Hi.......we're Bill and Barbara from Philadelphia. It's been over 30 years since we left that great state of Nebraska...but Nebraska has NEVER left us.
Yes, we left right after the first two National Championships in 1972...headed for Chicago, ultimately landing here in Philly...but we've never lost that Husker spirit...and it's that spirit that has prompted us to do this page...
What we've found is that the BIG RED SPIRIT is much more than a football game, much more than the tens of thousands of fans who flock to Lincoln on a crisp Autumn afternoon to cheer for the Huskers...win or lose.
You see, the BIG RED SPIRIT isn't any of these things...but it IS the reason that these things occur.
But what is the magic that brings people from Scottsbluff to Omaha, from Elgin, Grand Island, McCool Junction and Petersburg to set aside their chores, family outings and personal plans on those Fall afternoons to gather as ONE in that BIG RED SPIRIT that envelopes the entire state...why do Husker fans gather in homes, bars, clubs from California to Pennsylvania, Texas to New York...just to share in that BIG RED SPIRIT. It just happens...every Saturday in the Fall.
I've been a fan of the Huskers since about 1956 (long before it was fashionable to do so).
A former coach (who will remain nameless and most likely, forgotten) once stated publicly that "Nebraska will NEVER be a football power because the people in this state just don't support the team..". Obviously he was wrong,
But there was indeed a running joke in those days that said If you ever got a speeding ticket in Nebraska, you would have a choice of 1. Paying the ticket, or 2. Attending a Nebraska football game...most paid the fine.
Yes, those were truly the dog days of Husker football...but in order to really feel the total elation we all felt in 1994, 1995 and 1997, it was a big value to me to have gone through the frustrations of those early years.
I grew up in Nebraska, went to prep school there (Creighton Prep), met and married my wonderful wife Barbara there (by the way, she is from Elgin, Nebraska),started a family there (son, Michael and daughter, Darci Anne were born in Omaha...Unfortunately, son, Anthony (aka Nick) missed the Nebraska days and was born in Chicago...Chicagoans for Nebraska?
Way before there was a Michael or a Darci Anne, a Nick or even a Barbara...yes, way back in the 50's....I vividly recall being at the Sky View Drive In with the former love of my young life, Donna (that's us in the upper right). While trying to watch the movie and spend precious moments of love, I was also listening to the Nebraska-Texas game on the radio (remember AM radio?).
I'm not certain if the Huskers had won ANY games that year so of course, we expected just another loss to the #2 ranked Longhorns. One of the Fischer boys from South High was at quarterback...it was 7-0 Texas late in the 4th qtr. when Lyle Bremser and the 5 or 6 fans listening were totally shocked when Nebraska scored on an unbelievably long run to tie mighty Texas... I'm pretty sure that all my hysterionics did NOT amuse my date that night...
Could that have been the beginning of the Big Red Spirit in me? Or could it have been when my close friend, Carl Meyers, who was playing quarterback for a relatively unknown coach at the University of Wyoming (by the name of Bob Devaney) called me at school in Colorado to tell me that Nebraska was about to get "the best coach in the country"...Devaney ?????... or was it in 1970 against LSU in the Orange Bowl when we SOMEHOW ended up as the #1 team in the country for the first time ever (there were no celebrations up and down Dodge St. that night...mostly SHOCK).
So just when did this Big Red Spirit take hold of an entire State?
I guess it was ALWAYS there, waiting for us to understand it...feel it...revel in it...and to make us all feel proud to be a part of it.
You see, those 18 and 19 year old athletes who actually play those games for us on Saturdays, know they are playing much more than a game...much more than 60 minutes of collegiate football. They are us...farmers, ranchers, business men and women, teachers, parents and grandparents...all of us who labor and toil during that long week that precedes a Football Saturday.
Yes, it is US who are that Big Red Spirit...we earned that spirit and built it with the help of people like Devaney and Osborne and with an unyeilding Spirit from all those who played and struggled way back in those dog days of Nebraska football......
THEY ARE US...and WE ARE THEM...in spirit...Big Red Spirit.
CLICK HERE FOR THE COUNTDOWN TO 2004
THIS PAGE IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS, Tony and Dorothy, for whom those wonderful Saturdays meant so much in their later years...we miss you.
Sign My Guestbook
View My Guestbook
This page was designed by Lombardo&Associates of Philadelphia
GO EAGLES !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GO BIG RED !!
HUSKER SCORES...2004
- HUSKERS 56 WESTERN ILLINOIS 17
- HUSKERS 17 SOUTHERN MISS 21
- HUSKERS 24 PITTSBURGH 17
- HUSKERS 14 KANSAS 8
- HUSKERS 10 TEXAS TECH 70???
- HUSKERS 52 BAYLOR 10
- HUSKERS 21 KANSAS STATE 45
- HUSKERS 24 MISSOURI 3
- HUSKERS 27 IOWA STATE 34
- HUSKERS- OKLAHOMA
- HUSKERS- COLORADO
GET THE SPIRIT
Husker Home Site...
Daily Nebraskan...
ESPN...
Vote in the Fan Poll...
Philadelphia Site...
Husker Fever...
NetZero...Free Internet...
Husker Stats Page...
Husker Page/Bikeman...
Listen to the Huskers Games...
Nebraska Football History
Email: lsa.mkt@worldnet.att.net
