We're back! And we have tons of stories to tell! We begin in Pittsburgh where Nebraska football captured the interest of PaHuskerfan simply on the television! His story is one of friendship, devotion, loyalty and the hospitality of all Husker fans!

And remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I have been a Husker fan since 1979. I live in Pa. 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. I was 7 years old at the time, I was watching a game on TV, and had just continued watching them every time they were on.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

Well, with the Internet it is pretty easy to keep tabs on the Huskers, I go on like four sites every single day, to see what’s going on with recruiting and other news. They are all very helpful. There were 3 of us who are huge Husker fans here - my older brother and my friend that passed away 2 years ago - and we got together every week to watch them on TV or listen to game on computer, and a few times had to watch it on the computer, and that isnt a very good picture...LOL.

My wife gets mad when we get the Direct TV bill when they are on pay-per-view. It drives her crazy when I spend 30 bucks on a game. I usually have to do that for all the non conference games, but oh well.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

Well my friends and I made our first trip to Lincoln in 1999, we drove. We left here at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon arrived in Lincoln at about 6:45 a.m. Saturday morning. I remember we got to our hotel room, took about an hour-and-a-half nap, we got up went to breakfast and then went tailgating, and drank a lot. Needless to say we didn’t last long at the bars that night cause we got back up at 5 a.m. Sunday to drive home.

But I remember walking into that stadium and i was just amazed, the most awesome experience. Needless to say we fly now…LOL. The last game I was at was the Kansas game in 2008, never again that late in the year, it was so cold and I couldn’t even tailgate.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

Well I live in Steelers country, but I am a Steeler hater - I am a Cowboys fan. Living in Pittsburgh, the fans are pretty crazy, but a lot of them are fair weather fans and I hate that.

I have gone to some Pitt games, and it is very lame, they don’t sell out, unless it’s a big game. I went to the 2002 Nebraska-Penn State game. Big mistake. They weren’t very nice, they started on me soon as I got out of the car, but it is crazy there. I went to the 2006 USC game in LA. It was cool to be at the Coliseum. But there is nothing like being at a game in Lincoln. It is so awesome. The fans are just amazing, people just love us when they hear where we are from. They act we have been friends forever.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Well I don’t have anything good to say about Pennsylvania...LOL...I don’t like it here.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

My best memory was the first game I went to in Lincoln! Second was having the pleasure to watch Brook Berringer play. I didn’t know him personally, but he seemed like a great guy and had a future ahead of him.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I follow men’s basketball and women’s basketball, softball and baseball. I watch them on TV every time they are on.

Feel free to add anything you like.

I also have a room that is painted red and white, has nothing but husker stuff on the walls, it is pretty cool. GO BIG RED!!!

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

The Steel City
Pastoral Minnesota
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Montana
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Alabama
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Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Speaking of seeing Red, the color of the Huskers is the also the color of Love! And don't we all love Chocolate? Come see Husker Locker on Friday February 12th at the 24th Annual Chocolate Lover's Fantasy.

This annual fundraising event brings 18 professional and celebrity chefs of chocolate delights, together with chocolate connoisseurs, to raise moneyfor a good cause. Proceeds from the evening will help the continued revitalization of Lincoln's Historic Haymarket, as well as support CEDARS mission to
help children who have been abused, neglected or homeless achieve safety, stability and enduring family relationships.

Bring your sweetie or your friends and enjoy sampling delicious chocolate creations. While attending the event, don't forget to sign up your sweetie and your friends as Husker Locker.com Fans! Here are some details about the event:

What: The 24th Annual Chocolate Lover's Fantasy

When: Friday, February 12th, 2010 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm

Where: Lincoln Embassy Suites, 11th & P, Lincoln, NE

What: 18 Chefs, A silent auction and great raffle prizes; A Lazlo's Chef &Ale Dinner for 8 Package and a Sports Package featuring a Year of Beer from Empyrean Brewing Company! Music for the evening provided by the Darryl White Jazz Quartet.

Tickets are available online at www.historichaymarket.info, www.lincolnhaymarket.org or at these Haymarket businesses, Burlington Antiques, From Nebraska Gift Shop, Ten Thousand Villages and The Mill. Tickets are also available at the Downtown Lincoln Association. For more info call the Haymarket office at 435-7496 or visit the Haymarket website.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Speaking of seeing Red, the color of the Huskers is the also the color of Love! And don't we all love Chocolate? Come see Husker Locker on Friday February 12th at the 24th Annual Chocolate Lover's Fantasy.

This annual fundraising event brings 18 professional and celebrity chefs of chocolate delights, together with chocolate connoisseurs, to raise moneyfor a good cause. Proceeds from the evening will help the continued revitalization of Lincoln's Historic Haymarket, as well as support CEDARS mission to
help children who have been abused, neglected or homeless achieve safety, stability and enduring family relationships.

Bring your sweetie or your friends and enjoy sampling delicious chocolate creations. While attending the event, don't forget to sign up your sweetie and your friends as Husker Locker.com Fans! Here are some details about the event:

What: The 24th Annual Chocolate Lover's Fantasy

When: Friday, February 12th, 2010 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm

Where: Lincoln Embassy Suites, 11th & P, Lincoln, NE

What: 18 Chefs, A silent auction and great raffle prizes; A Lazlo's Chef &Ale Dinner for 8 Package and a Sports Package featuring a Year of Beer from Empyrean Brewing Company! Music for the evening provided by the Darryl White Jazz Quartet.

Tickets are available online at www.historichaymarket.info, www.lincolnhaymarket.org or at these Haymarket businesses, Burlington Antiques, From Nebraska Gift Shop, Ten Thousand Villages and The Mill. Tickets are also available at the Downtown Lincoln Association. For more info call the Haymarket office at 435-7496 or visit the Haymarket website.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

We've got a special version of our 50 Husker Fans, 50 States series, and it comes the Biggest Little City in the World, Reno, Nevada, where Jim McCarty, known on our site as skerhead66 has an extraordinary single memory about the 2001 Nebraska-Oklahoma game.

Folks, this memory encompasses so much of what's good about the Nebraska fan base. Friendship. Kindness. Generosity. Passion. A generational connection that spans whole lifetimes. Memories like this are what make NU football what it is, win, lose or draw. We know you'll enjoy, so we encourage you to send it on to your friends, too!

And remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We need a few in the near future! Do it today!

To start with some background: I was born in North Platte, but raised all of my early years in Ralston. I played Peewee football and it was always a battle among the coaches as to which team got to wear red and call themselves the Huskers. My fondest memories of Ralston are of the Oak Hills swimming pool, and fall afternoons raking leaves and mowing lawns, but always stopping whatever we were doing when Lyle Bremser would start his broadcast with "Good afternoon football fans."

My best friend, Jeff Vojtech, and I would act out each play as it was called by Bremser, using my parents privet hedge as the line of scrimmage and jumping through or over the hedge for goal line stands and touchdowns as though we were Touchdown Tony Davis or Choo Choo Charlie Winters. As a fifth grader, I memorized and took pride in knowing every player and matching jersey number for the Huskers.

In the summer of 1969, my father informed us that our family was moving to New Jersey, and I was devastated. I had seen three live Husker games to that point. My first live Husker game was in 1968, when I was ten years old. My father took me to the opening game against Wyoming. I still have some of the Lays Potato Chip "Go Big Red" buttons that they used to put in bags of chips.

After moving to New Jersey, the only time I got to hear or see Husker games was when they played on TV. My former basketball coach always gave me a bad time because all of the sweat pants and sweatshirts that I would wear to practice were Husker red. Then came New Year's and the Huskers vault over the Texas Longhorns after they lost in the Cotton Bowl, and along came the Huskers playing a night game in the Orange Bowl against LSU. I made a wall plaque out of the picture of Jerry Tagge's game winning QB sneak from the Sports Illustrated Cover. Then came the Game of the Century, and I was bursting with pride. Johnny The Jet, and back to back National Championships while I lived in Jersey. AND THEN THEY BURIED NOTRE DAME IN A BOWL GAME. This was important to me because my neighbor, Rich Alloco was a backup QB for Notre Dame at the time. Also, the Ara Parsegian show was always on Sunday morning replaying the Notre Dame games, but we never saw any footage of the Huskers. That killed me.

In 1972 my family moved back to West Omaha, and I began high school at Creighton Prep. Every year, I would make it to at least one Husker Game, but those were the years of Tom Osborne's nemesis, Barry Switzer, at Oklahoma. I was there the year TO beat Oklahoma for the first time as Head Coach, and remember the goal posts coming down, only to be followed a couple weeks later with the announcement that the Huskers would "get" to play the Sooners again in the Orange Bowl. What a farce! I was also there the year that the Huskers had the Sooners on the ropes, and the famous hook and lateral happened right in front of me.

