It was the fans’ turn to take the field on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Fan Day 2009 gave way to thousands of Big Red fans with posters, programs, jerseys, helmets and T-shirts, trying to get autographs from Husker players and coaches. The fans were from all over Nebraska and beyond. The lines were already meandering well into the university’s campus an hour before the event started. Once the gates opened and the fans got inside the stadium, they plotted out which lines to wait in and which to pass. It was crowded, and they had to hurry to get the most out the afternoon.

One common reaction, from both the young kids playing catch with the footballs they just got signed and the adults who have been coming to fan day year after year, was to take a knee and rub their hand back on forth on field turf, leaving a brief impression of their hand on the turf that owns the state’s attention during football season.

Here's the second of Fan Day Dispatches...we'll run them throughout the next week!

Eight-year-old Destiny Peterson was wearing red and carrying a pink Husker shirt she hopes will be her game day shirt this year.

She, along with her father, Jason, and four-year-old brother, Justice, are from Grand Island and were at fan day looking for autographs.

“I’m going to get some signings on my shirt so I can wear it during the game,” she said.

Justice was doing the same thing with a red Nebraska cap, during last year’s fan day Justice got his picture taken with Joe Ganz.

“We’re going to come back every year,” Jason said.

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It was the fans’ turn to take the field on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Fan Day 2009 gave way to thousands of Big Red fans with posters, programs, jerseys, helmets and T-shirts, trying to get autographs from Husker players and coaches. The fans were from all over Nebraska and beyond. The lines were already meandering well into the university’s campus an hour before the event started. Once the gates opened and the fans got inside the stadium, they plotted out which lines to wait in and which to pass. It was crowded, and they had to hurry to get the most out the afternoon.

One common reaction, from both the young kids playing catch with the footballs they just got signed and the adults who have been coming to fan day year after year, was to take a knee and rub their hand back on forth on field turf, leaving a brief impression of their hand on the turf that owns the state’s attention during football season.

Here's the second of Fan Day Dispatches...we'll run them throughout the next week!

Jim Duval brought his son all the way from Montana to see Memorial Stadium.

“”He’s probably the biggest Husker fan in Montana,” said Vernon Benes, a director for Beck Ag in Omaha, who came down to fan day with his wife and son and the Duvals. “He’s got the ring tones and everything.”

Duval was raised in Orleans and Alliance but has been living in north-central Montana for the past 35 years. He was in Nebraska visiting friends and family and came to fan day to show his son Michael the stadium.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

It was the fans’ turn to take the field on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Fan Day 2009 gave way to thousands of Big Red fans with posters, programs, jerseys, helmets and T-shirts, trying to get autographs from Husker players and coaches. The fans were from all over Nebraska and beyond. The lines were already meandering well into the university’s campus an hour before the event started. Once the gates opened and the fans got inside the stadium, they plotted out which lines to wait in and which to pass. It was crowded, and they had to hurry to get the most out the afternoon.

One common reaction, from both the young kids playing catch with the footballs they just got signed and the adults who have been coming to fan day year after year, was to take a knee and rub their hand back on forth on field turf, leaving a brief impression of their hand on the turf that owns the state’s attention during football season.

Here's the second of Fan Day Dispatches...we'll run them throughout the next week!

Darrin Frey teaches math at Cedarville University in Ohio, but he hasn’t been able to teach his two sons Jacob, 12, and Nathan, 10, to love the Huskers like he does. But the family was in Nebraska visiting and Darrin brought his sons with him to fan day all the same.

Jacob is actually an LSU fan and wanted to meet their former defensive coordinator.

Darrin has had some luck at teaching his sons some Husker history.

“I know the year I was born they shared the national championship with Michigan,” Jacob said.

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It was the fans’ turn to take the field on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Fan Day 2009 gave way to thousands of Big Red fans with posters, programs, jerseys, helmets and T-shirts, trying to get autographs from Husker players and coaches. The fans were from all over Nebraska and beyond. The lines were already meandering well into the university’s campus an hour before the event started. Once the gates opened and the fans got inside the stadium, they plotted out which lines to wait in and which to pass. It was crowded, and they had to hurry to get the most out the afternoon.

