe the two best teams ever in
college football)
58.) DeJuan
Groce's punt returns and interceptions
59.) Mike
Rucker's stuff of the Okie State player on the last play of the '98 NU-OSU
game in Kansas City
60.) John Ruud's hit on Kelly Phelps in the '78
NU-OU game
62.) The 1973
NU-UCLA game (TO's first game and first win)
63.) The
Bounce-a-roosky
64.) The
Fumble-roosky
65.) Black 41
Flash Reverse
66.) The
late, great Wayne Meylan (#66)
67.) "Going
For Two" in the '84 Orange Bowl (hated the results but
loved the call)
68.) The
celebration at the Devaney Center after Osborne's first National Championship
in January of '95
69.) Bobby
Reynolds
70.) Tom
"Trainwreck" Novak (the best ever to wear a Husker
uniform?)
71.) Pat
Fisher (played 17 years in the
NFL)
72.) Vince
Farragamo (the only NU quarterback to play quarterback in a
Super Bowl)
73.) Tom
Rathman
74.) Dana X.
Bible
75.) Dorky
car horns that blare out the first four
bars of "The Is No Place Like Nebraska"
76.) There IS no place like
Nebraska.
77.) The
Blackshirts
78.) The
Scoring Explosion
79.) The
Triplets (Irving Fryar, Turner Gill and
Mike Rozier)
80.) Grant
Wistrom
81.) The
Peter Brothers
82.) Jeff
Kinney
83.) Jerry
Tagge
84.) Larry
Jacobson
85.) Charlie
McBride
86.) Switching to the 4-3 defense in '92
87.) The '94
NU-Colorado game
88.) Mike Rozier's
2nd half performance in the NU-Missouri game in
'82
89.) The '81
NU-Penn State game in Lincoln
90.) The
Auburn game in '82, the week after the infamous loss at Penn
State
91. The
'83 Kickoff Classic
92.) Tommie
Fraizer's run in the '96 Fiesta Bowl
93.) Husker
players with names like Charlie "Choo-Choo" Winters, Wonderful Mounds, "Tough
Tony" Davis, I.M. Hipp, "Lighthorse" Harry Wilson
94.) Seeing
Warren Sapp and his teammates sucking wind in the 4th quarter of the
'95 Orange Bowl
95.) The
offensive line of the '94 team
96.) Eric
Crouch's overtime touchdown that beat Notre Dame in
2000
97.) The '78
NU-Alabama game (the fake field goal and a win over Bear
Bryant)
98.) Chimney Rock, Mitchell Pass, Scottsbluff, Chadron State Park,
Fort Robinson and the Stuhr Museum
99.) Turner Gill's exceptional play in '81, '82 and
'83
100.) Ahman
Green's touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage at Colorado in
'95