After graduating from high school, I attended Creighton University and Creighton School of Law, and one year out from graduating from law school I moved to Reno, Nevada, where I have lived ever since.
From 1985 until about 1994, the nearest radio station that covered Husker football was in Sacramento. I used to drive up to Lake Tahoe on Saturday morning to listen to the games on the faint radio waves that made it over Donner Pass.

In 1988 I married my lovely wife and in 1990, we were blessed with a baby boy, Alex McCarty who of course, became a Husker fan upon taking his first breath.

I always believed that my son should be able to experience a Husker game just as I had, with my dad, at age 10, as a right of passage, so to speak. I took him and my daughter to their first husker game in 1998 when the Huskers came to play Cal at Berkeley. My daughter was 5 years old at the time, and loved the Husker cheerleaders, more than the game, but my son got the chance to go down to the stadium floor. Just standing near the Husker players when he was 8 meant the world to him.

When the Husker basketball team came to Reno for the NIT tournament, my family dressed in Husker red from their shoes (Converse high tops for everyone) to pompoms and skirts for the girls, Husker jerseys for the guys, and we sat in the nose bleeder seats at Lawlor Events Center on the University of Nevada-Reno campus and cheered on the Huskers! Again, my daughter got to meet the cheerleaders and went onto the floor with them because she was all dressed up in a Husker cheerleader outfit her grandma and grandpa McCarty (Art and Margie McCarty) in Omaha had sent her for her birthday!

September 11, 2001 happened, and my son was ten. He was devastated and scared by the events that unfolded that day, as was every person of any age at that time. We had previously had no luck getting Alex to a Husker game in Lincoln, and that tragedy seemingly prevented any idea of putting him on a plane with me to go to see the Huskers that season.

But then it happened. You see, I have a friend named Michael Kealy, a friend since third grade, a Ralstonite, a true Husker fan, and the best friend a guy could ever have. Mike is the guy who talked me into looking into moving to Reno, got me a job interview, got me a job, and put me up at his aunt and uncle's house in Carson City when I first moved to Northern Nevada, until we became roommates. We lived together in an apartment in Reno until Mike married his wife Karen. Soon after, they had a son named Patrick.

On October 25th, Mike called me at my office just before noon. I thought it might be a lunch invitation. I was not available to take his call so he left an urgent message for me to call him back. All kinds of bad thoughts went through my mind as I placed the return call. But when we finally connected, it was after 1:00. He said he had two tickets to the Nebraska vs. Oklahoma game, No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the country. How often do you get to go to that kind of game?

His proposition however, was not for me and him to use the tickets, but that he of course wanted to take his son Patrick but couldn't get air arrangements made in time and cheap enough to make it work. Mike asked whether I would help him and Patrick drive the 22 hour trip from Reno to Lincoln, but we had to leave by 5:00 p.m. that day!

Needless to say, I was not enthused about that drive, especially when there were no tickets available for me to go to the game. Sometimes you just have to help a friend do something that is so far out there that it just might work, and despite my better judgment in my gut, I told Mike that I would be there for him and help him drive his son. He promised to do everything he could to try and find me and Alex tickets, because this should be a father/son trip for both Mike and I.

I picked my son, Alex, up from school at 2:30. He normally got out of school at 3:00, so he thought he was in trouble or something was wrong. I had called my wife and told her that I was helping Mike out, driving to Omaha and back over the long weekend. ( Nevada celebrates "Nevada Day" on the last Friday of October, as a celebration of the day that Nevada was admitted to the Union of the United States) The schools were out on Friday the 26th and my business would be closed. We left at 4:00p.m. on Thursday, October 25th, in Mike's Husker red Yukon, ripping down Interstate 80.

By Friday morning, the boys woke up in the back seat and we had breakfast in Sydney as the sun came up. We were tired, but still had quite a bit of driving left. The boys were excited about being in Nebraska, Alex was looking forward to seeing his grandparents in Omaha.

When we finally got to Lincoln, we had been on the road for 22 hours straight, arriving in Lincoln around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. We stopped at the first ticket scalper and asked his price for two tickets. $350 apiece for nosebleed seats in the south end zone. I couldn't afford those prices, so we just kept driving on to Omaha.

When we got to west Omaha, Mike dropped Alex and I off at my parents house and he went onto Ralston, saying that if he found us tickets through his family or whatever, he would call and give us a ride to Lincoln the next day. My parents took us to dinner that night where we met my sister and her husband.

My sister wanted to take Alex to "Husker Hounds" and buy him a styrofoam corncob hat, and we were all resigned to the fact that Alex and I had come all the way from Reno without tickets to the game and we weren't likely to find any at that time of night. (it was almost closing time when we finally made it to Husker Hounds) While standing in line to by Alex's hat, an angel stepped in front of us to buy a Husker t-shirt.

She was talking with the two young men in front of her about going to the game, that her husband was not able to go, so they were going to a party with a group of people. The two gentlemen stated that they had a bunch of friends who had flown in from the West Coast to party with them and watch the game at a local bar. The lady offered them her husband's tickets, but they turned them down!! I jumped at the opportunity to tell these people my story of having driven for the last 22 hours, without tickets to bring my son to the game. The lady indicated that if the two young men in front of us did not want them, then I could call her husband and buy them from him.

After hearing my story, the two young men just smiled and offered me their cell phone to call her husband. Everyone wanted to get Alex to his first HUSKER GAME. Alex was grinning from ear to ear and was so excited he couldn't stay in the store!

Needless to say, we bargained for the tickets, and the lady whose husband sold us the tickets told her husband to give them to us cheap so that Alex could go...he sold them to me for cost!
Gate 4, Section 23, Row 11, seats 7 and 8!!!

The next day we tailgated with Mike and Patrick after riding to Lincoln. We left early enough to walk in with the band, down 10th Street, following the drum section and we danced! We made fools of ourselves, just because we were going to the Husker game.

When we walked up that short ramp and got our first glimpse out onto the field, Memorial Stadium was filling up and Alex's mouth hung open in amazement. The fans sitting around us were all very cordial, but when they heard the story of how we got there, Alex became the hit of the section. Two spectators sitting next to us were huge gentlemen who had to sit sideways to fit into the seats, both of them were former players and every time we stood, Alex was dwarfed by these guys. But, they noticed he was having a hard time seeing so they would pick him up and put him on their shoulders.

The game was fantastic, but every Husker fan remembers the Crouch pitch to Thunder Collins, who pitched to Mike Stuntz, who then threw a touchdown to Eric Crouch. Possibly Eric Crouch's Heisman moment! And Alex was there....live and in erson, sitting right at the 35 yard line, 11 rows up.

I can't tell you what that game meant to Alex and to me. There are certain times when a father/son moment happens that you just know it will never be forgotten, not just by you as a father and son, but having that moment amongst the many other fans makes it that much more enjoyable. We were hugging everyone and even shook the hands of a couple of Sooner fans after the game from the section next to us. To be able to share that moment with all of Huskerdom makes it even more memorable. Every Husker fan we now meet is regaled with the story of Alex's first Husker game, and the memory of being there at Memorial Stadium for the "Stuntz to Crouch Touchdown Game".

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

Hawaii-Hilo
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Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Folks, we've got one our best 50 Husker Fans, 50 States feature ever! This one comes to us from Hilo – that's the big island of Hawai'i – and Robert Bowen, known as Robert on the site who graduated from NU in 2001 and has lived Idaho, Japan and now the Aloha State. We think you'll love his observations about how hard it is to find games and something he likes to call “small state envy.” Enjoy!

And remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I grew up rooting for Nebraska, which is the team my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all supported. My family moved to Idaho when I was six, and I graduated from high school out there. When it came time to choose which college to attend, it wasn't a tough decision. I went to Nebraska, and I'm the third member of my immediate family to graduate from NU. I've lived in Hawaii for almost five years, and it's pretty much work that's keeping me out here right now. Watching college football games on TV just isn't the same when, outside my window, it's 80 degrees and the leaves aren't changing color.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

It's almost impossible to catch the Fox pay-per-view games, but I do listen to all non-televised games via the radio broadcasts through Huskers.com. Obviously, I watch whenever we're on national TV or ESPN Gameplan. I talked to the owner of a sports bar here about ordering the pay-per-view games on his satellite, but he's a KU alum, so I don't think he was too keen on the idea. I've thought a bit about trying to start up an alumni chapter here so we could have a watch site. I think that may be difficult, though. I doubt there are too many Nebraska alumni living on the Big Island. I've lived in places, though, where it was a lot more difficult to follow the Huskers. I only caught one TV game the year I lived in Japan. The highlight of that football season was my finding a book called The Best of the Big Red Running Backs at a bookstore in Tokyo. That year was Bill Callahan’s first season, so it turned out I picked the right time to be out of the country!