One common reaction, from both the young kids playing catch with the footballs they just got signed and the adults who have been coming to fan day year after year, was to take a knee and rub their hand back on forth on field turf, leaving a brief impression of their hand on the turf that owns the state’s attention during football season.

Here's the second of Fan Day Dispatches...we'll run them throughout the next week!


***

Wes Cammack, a fifth-year walk-on wide receiver, had his own cheering section at fan day. Close to 20 members of his family were on hand to wait in line to get his autograph.

Five-year-old Gage Cammack, remembers getting a running start and careening into his padded-up older cousin after the spring game.

“That’s the fun part of having a cousin that’s a football player,” Gage said.

Cindy Cammack, Wes’ aunt, said Wes is the first person from the family to suit up for the Huskers.

“We’ve been Husker fans forever,” she said. “It’s a special time; to have a family member on team…You just hope he gets an opportunity.”

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

It was the fans’ turn to take the field on Saturday, Aug. 8.

Fan Day 2009 gave way to thousands of Big Red fans with posters, programs, jerseys, helmets and T-shirts, trying to get autographs from Husker players and coaches. The fans were from all over Nebraska and beyond. The lines were already meandering well into the university’s campus an hour before the event started. Once the gates opened and the fans got inside the stadium, they plotted out which lines to wait in and which to pass. It was crowded, and they had to hurry to get the most out the afternoon.

One common reaction, from both the young kids playing catch with the footballs they just got signed and the adults who have been coming to fan day year after year, was to take a knee and rub their hand back on forth on field turf, leaving a brief impression of their hand on the turf that owns the state’s attention during football season.

Here's the first of Fan Day Dispatches...we'll run them throughout the next week!

Karen and Greg Doffin woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to make the drive from Stanton to Memorial Stadium with their sons.

Karen said she’s been impressed with the way the Nebraska players spend time with the younger fans that look up to them.

Her nephew, Seth Lange of Fullerton, was diagnosed with transverse myelitis last year and spent months paralyzed from the waist down. When he was at his worst, she said, players such as Nate Swift befriended him on Facebook, gave him his game gloves and went to a fundraiser for Lange’s behalf. He's walking fine without crutches now.

“I’m very impressed with the guys giving their time to the community and the fans,” Karen said.

Zachary Doffin, 14, had a football for the Huskers to sign and was hoping to “talk a little bit about football” with some players. Trevor Doffin, 10, said he wanted to congratulate Roy Helu Jr., on being named a contender for the Doak Walker award.

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They arrived before dawn, and the lines snaked from the south end of Memorial Stadium into the shadows of Hamilton, Avery and Oldfather Halls, near the center of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Two or three touchdown fields worth of folks in red, white and a smattering of black on a windy, fiercely hot morning.

The line for Nebraska’s Fan Day might as well have stretched all the way to Plattsmouth. That’s how excited the Big Red faithful were to meet this 2009 team. There were an estimated 7,500 fans in all – that’s more than some teams get for their spring game and good chunk more than last year’s Fan Day – armed with pens, footballs, helmets, hats, boots, and even the skin of their own children for Husker players and coaches to sign.

“Nebraska fans are there for you thick and thin,” quarterback Zac Lee said. “And when they say there’s no place like Nebraska, it’s true – because of the fans. I don’t even have enough adjectives to describe them. They’re here for you no matter what.”

Even if they have to stand at ten-foot, barbed wire gate through the night for the first spot in line.

Lincolnites Mark Parker and Gary Weyers camped out for that said spot. A 3:30 a.m. wake-up call for an event that didn’t start for another six hours.

“Heck, when this thing used to start in the afternoon., we were here at 5 a.m.,” Parker said.

Parker, Weyers and friends had a game plan. They hustled down a ramp, through the bowels of Memorial Stadium, and out onto the field. Then, they fanned out.

One of them took Pelini’s line, which, at its longest, was 275 yards, nearly three football fields, stretching end to end to end. Parker and Weyers headed for the massive queue for NU’s defensive linemen, specifically Ndamukong Suh. Weyers, whose cousin is Nebraska Hall-of-Famer Dean Steinkuhler, had a helmet especially for Suh to sign.