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

Since I graduated from NU in 2001, I've only been to three of our games in person. I was there for the Troy State game in 2001, and I was also in the crowd for that miserable Rose Bowl. One of my brothers still lives in Lincoln, and I went back for Thanksgiving last year. I had a blast at the Colorado game. I've never heard the crowd at Memorial Stadium explode like they did when Alex Henery booted that 57-yarder (and that includes any game from my freshman year, when we won the national title). I've still got that Colorado ticket stub on my refrigerator! Right now, Nebraska doesn't have any future home-and-home series planned with Hawaii, so I'll have to travel a long way if I ever plan to attend a Husker game. I went to the Fiesta Bowl when we played Tennessee in 2000, and I'd love to go catch us in another bowl game.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

There aren't any major programs out here. The closest thing to one would be Hawaii. The fan support is 180 degrees from our fan base. Sellouts are rare at Aloha Stadium, and they really only happen when the team is on a hot streak or a big-time school is visiting from the mainland. I've lived in three states with populations around the same size as Nebraska's, and there's definitely an attitude about us. Instead of finding it refreshing or inspiring that a team from a state with a population like theirs has the kind of history and success we have, they exhibit what I call “small state envy.” They don't like the fact that it's a team from someone else's small state that has achieved what we have. However, the small state envy was worse in Idaho than it is here in Hawaii. The anti-Nebraska sentiment in Idaho was so thick that it sometimes felt like I was in Boulder, Colorado.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

The temperature here is usually around 80 degrees, and the trade winds keep it cool. The combination of heat and humidity rarely gets to the point that it feels miserable. I miss many things about Nebraska, but the humidity isn't one of them.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

I loved watching Trev Alberts sack Charlie Ward three times in the 1994 Orange Bowl, despite the fact that Trev wore a cast during the game. I could also go on and on about any of our blowout victories over four Top-10 teams en route to the title in 1995. However, the greatest feeling of satisfaction I ever got as a Husker fan came from watching the win over Miami to claim the 1994 national championship. I wasn’t alive to see Bob Devaney’s teams in 1970 and 1971, and I’d lived through so many heartbreaking near misses. Frazier started the game and was ineffective. Miami took a 10-0 lead. Osborne put in Berringer, who threw a TD pass to Mark Gilman before the half. Miami came out and scored quickly in the second half. After that, the Blackshirts buckled down and didn’t allow another point. Dwayne Harris sacked Miami’s Frank Costa in the end zone for a safety. Frazier came off the bench in the fourth quarter. He went three and out on his first series, but we marched down the field on the next one. Cory Schlesinger hammered it up the gut to score. We went for two to tie the game. Frazier—throwing into the same end zone where we failed to convert the two-point try in 1984—completed the pass to Eric Alford. Minutes later, Schlesinger took it up the gut for his second score and our first lead of the game. The Blackshirts had a couple more statements to make: Terry Connealy’s sack and Kareem Moss’s interception to ice the game. What more needs to be said?

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

Nebraska has beaten Hawaii’s volleyball team four or five times since I’ve lived here, and I never get sick of seeing that. I watched when we beat Stanford for the national volleyball championship in 2006 (I also watched when we lost the title game in 2005). I just missed our baseball season opener against UH-Hilo in 2005—it happened about a month before I moved to Hawaii from Japan. That would’ve been a nice one to see because that was our last team to make the College World Series. I follow Husker basketball, but they don’t make it easy on us. Given that I wrestled as a kid, I also keep tabs on how the wrestling team is doing. I met our most famous wrestling alum—Rulon Gardner—at a rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho back in 2002. I’ve still got the Nebraska hat that he signed for me. Overall, I follow most of our athletic teams. As far as sports go, though, my first love will always be Husker football.

Feel free to add anything you like.

“Not the victory, but the action; Not the goal, but the game; In the deed the glory.”

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

The Steel City
Pastoral Minnesota
Brickyard USA
Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Today’s installment of 50 Husker Fans, 50 States comes to us from the Keystone State and Steel City, where Robb D. Bunde known as PaHusker on our site has some terrific insights in comparing the Husker fan base to one of the most rabid in the NFL – the Pittsburgh Steelers! Enjoy!

And remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I was born and raised in Hastings, Nebraska. Every day in high school I walked by the picture of the Hastings High state basketball championship team that Tom Osborne played on. I attended the University of Nebraska and graduated in 1987. I then attended the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1987 to 1990. Therefore, I spent from 1983 to 1990 as a student at UNL. I did not miss one home game during those seven years. I moved to Pittsburgh in 1990 after getting married. My wife graduated from UNL in 1990 and attended the University of Pittsburgh College of Law. We have lived in Pittsburgh since 1990 and now have our own law firm.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

It has gotten very easy to follow the Husker compared to when I first moved here. I can listen to every game on the Internet if I cannot get the television broadcast. I moved to my current house four years ago and cannot get satellite television due to the number of very tall trees by my house. Prior to the move, I had DirecTV and could regional broadcasts, pay-per-view and any game on television. Now, I have Verizon Fios and can get regional games but not pay-per-view.

I do record Coach Pelini's coach's show and did the same during the Callahan years. When I first moved here and did not have satellite television, I had some very frustrating times. I once drove two hours to rent a cable box which I was told would allow me to get a Nebraska regional game. I had to get a friend to agree that I could use the box at her house because it was a different cable provider than I had at the time. I got the box and hooked it up. When the game started, it was not Nebraska vs. UCLA in 1993, but Texas vs. Syracuse. That kind of thing happened a lot before DirecTV and the Internet. We are in Big Ten country with Penn State and also in Pittsburgh, which is in the Big East. The Big 12 is never on regular television unless you count the Colorado game. We are always in Nebraska for that game anyway.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

I usually get back to at least one game a year. I always go to the home game against Colorado the day after Thanksgiving. We are always back in Nebraska for Thanksgiving as my mom and step dad live in Hastings and my wife's parents are in Lincoln. I also started taking my son to games when he was around five and he loves going to them in Lincoln.

The last home game I went to was one of the best. It was last years game against Colorado when Henery made the kick and Suh sealed the deal with the pick six. That is the loudest I have heard the place since some of the games against OU when I went to school. Over the years, I do think things have changed. The games in Lincoln are more commercial now, which I understand given that football is the big ticket revenue producer for the athletic department. One thing has not changed, though. I am always impressed with the way Nebraska fans treat other fans and teams.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.


Since I live in Pittsburgh, the team is the Steelers. Pittsburgh is a pro football city. The University of Pittsburgh actually advertises on the local radio, TV and billboards for people to buy season tickets. Pitt only sells out one game and that is usually when Notre Dame comes. There are a lot of Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State fans here. But mostly, by a wide margin, it is all about the Steelers all the time. College football is not as big here. The fans are different too. They are more prone to being nasty and derogatory to the other team and their fans. I went to Penn State when Nebraska last played there and we were treated horribly. Pitt fans are a little better because they are indifferent, not because they are more courteous. The Big 12 does not get any press or discussion one way or the other here.

Nebraska fans are the same as Steeler fans in one category, their passion. However, Steeler fans will turn on the team after a loss and are not courteous or respectful of their opponents and opponents fans.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Pittsburgh is a surprisingly beautiful city in terms of the landscape and environment. People think of it as a dirty, steel mill city. It is not anymore. The rivers are very pretty and the downtown is a nice friendly place.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

I have so many great memories of the Huskers. I have been to two Big 12 championship games; the overtime win at Notre Dame; last year’s blowout loss to OU (where we were treated better than anywhere I have ever been by OU fans); Turner Gill's pass hitting the ground on the two point conversion; beating Miami to get T.O.'s first national championship; watching the Huskers beat Alabama for the national championship; and all of the great games against OU in the 1980's.

But some of the greatest memories are watching or listening to games with my family and watching the balloons get released when the Huskers score; the tunnel walk; seeing my son's face at the first game he went to; and simply enjoying the team and the passion of Husker football.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I do pay attention to the Steelers because you pretty much have to in Pittsburgh. I also follow the Penguins in hockey, mostly during the playoffs. Other than that, I follow college football from the perspective how things are best for the Huskers.


Feel free to add anything you like.

Thanks for covering the Huskers the way you do. I enjoy reading your perspective and also features like 50 states.

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

Pastoral Minnesota
Brickyard USA
Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Today’s installment of 50 Husker Fans, 50 States comes to us from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Minnesota, where Mark Weber, of tiny Dawson, has some excellent memories to share about his time in the Husker stands. And though we want you to read the whole thing, Mark’s favorite memories need to be printed out and tacked on your fridge…they speak for us all! They’re that good!

Enjoy, and remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I grew up in Kearney. My family had tickets growing up. We were members of the “Beef Club”. I think we got a discount on our tickets by donating a “critter” to the university. I am the black sheep of my family as I was the only one NOT to attend NU. I was going to go to Lincoln, but got an offer to play football at Dana College in Blair and had a great time doing so. We had some good teams at the time, and an Omaha TV station did a piece comparing Big Red (NU) to Little Red (Dana). A couple of my teammates are in the Nebraska College Football Hall of Fame!

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

Today it is easy to get the games on Dish, Sirius Satellite radio, and the Internet, but when I first came to Minnesota in 1990, I used to have to drive out in the country and find somewhere I could pick up am620 out of Sioux City. If I can’t make it to Lincoln for a big game, the next best thing is to be at Joe Sensor’s Sports Bar in the Twin Cities. They even have a Nebraska Alumni Band that plays during the game! In my little town I am 1 of 2 Huskers, but I know Huskers from all over Minnesota.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

I try to make 1 or 2 games a year, but it is getting harder to every year. The last game I was at was Mizzu in 2008. The night games in Memorial Stadium are almost magic to me. Coming off the ramp in the north end zone and making my way down into section 35 is a sort of homecoming for me. HuskerVision and the “production” of the games is the biggest change, but they do an excellent job of adding to the experience, not distracting from it.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

The Vikings are far and away the top story here. The Gophers (golden rodents!) get some press, but nowhere near the coverage NU gets. I don’t get a lot of trash talk; most people still remember the 1983 84-13 thrashing the Huskers put on em, but the Gophers actually lead the series by nine games! The U of M has built a new stadium and I hope they can regain some of the tradition that program once had.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Dawson is a small town of 1500 in west central Minnesota. It is a typical small town – slice of Americana - and is a great place to raise kids (I have 5!) But this little town has produced some great athletes recently. Dawson is home to an NBA 2nd round draft pick (Jeff Nordgaard) an Olympian in the Athens Olympics (Carrie Tollefson) and a current D-1 cross country and track runner (Nikki Swenson). The school here does an amazing job for a small district, especially in music. Dawson also has a very good industrial base, and we are very fortunate for that.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I follow Baseball and Volleyball over the Internet.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

Where to start? Leaving my parents at the car and running through the crowd as if they were an opposing defense and I was I. M. Hipp, or Jarvis, or Rozier, or Dubose, or even Tim Wurth (we have the same birthday!) Buying pop in a pitcher that you cut the top and bottom out of and you had a megaphone. Wonder Monds. The Card Section. TO’s first win against OU. Ruud’s hit on that kick off! (it was a fumble!) Jarvis having to change jerseys 2 or 3 times a game. The BLACKSHIRTS! From Strasburger to Knox to Mumford to Davis to Alberts to Kenny Walker to Peter to Tomich to Williams to Kelsay to… Betting quarters with Clem and Shelia, the dentist from Wahoo who sat behind us, on how many plays it would take Nebraska to score. Never paying Clem when I lost. Crying after reading of their deaths in a traffic accident even though I had never known them outside of section 35 rows 14 and 15. Brook, Tommie, Turner, Frosty, Crouch. Earth, Wind, and Fryar. Pancakes you don’t eat. Centers that look offsides. Standing Os for opponents. “The Pride Of ALL Nebraska”. Tunnel Walk. No American Idol to sing the national anthem - 85,000 sing it. Mad Mike. The long haired guy that threw your hot dog to you. Academic All-Americans. RUNZAS! Walk-ons. Slauson going out of his way to high five my 8 year old. Spurrier trying to block 5 defenders with 4 linemen in his own end zone….twice….. Davis, Franklin, Rathman, Schlesinger, Mackovickas…

But by far my favorite memories are of the people…the fans. These people are what separate Nebraska from everywhere else. There IS no place like Nebraska [

b]Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

Brickyard USA
Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Today’s installment of 50 Husker Fans, 50 States comes to us, once again, from SEC country, where Emmitt Fowler has some wonderful memories of growing up as a Husker, and how it almost delayed his chance to meet his future wife! Laugh and smile as we go on this journey together. And if you can tell a better first-game-at-Memorial-Stadium experience, well, we want to hear it!

Enjoy, and remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q:Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I’m a Husker, born and bred, although I haven’t lived there for quite some time. My wife and I both grew up in Central Nebraska and most of our family still lives there. My love of the Huskers began at an early age as it does for many Nebraska kids. My earliest memory of Husker football was looking through my uncle’s copy of Sports Illustrated after the Orange Bowl victory over Alabama for the 1971 championship. Seeing the picture of Bill Janssen and Bob Terrio celebrating on the cover was enough to get me hooked for life.

Growing up, my mom was the biggest Husker fan in our house. I remember the excitement I would feel as she and I would sit by the radio listening to Lyle Bremser call the game on KRVN. On more than one occasion, I would set the radio on the front step so I could hear the game in my front yard while I threw passes, ran for touchdowns, and made diving tackles along with my Husker heroes. At other times, I would listen intently as Lyle and Kent Pavelka described the action, pouring over my 1977 Husker football program (given to me by a friend). In my mind’s eye, I could see Rick Berns and I.M. Hipp running up and down the field.

Since those early years in Nebraska, I have lived in Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia and now, Arkansas and have followed the Huskers all that time.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

It’s much easier to follow the Huskers from a distance now than it was 20 years ago thanks to the proliferation of resources available online. I well remember the days when I would order the Sunday edition of the Omaha World Herald, which would arrive at my house on the following Wednesday. Now I listen to every game online. I’ve purchased several games on pay-per-view over the last couple of seasons as well. To my knowledge, there is not a watch site in Little Rock.

I have been somewhat surprised to find several fellow Husker fans during my first three years here. Arkansas is definitely SEC country and the Big 12 doesn’t get a lot of respect. However, it doesn’t have the feel of ‘enemy territory’ like Colorado.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

I have only attended three Husker games in my life, the most recent being the 2007 opener against Nevada. However, my most memorable experience in Memorial Stadium was the final game for the Big Eight Conference in 1995 – a 37-0 hammering of the Sooners. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

I’m planning to attend the K-State game in Lincoln this year with my son. We’re also hoping to make the sic-hour drive to Waco for the game against Baylor. That’s about the closest the Huskers will be to us this year.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

Like Nebraska, Arkansas has no major professional sports teams, which means the University of Arkansas reigns supreme. Granted, people here are passionate about the Razorbacks. However, I’ve picked up on one MAJOR difference between Husker fans and Hog fans – unwavering loyalty. Things can get pretty ugly around here (and have) when the Hogs aren’t winning. I know our program went through four tumultuous years recently but I’ve always taken pride in Nebraska fans being supportive of the team win or lose. If you’re the fair-weather type, don’t bother being a Husker fan!

Something else that I feel is different here in Arkansas is the loyalty of the Razorback fan base to the league. It almost seems that they are SEC fans first and Hog fans second. I hear more smack-talk about the SEC than the Razorbacks. Of course, that’s pretty easy right now with Florida, Alabama, and LSU. But I’ve never felt the urge to sing the praises of Texas or Oklahoma. That just feels wrong!

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

I would have to say that Arkansas has more of a ‘college sports’ feel to it than the other states I’ve lived in; not counting Nebraska, of course. Virginia was split between Virginia Tech and UVA. And there is a strong Washington Redskins following. Colorado never was and never will be a college sports state. The Broncos rule. And New Mexico doesn’t have much passion for college athletics either. Bottom line: There is no place like Nebraska!

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

How about listening to the 1978 NU vs. OU game while painting my grandma’s basement? Just when I thought ‘Sooner Magic’ was going to strike again, Billy Sims fumbled…I was overjoyed! Or the failed two-point conversion against Miami…I cried. Or Cory Schlesinger’s go- ahead touchdown run against the Canes to secure TO’s first National Championship…I couldn’t believe it was finally going to happen. Or Tommie Frazier’s 75 yard run in the Fiesta Bowl against Florida and the look on Steve Spurrier’s face…I loved it! Or sitting along the side of the road on top of a hill in southern Colorado, listening to KRVN as Matt Davison dove for the deflection and made THE CATCH…I couldn’t believe it. Sorry, did you say only one or two?