“He’s gonna be a good one,” Weyers said. “I have a feeling he’s gonna make it big time.”

“He’s a good guy, too,” Parker said.

Suh’s line was nearly 100 yards. To beat the heat, Nebraska’s best-known player wore a giant white gym towel draped over his shoulders. Underneath, Suh smiled and signed as quickly as he could. He posed for some pictures, but not nearly as many as Pelini, whose line moved at a pace of ketchup out of a new restaurant bottle.

By 10:00 a.m., Weyers and Parker were only halfway to Suh. And remember - they were first in their line.

“They let that other line in sooner,” Parker said pointing to a gate on the opposite end of the field. “But, inevitably, you’re going to have to wait a little bit.”

Fortunately, Weyers said, he got Pelini to sign a helmet last year. And he keeps track of underclassmen he’ll get to sign in future years.

Most of the fans came prepared for the heat. Infants were few, and parents who brought them kept them tightly covered. Old-fashioned drink stations were packed with fans bending down to suck up a quick sip from a low arc of water. Others bought soda from a vendor at midfield. Mountain Dew, unsurprisingly, was the most popular choice.

Paul Rea brought his black Cadillac Deville umbrella, which shielded him from the mid-morning sun. He’ll also brought a children’s book he wrote, “The Legend of Lil’ Red,” for the coaches’ to sign. But it was a longshot that he’d actually make it through that line.

A bankruptcy lawyer originally from Ralston, Rea chose to explore a fictional back story for one of Nebraska most beloved mascots. Thus far, he’s sold 1,200 copies of the book, which can be found in local stores and on the Web. He was handing a few out to the media, as well.

Omahan Paul Krause “arrived just in time” with his three sons, Josh, Dilan and Mitchell, to get started with the running backs. They stood in that line for a half-hour, made it through, and sized up their next option. By that point Pelini was an impossibility.

“We’re going to have to hustle,” Krause said.

But, he said, it was worth it for his sons.

“For them it’s great to come down here and meet the players,” Krause said. “When they’re watching the game they can say ‘there’s the guy I met at Fan Day.’”

The first players on the field Saturday were offensive guard Derek Meyer, safety Matt O’Hanlon and wide receiver Niles Paul. Pelini arrived promptly at 9:30, and stayed 15 minutes beyond the end time to sign more autographs. Coaches Ron Brown and Barney Cotton stayed the longest of anyone, well beyond 11:30.

See also: Fan Day Dispatches

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Enjoy these photos taken by Samuel McKewon, Ryan Boetel and Aaron Hahn! And be sure to check back throughout the weekend for more photos!

Go Big Red!

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The temperatures may soar into the triple digits during Saturday’s Fan Day for the Nebraska football team at Memorial Stadium. And, if you throw high humidity on top of that, you get a risk of heat stroke. Be prepared and smart! Here’s how:

Arrive early: Get a parking spot close to the stadium so your kids aren’t walking a half-mile in the stuff afterward. This will also allow you to get in line early, too, so you’re not standing around waiting for a single autograph.

Fan Out: Bring a couple pieces of printing paper you don’t need and fashion a makeshift fan. It can help you sweat when your pores don’t want to cooperate. If you’ve got one, bring the cheap, motorized fan with spray bottle. Excellent!

Fluids, fluids, fluids: NU should have some water stations set up, but they won’t be near the autograph lines, so plan ahead. A little bit of water goes a long way.

Plan an autograph strategy: Do not have the whole family wait in the long line for Bo Pelini, which can leave fans standing for nearly all of the Fan Day time. The Bo line will involve a lot of standing and very little sweating, so know what you’re getting into. Many other lines move pretty swiftly, so assigning one person to Bo and the assistants might be the smartest play.

Take some shade: Memorial Stadium has standing areas under North and South Stadium. Use them.

Leave the Blackshirts at home: Select your scarlet or cream outfit instead.

Tip the Lid: Every so often, take off your favorite Husker cap and let your skull breathe a little. Don’t turn your scalp into the victim of a human oven.

Maybe No Baby: We know Husker fans love to bring the infants for the players and coaches to take pictures with. On a 100-degree day, just consider a babysitter or the grandparents.

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