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I usually keep tabs on men’s basketball, baseball, and volleyball. I was fortunate to be living in Richmond, VA in 2000 when the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Final Four was hosted there. My wife and I saw the Huskers capture the national title with their victory over Wisconsin.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

My love for the Huskers nearly prevented me from getting married. Let me explain.

While attending college in Omaha, one fall weekend was designated as a Sadie Hawkins weekend – meaning the girls would ask the guys for a date. Earlier that week, a very cute and sweet girl asked me if I would like to go ice skating with her on Saturday afternoon then have dinner afterward. I had never been on a pair of ice skates in my life but I figured, ‘How hard can it be’? Did I mention she was really cute?

Everything was set until Friday afternoon when another girl called to tell me she had two tickets to the Husker game on Saturday afternoon. She and I were simply friends but she knew how much I loved the Huskers. “So would you like to go?” she asked. “Of course!” I replied. “I’m there!”

After hanging up and doing my happy dance, I suddenly realized that I had double-booked myself. I had a choice to make. So after careful consideration, I did what any polite, well-mannered young man from Nebraska would do. I called the first girl and asked her if we could go ice skating on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday.

When she asked me, “Why?” I decided that honesty was my best choice. I explained the situation, emphasizing that I had never been to a Husker game before and that I really did want to go ice skating with her. Being a Nebraska girl herself, she said she understood and graciously agreed.

Our Sunday date was wonderful and I’ve been married to my favorite ice skater now for 22 years. I’m very thankful that she shares my love of Nebraska football and agreed to reschedule our first date.

By the way, the Huskers destroyed Oregon 63-0 that day. It was great despite the gusty wind and cold drizzle that fell the entire game. My friend and I were nearly frozen. In fact, I was so cold I decided not to stop for gas on my way back to Omaha, praying I would make it. That prayer went unanswered. I ran out of gas six blocks from my dorm. To this day, my wife says it was God’s way of punishing me for standing her up to go to a Husker game with another girl.

Thanks for giving me an excuse to reminisce. Once a Husker, always a Husker!

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

Brickyard USA
Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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We’re back with another installment of our favorite series: 50 Husker Fans, 50 States! Today’s installment: Dan Elsener, known as hoosier4huskers on our site, who’s trapped in Big Ten country! We think you’ll get a kick of out his tale.

Enjoy, and remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: My mother and father are both from Lincoln Nebraska and both attended Pius X. My mom went to UNL and my dad went to Nebraska Wesleyan. I lived in Nebraska until I was about 7 yrs old then moved back after I got out of the Marine Corps and lived in Omaha. When I was going into my sophomore year of high school my dad and mom moved to Indianapolis. About two years ago my wife and I moved back. I am a paramedic for a the Indianapolis Fire Department and my wife and I own Our Bake Shoppe in Greenwood Indiana. We routinely run into Husker fans that notice our Husker gear.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

Living in Big Ten and Notre Dame country makes following Big 12 and Husker football somewhat difficult. Every Saturday we either watch or listen to the Husker games as a family. We can get the local game cast via satellite radio no matter what. We constantly run into Husker fans. Every time we wear our Husker shirts it seems like we have people come up to us and we talk Husker football.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

My family goes to at least one home game each year. Last year it was VT and this year it will be OU v. NU. When I was little it didn’t matter where we lived or what we were doing, when it came to Husker football it was one thing that our family always gathered around.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

The predominant team in our area is Notre Dame. They have a great fan base and the games are fun. The Big Ten, IU, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan all get the press. You would think there was no other conference. The fans love football but they aren’t as knowledgeable or friendly as Husker fans. They do not have the complete passion. These fans out here have many colleges and pro teams in their states. The Huskers are the pride of Nebraska. The rallying point for the whole state.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Indianapolis is the racing capitol of the world. Racing is a big deal out here. We have the history of the Brickyard and the Indy 500 which the largest sporting event in the world. It is a spectacle and something any sports fan should partake in if they get the chance.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

My favorite Husker memory was in 2000 when I went to the ND v. NU football game at South Bend. My family from Nebraska came to Indy and we all went. I will never forget walking into ND Stadium and seeing a Sea of Red under Touchdown Jesus. I could not believe it. It gave me chills. That to me was my shining moment as a Husker fan. Here the Huskers were at the Mecca of college football, the holiest of college football shrines, the house the Rockne built, and we had outnumbered the ND faithful. Which arguably has the largest college football fan base.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I love Husker baseball.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

When I was in the Marine Corps Husker football was even a source of pride. I was able to meet husker fans from all over the country and instantly form a bond. I remember we were in U.A.E and I was at a mall in a Muslim country and found a Husker pullover for sale. Incredible.

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

Montana
Music City
Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Mississippi

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Our next fan story comes to us from the incredible state of Montana, where John Ilgenfritz has been living in Helena for many years. There are some terrific memories from this Fremont native that we suspect you’ll identify with quite a bit. Gameday memories that make us wish that it was the old days again.

We also think you’ll really like the comparisons John makes of Nebraska and Montana, which is NU…on a smaller scale.

And read until the end, Husker fans. There is a story about commitment, passion and the enduring ties of Nebraska football that you’ll want to share with your friends and family.

Enjoy, and remember: If you want to be a part of this series…you can! Just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ve got quite few stories to tell yet, but we want yours, too!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I was born in Fremont in 1946, graduated from Fremont High in 1964 and Midland Lutheran College in 1968. I met my future wife, Sheena in May, 1976 when we were both in Glasgow, MT. visiting students we recruited for Mountain Plains Education Program, a program to teach low-income families job skills and help them find jobs upon completion. Sheena was working out of the Idaho office and I the Nebraska office. In September I moved to Idaho, we were married on Jan. 1, 1977. Two years later we moved to Montana to be close to her mom after the death of Sheena's dad.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

It is difficult to watch the games. Most games are only cast regionally, so we receive the Pac 10 games. If it is a national telecast only available on cable I locate a tavern that carries it. Sometimes I have to drive to 2 or 3 before I find a bar that carries it. Even if it is on network TV sometimes it is preempted by a Montana Grizzlies game.

If I cannot watch it, I listen to the game on the computer. No watch site that I am aware of, most folks watch in their own homes. Whenever I see someone with a Big Red hat or T-shirt I will talk with them, inquire where they are from and talk about the team.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon? What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

Montana is like Nebraska in that there is no predominant pro team. As for college, Carroll College at the NAIA level and Montana and Montana State at the higher level.

I get back to Nebraska every couple of years, over the past 10 years, primarily for funerals. I haven't been to a game since the 1980s. When my dad and mom moved to Arizona in 1982 they gave up their football tickets.

The Nebraska experience, for me, was all about family and tradition. I loved the Devaney-Osborne-Solich link. I was very disappointed by the decision to replace Frank with Bill Callahan. No offense to Callahan. It felt like a messy divorce.

The closest Nebraska gets to Montana is probably Colorado.

Living in Helena, the home of the Carroll College Fighting Saints (NAIA), we have grown accustomed to national championships. I believe they have won 5 or 6, were runner-ups last year and are rated 2nd in the polls this year.

The Montana State/Montana game is always a big deal . . . it feels like Oklahoma/Nebraska on a smaller scale. My wife is an alum of U of M and we go to the games when she can get a ticket. It’s about a 100-mile drive to Missoula on game day. You will see a stream of cars all with bumper stickers or special license plates. At the stadium there is quite a tailgate, with big RVs parked close to the stadium. I believe the stadium seats around 20,000 and it always seems full. The U of M has won a national championship and they played in the title game last year. They often win the Big Sky Conference Title .

Nothing compares to Nebraska fans . . . they are the best bar none. However, I do enjoy going to the U of M games as the electricity in the stadium gives me a small reminder of Nebraska. We only go once or twice a year and sit with friends of my wife that she has known since college.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

We have lived in Helena for close to 30 years. It is the capitol city and about 28,000 in population. Most any place we want to go we can walk to. Within a mile of where we live are Carroll College, the Myrna Loy theatre (musical presentations and special movies in the former jail - beautiful building), GrandStreet Theater (local plays and musicals held in a beautiful old building that formerly was a Unitarian Church), the Holter Art Museum, beautiful Helena Cathedral, movie theaters, children museum and more. It is a beautiful community in the mountains.

The people are friendly like Nebraska.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

My dad and mom had 4 tickets and I would go to games with them. I can remember times when it was so cold that we wrapped our legs in plastic garbage bags to keep warm.

The game day ritual was to stop at Irv's Market on Highway 77 in downtown Fremont to pick up ham and cheese sandwiches on rye. We would take 77 to just past Ceresco, I believe, and, then turn east on a dirt road for 3 or 4 miles so we would enter Lincoln on a road that went under the interstate near the stadium.

I lived in Kansas and Utah from 1968 to 1973, moving to Lincoln in 1973 and which time I met Mike and Sue, neighbors in the apartment next to mine.

I kept in touch with Mike after moving away in 1976. If the game was on TV, we would talk before the game and at the end of each quarter.

If the game was not on TV, mike and I would still talk between quarters and, if it was a barnburner, Mike would place the radio next to the receiver so I could listen to it. Course, this was before computers. We carried out this routine for 25 plus years.

About three years ago I was back in Lincoln to visit Mike, he had MS and had been in Lancaster Manor for a few years, and he passed away while we were watching a game. Mike passed away in the first quarter, but I like to think that Mike saw the last 3 quarter and the Nebraska victory from his own skybox. I miss talking with Mike during the game. That was probably the best part of "Big Red" - the people it brought together.

Since my wife and I married on January 1st, our anniversary often included a 3 or 4 hour window which was reserved for watching the game.

We have been married 32 plus years and this Cornhusker obsession has not adversely affected our relationship.

I am old enough to consider myself a Cornhusker fan, not a Husker fan.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

I was always a Bo Pelini fan...his hiring as coach feels like a return to "family"...a restoration of the Devaney-Osborne-Solich tradition.

This year I have corn growing in my back yard . . . there are only 6 plants and they only have 5 ears, but it makes me smile. Go Big Red!

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Our next featured Husker fan in the awesome 50 Husker Fans, 50 States series comes from the great state of Tennessee. Scott Norman, known as TheStache on the site, has a great story about falling in love with the Huskers in a short amount of time, and the hospitality of his fellow brothers and sisters in Husker family. Enjoy!

And remember – if you’d like to be a part of the series, or know someone who would, email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com. We’ll get the questions out to you. We’re getting terrific response!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: I was not born into it, and did not attend the university. In 1978 I lived in Gothenburg for part of my freshman year in high school. It was here I had my first experiences watching Nebraska. Back then the only team I followed was Kentucky, because my family lives there. But in 1978, my friend invited me over to watch the NU game at his house. I spent every Saturday at his house watching every NU game I could from then on.

It amazed me that the entire town was a ghost town on game days. The passion, knowledge and sportsmanship the fans showed drew me in like a moth to a flame.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

Currently living in Nashville I know a few Husker fans, some from Nebraska, some not. But we are a tight-knit bunch and are always surfing, reading, and finding out anything else we can about our beloved Huskers.

If the game is on in any form, I am there. There was an unofficial watch site, but none currently. If the game is on PPV, don’t call me…I won’t answer! There are actually quite a few Husker fans in Nashville. My favorite story is a guy and his wife I ran into at Publix. As they came into my aisle and he saw my hat, at the same time I saw his. We started talking and his wife exclaimed, “I will leave you two alone.” She went and finished grocery shopping and came back…we were still talking. Nebraska fans are the only fans I ever see do things like that.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

Because I have always been so far away from Lincoln, I have only made it to 1 game. The game vs. Iowa State in 2005. I had tickets 2nd row, 15 yard line and saw the entire OT played right in front of me. I love to talk so people at work were probably happy I was hoarse for 2-3 days!

No games scheduled to be played in my area anytime soon…so not sure when I will make it back, but on gamedays, like other fans, I am decked out in my jersey, hat, and waiving my Blackshirts towel at the TV…my neighbors think I am crazy; I tell them it’s passion, passion baby.

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

The Tennessee Titans, which seems to be everyone’s NFL team. Oddly, though, the college fans are mixed, predominately Tennessee Vols fans, but also Bama, and Kentucky (I like UK also) fans. The Titans fans lack the passion that college fans have and the pro game is like a completely different animal.

A lot of times I have to listen to the, “SEC is the toughest conference conversations.” Even from Mississippi State fans. Vols fans for the most part seem to think that no one not wearing that weird creamsicle orange color knows anything about football. Bama fans seem for the most part pretty knowledgeable about their team…just do not mention Auburn. Kentucky fans remind me a lot of Nebraska fans, and the football team at UK is starting to actually be a decent team. But, for the most part, UK is a basketball school with a football team; like NU is a football school with a basketball team.

What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Music City, but it’s not only country; Nashville is also the Christian music capital. It also seems like every other person plays or sings…except me, no musical talent here at all.


Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

Jan 1 1995, I lived in Pompano Beach, Fl. Although I could not go to the game I was glued to the TV. Like quite a few people when Miami went up 17-7, my heart sank and I thought…I have been here before. BUT, then things changed and who better than on the strength of a local boy…TD CORY SCHLESINGER TD CORY SCHLESINGER TD CORY SCHLESINGER…that’s what I was yelling as he scored and as the final gun sounded I proceeded to run thru the apartment like a maniac yelling, screaming, and even crying as I saw TO (the REAL TO) hoisted on the players shoulders.

Sept 9, 1990. SOUTH BEND TURNS RED BABY. The shock that the TV crew had when a large portion of Notre Dame Stadium was clad in red was priceless. That was followed up by an awesome game made even better by the fact that we beat ND in South Bend. Although I wasn’t as vocal or running around like a madman as I was in the last game I mentioned, I was nonetheless ecstatic at the fact that we had beaten Notre Dame in South Bend. After all, ND is like the Yankees, you either love em or hate em…guess where I stand!

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

Wrestling and Volleyball, internet and sometimes on TV when I can.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

They say Nebraska fans are the best. I can tell you they are the friendliest. The only game I made it to, I drove from Nashville. When I parked my truck at the game, as soon as my foot hit the ground a gentleman and his friends tailgating next to me exclaimed, “TENNESSEE…u drove from TENNESSEE.” Well of course I did. Those guys treated me to steaks, seafood, and a few cold ones and made sure after the game was over that I had some food for the hotel stay later. Also, one of them gave me his e-mail address and made sure I know to e-mail him if I ever need tickets. One day I will take him up on that offer. Even though I love the South, my soul food, my fried food…THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE NEBRASKA.

Check out these great Husker fan stories, too!

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The next in our series of 50 Husker Fans, 50 States comes us to via Wade Landman, who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and yet has been a Big Red fan all of his life!

Known as 0510914D on our site, Wade brings a tale of what it really means to be a Nebraskan, and how it’s about a spirit, and not just where you live. It’s about fathers and sons, integrity, a team attitude and appreciating the leaders of the program, like Tom Osborne. We think you’ll enjoy his moving comments as much as we did.

And remember: If you want to be a part of the fun, or know someone who might be, just email us at sam@ne.statepaper.com , and we’ll shoot out the questions – leave the Big Red light on for you.

Go Big Red!

Q: Tell us a little of your personal history as a Husker fan. Were you born into the Big Red Nation? Did you attend school there? Just decided to follow the program from afar? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How did you get to living where you are today?

A: My late father was a graduate of the University of Nebraska so yes, I was born into Big Red Nation. I did not attend school there as I was born and raised in Mississippi, and at 18 years old out of high school it was a bit too far away from home for my comfort zone. But because of my dad I grew up watching the Huskers and being a huge fan. He was so passionate about it and about the work ethic and the quality of the people in Nebraska, especially Tom Osborne. With those kinds of things being instilled in me at such an early age, it was absolutely impossible not to be a huge Nebraska football and Tom Osborne fan. It's a little like being born into the mafia. The difference is, you stay because you want to.

How hard, or easy, is it to follow the Huskers from where you live? Do you watch the games at home? Listen on the radio? Use the internet? Is there a “watch site” in town you like to frequent? Also: How many Husker fans are there in your area?

I was born in 1970 and up until about the early 90s we didn't get too many Nebraska games on TV in our area. In fact, the typical weekend consisted of about 3-5 games on TV and I guess that was pretty much the way it was with the whole country at the time. We have come along way since then haven't we? Now, everyone all over the country can literally watch college football games from morning to midnight. I watch all the games that are on and if it is a pay-per view game I buy it every time as I am currently batting 1.000 on those. There are three this year and I will again be buying all of them. I can't wait!

I can remember back in the early 1980's when Huskers Illustrated magazine was this little tiny thing about the size of a TV guide. Back then, with no internet, that was the only information we could get on the Huskers and when it arrived I read it cover to cover without putting it down. Unfortunately, we don't have any watch sites in the Jackson, Mississippi area that I am aware of. As far as the number of fans in my area goes I would say it's miniscule but the few who see my license plate frame always honk and acknowledge their fellow Big Red faithful.

How often do you get back for games? What’s the last game you’ve been to? How has the Husker experience changed over the years? Will Nebraska be playing a game in your area any time soon?

The last time I saw a game in Lincoln was the Pigskin Classic against TCU in 2001. It was the first time my wife had ever been to Lincoln and while not a sports fan, she really enjoyed herself at the game. How could she not? It's Nebraska and there's no place like Nebraska! The last game I went to was when we played Southern Mississippi in Hattiesbur. I'd have to say that's probably the smallest stadium Nebraska has ever played in but it was great for me as that is only about 90 minutes from where I live. We are not scheduled to play a game in my area anytime too soon, unfortunately!

What’s the predominant college or pro team in your area? How is that fan base similar or different to Nebraska’s fan base? Hear a lot of trash talk about the Big 12, or anything like that? Give us an example of how Nebraska fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in your area.

Well, there are 3 Division I (sorry, I'm a traditionalist) schools in Mississippi which are Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Mississippi, so fans are spread out among those as well as a smattering of fans from other SEC schools like LSU, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and a few Florida State and Texas fans as well. The closest pro team that fans identify with and have for years is the New Orleans Saints.

In my opinion, the fan base of any one of the three universities here is nothing like the Nebraska fan base at all. In fact, there simply isn't a fan base anywhere in the country that is similar to Nebraska's. I don't say that because the fans are so much better, although they are in many, many cases but rather because the saying, "there's no place like Nebraska," is true. Its uniqueness is in the fact that it's the only Division school in the entire state and therefore, the population is not splintered into different fan bases for different teams fighting for supremacy over the same territory.

I do hear some trash talk about the Big 12 because that's just SEC fan for you but for the most part, they realize that pretty much year in and year out, the two best conferences are the SEC and the Big 12. Also, when they realize I am a Nebraska fan they don't say too much because despite our recent struggles, they remember all too well how Nebraska beat their league’s elite regularly in bowl games.

As far as an example of how NU fans might be the same or different from some of the fans in my area I would have to say that it's just an entirely different dynamic altogether. Where I'm from the fans spend a lot of their time arguing amongst themselves over stupid things and making baseless predictions about the upcoming year. They simply don't comprehend that the people of Nebraska live and die with the Huskers and that the morale of pretty much an entire state is dependent on the performance of a football team. Not necessarily whether they win or lose, although we do much prefer to win, but rather on whether or not the team plays with the kind of effort, grit, heart, determination and perseverance that makes up the majority of the population in the state. Therein lies the difference. NU fans look out onto the field and see an extension of themselves, a kind of extended family, and they want that part of their family to play in a way that represents them honorably, win or lose. The fans in my area and really, any other part of the country, look out onto the field and they see 70-80 kids, strangers who are there to entertain them for a few hours and if they lose they would just as soon cuss them as anything. There's no comparison!
What’s one or two unique things about where you live? What makes it stand apart from other places?

Well, if you like fried food you are in the right place and we have some of if not the most beautiful women in the country. If anyone reading this has never been to an Ole Miss game in Oxford, you need to go one time. Go tailgate in the Grove and you will see more gorgeous women in 2-3 hours before the game than you will for the rest of the year. I guarantee you that! Just ask the guys on the College Gameday crew, they know exactly what I'm talking about.

Give us one or two of your favorite Husker memories. They can be from any time period.

Well, I can remember going to the NU vs. WSU game in Lincoln with my dad during the 1995 season, a 35-21 Husker victory in which a freshman by the name of Ahman Green happened to have a pretty darn good game. For me this was really special because despite being 24 years old at the time, I had never been to a game in Lincoln before. My dad was ill with cancer and here we were together watching our beloved team in person. It was the greatest experience in the world and I was really glad we got to do that as he would pass away less than two years later.

Another thing that I'll never forget goes back to the 1994 season. It was the night of the national championship game in Miami and dad was sick and I went over to the house to watch the game with him. Early in the third quarter we both started kind of getting that sinking feeling of, here we go again syndrome, when Miami made it 17-7 with a TD. When it was all over and Nebraska had finally done it for Osborne (although we got robbed the year before by the officials against FSU) I saw my dad's eyes tear up and I didn't even need to say anything. Although he was extremely happy that NU had just won the title, those tears were for Tom Osborne, a man he had never met, yet loved and admired so much so that his success meant that much to him. My dad got to see the back to back titles and I am eternally grateful for that. Unfortunately, he didn't make it for the 1997 championship. I miss him a lot, but during football season, when I'm watching the game and I'm jumping around cheering by myself, I know he's there with me. I know he's saving me a good seat up in heaven because we are definitely going to all of the games then.

Besides Husker football, what other Husker sports do you like to follow? How do you follow them?

I enjoy the men’s basketball team, especially now that Doc Sadler is the coach and it's much more exciting to watch. I think he's going to do good things at Nebraska. I don't really follow college baseball too much, but I keep up with how they are doing as well as the women’s volleyball team.

Feel free to add anything you like. It can be a story, an anecdote, a saying, or a simple “Go Big Red!”

I got to meet Osborne one time in Jackson, of all places. He was there to speak at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes luncheon and this was shortly after my father had passed away. I got in line and waited to shake his hand. I didn't realize that he was a much more physically imposing person than what you imagine just seeing him on TV or from afar. Big hands, a firm shake, and warm smile with what seemed like the most sincere, genuine eyes I had ever looked into. I got to tell him about my father and his reaction to the end of that Miami game, how much it meant to him that Osborne had gotten the championships and had the success that he deserved. It was interesting because even though I had never met the man before, it felt like I had known him all my life.

To this day, it still bothers me how the media and fans of other schools threw him under the bus for the way he handled the Lawrence Phillips situation. I know he is a Christian man and did what he thought was right and in the best interest of a young man’s future. It was not about personal gain but that was the way it was portrayed of course. I think the team pretty much proved during the six games he was suspended that they didn't need Lawrence Phillips, Lawrence Phillips needed Nebraska, and apparently a whole lot of psychiatric help as well.
Osborne said something once that I'll never forget because it really is so true and it's a valuable life lesson as well: "It's interesting to me how quick people are to formulate opinions based on very few of the facts." I immediately became more cognizant of this fact and can just about bet you that if you pay attention, you can point to an example of this from the people around you at work every single day of your life. It's so very good to have T.O. back at Nebraska where he belongs.

GOOOOOO BIGGGGGGG REDDDDDDD!

Check out some our archives, too!

Guam
Connecticut
Alabama
Southern California
Northern California
Wisconsin
Delaware

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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.

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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.”

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Being the best fans in college football might be a source of pride for most Nebraskans, but there are still black sheep among us.

These anomalies are hard to find in the dog days of summer when there isn’t much worth cheering for, but come fall, Husker fans will realize that not everyone in this state is like them.

Sometimes the odd ducks are just born that way. Reid Christensen, a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was born into a family of dedicated Big Red fans, but Christensen has never been interested in sports.

“The only reason I go to the game is the band,” said Christensen, a baritone player in the Cornhusker Marching Band.

Growing up, Christensen would go to his family’s Husker parties and try to slip out to do his own thing before halftime.

“I find it funny to watch sometimes,” Christensen said. “My family will get hyped up and I’ll just sit there and leave halfway through the game.”

Other black sheep migrate to Nebraska and never join the celebratory rituals.

John Spooner moved to Omaha six years ago and walked off the plane on a game day. Coming from Manhattan, N.Y., where it’s hard to stand out no matter what you’re wearing, Spooner wondered why every person had on the same color of clothes. Even the retail store employees were wearing Husker shirts instead of uniforms.

Six years later, Spooner is getting a degree from UNL in secondary education and English and he describes Nebraska football as “hard to avoid.”

“I understand why,” Spooner said. “Because you really don’t have a professional team. You hold on to what you got.”

Spooner, a Buckeye fan, gets under his Husker friends’ collective skin at watch parties.

“I’ll sort-of root against Nebraska just to be the opposition,” he said. “They get mad…especially if Nebraska is losing.

A mixed-alumni marriage can also divide families down the aisle and spawn children with no allegiance to any particular team. That’s what happened to Stan Schleifer, an administrator at UNO, when his son married a woman with a degree from Kansas State University.

Not only that, but his daughter-in-law’s brother played for the Wildcats and Schleifer said she’s “always putting purple stuff” on his grandkids.

“We have our battles,” Schleifer said of the two families.

But more often than not, he said, it’s cordial when both sides of the family get together. But they don’t watch the NU-KSU game with each other to avoid animosity. Schleifer said he takes the high road and shares his season tickets.

“I’m nice,” he said. “I usually give her tickets to the K-State game.”

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Derek Rau got his favorite Husker item the night before the Nebraska Cornhuskers won their most recent national championship.

Rau, then 17, was in Miami for the 1998 Orange Bowl and staying at the same hotel as the NU football team. While their parents were partying in the lobby with other Husker fans, Rau and his brothers were peeking through the window of the hotel’s game room watching players like Ahman Green shoot pool when one of them motioned for the brothers to come in.

“We were just admiring the players,” said Rau, a former Marine and currently a security guard from Omaha. “They said we could come in and I was like huh-uh, no way.”

When Rau and his brothers got inside, everyone in the room came up and signed the Husker jersey Rau’s brother was wearing. That jersey would become Rau’s favorite Husker item, not just because he cared about the autographs, which he did, but also because of the story behind the signatures.

That’s the same way with most Husker fans and their favorite piece of Big Red memorabilia. The item isn’t just cherished for what it is, it’s cherished because it reminds them of the story when their favorite NU icons became real humans before their eyes.

That’s why Stan Schleifer, a administrator at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a Husker fan from Bennington, and several members of his family have a picture of a sweaty Tom Osborne with Schleifer’s son hanging from their fire place mantles.

It was 1987 and Schleifer and his son were visiting Nebraska and they went up to the practice field to watch the Huskers run through plays. Afterward, Osborne was running around the track and eventually, he stopped and walked over to Schleifer and asked if he could do anything for them.

“How about a picture with you and my son?” Schleifer asked him.

“Not too many people would have stopped,” Schleifer said more than twenty years later.

Why is the sweaty picture of the former coach so cherished?

“It wasn’t the idea of having it as much as it was the story of how we got it,” Schleifer said.

Blake Jackson, an 8-year-old from Omaha, got his favorite Husker item at the end of last year’s Virginia Tech game. He and brothers were looking at the players near the end of the game with another group of kids, all of whom were asking the players to throw them their gloves.

Jackson said his brothers weren’t saying anything, which is why, he thinks, Marlon Lucky made sure the group left with a pair of gloves. He said they saw Lucky look at them and then walk over to Lester Ward and tell him something before Ward walked over and handed the brothers his gloves.

The used gloves are now sitting on Jackson’s dresser and remind him it takes more than a loss for Husker players to avoid recognizing their fans.

So what's your favorite Husker Item? BLCleveland from Husker Locker said he has n old Nebraska T-Shirt that he cherishes, let us know what your favorite item is, and be sure to describe how you got because, more often than not, that’s the whole story.

Leave us a comment down below!

And don't forget to visit Best of Big Red for more cool gifts and great Husker items!

Join today and get Husker updates every day throughout the fall!

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A lot’s happened to the Nebraska football team and its home over the years.

The team’s gone through some of the best streaks in college football history and losses that have brought the whole state down. But overall, Memorial Stadium has been pretty fair to the Cornhuskers, who have won more than three-fourths of home games since the stadium was built in 1923.

On Sept. 26, more than 85,000 fans will find their way inside Memorial Stadium for the 300th consecutive sell-out. That’s a far cry from the 36,501 who started the streak in 1962 by buying all the tickets to the homecoming game against Missouri.

Madelyn Elder, a 93-year-old Husker fan from Scottsbluff, said it seems now like there were just a few thousand people at some of the games when she started going in the early 1940s.

“You used to just walk in and find a seat and it was great,” Elder said. “But I realize this is progress.”

Elder has gotten a first-hand look at all the “progress” Memorial Stadium has made. From 1946 when the Schulte Field House was completed to the new replay and ribbon screens that will be watched for the first time this season, Memorial Stadium has undergone 26 expansion and improvement projects.

But with all the improvement projects, one would have hoped they would have put in more railings down the aisles, Elder said.

“It can be awful dangerous for someone my age,” Elder said. “There’s just so many people.”

The projects have turned Memorial Stadium from a 31,000-seat structure to the unofficial state symbol. Crowd attendance started breaking the 85,000 barrier after a major project in 2006 that expanded seating North Stadium, created the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, the Hawks Championship Center and the giant replay screen, spruced up the locker rooms and administrative offices and moved the Husker’s Tunnel Walk entrance from South to North Stadium.

The latter was one of athletic director Tom Osborne’s Memorial Stadium decisions that bothered students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln -the other being the decision to move the student section to the back of South Stadium.

“I thought it was a lot better when (the Huskers) would enter underneath the student section,” said Chris Schaible, a junior marketing major at UNL. “It made it wilder.”

Schaible said after watching other Big 12 games, he thinks other student sections get more favorable spots.

“That was, I think, hard for students,” he said of the move to the back. “It’s the students’ school. It’s the students’ team.”

“The students are the ones that are pumping up the team the most,” said Ben Rowley, a senior biology major. “Better student seating helps to get the team pumped.”

But both of the students said it’s not the seats or even the quality of the stadium that makes Memorial Stadium what it is.

“It’s the people in it,” Schaible said. “Nebraska has great fans. That’s what makes Memorial Stadium.”

But even that’s been changing.

Dwight Wagner, a Husker fan in Rapid City, S.D., said fans looked at the Huskers differently back in the early 60s when he started following the team. Granted, NU started off the 60s with back-to-back losing seasons before coming gut-wrenchingly close to national titles twice in the 1964 and 1965.

“Lots changed since then…There’s a lot more negativity in sports.” Wagner said. “When I was a kid it wasn’t about who won or lost.”

Nowadays, it is about getting NU sports back to prominence in the national stage. Osborne said having state-of-the-art facilities will help all Husker sports teams do so. That’s why improvements will continue to be made.

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WASHINGTON DC - On any given Saturday, dozens of Nebraska football fans can be spotted doing pushups on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington D.C., after the Cornhuskers score a touchdown.

Jack Huerter, an intern on Capitol Hill from Omaha, is one of the many fans who watch Nebraska games at Union Pub at 201 Massachusetts Ave. Husker push-ups, one for each point Nebraska scores, is one of the traditions the fans there have taken up to make themselves feel more at home.

“The camaraderie there is really strong,” Huerter said of Union Pub. “There are a lot of temporary transplants in Washington who are either from Nebraska or went to school there - who are super homesick.”

Union Pub is the official Husker bar of the nation’s capital and it has been that way for almost 15 years, said bar manager Lance Cook.

Cook, who is from Iowa and a Hawkeye fan, said college fans, especially from the Midwest, are the most passionate followers. Big Red fans in the nation’s capital are no exception.

“I always followed (Nebraska) and I knew about the glory days,” Cook said. “You get caught up in the spirit whether you’re a fan or not.”

On most days, Cook said the Union Pub offers an easygoing atmosphere where staffers from Capitol Hill relax after work. On game days, there is a sea of red lined up outside before the bar opens that stays till closing.

“Every single TV is on the Nebraska game,” Cook said. “And there’s not one TV that isn’t being used. “

That’s the reason Union Pub became the official watch site for Husker fans said owner Matt Weiss. The pub offered to be exclusively Husker on game days.

“I consider it to be a year-round relationship,” Weiss said. “We have a real nice two-way street between both (Husker fans and Union Pub).

“It’s the closest thing to being at the game without being at the game,” he said.

See also: The Huskers In Hell's Kitchen

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See also: The Huskers in Hell's Kitchen

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NEW YORK CITY - On Friday afternoon close to 25 men, most from the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, posted up at the bar or sat in leather chairs and drank Guinness and shots of Jameson at the Irish Rogue at 356 W 44th Street in New York City.

Most of the time, the Irish Rogue is a neighborhood bar, said manager/owner Liam Moore. But on certain Saturdays in the fall, the bar is standing room only with more than 300 patrons. Everyone, including the staff, is dressed in red and cheering on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Irish Rogue is the official Husker bar in New York City.

“The majority of (Husker fans) live here,” Moore said. “But if they’re visiting from Nebraska they’ll find this bar...they let you know they’re from out of town.”

“We all have a good time,” he said.

The bar became the official Husker bar of the Big Apple five years ago, Moore said. There were a few NU alumni who would watch games there and the Nebraska Alumni Association eventually approved the place. Now the staff – half of whom is from Ireland and with accents to match – follows the Big Red too.

The bar is two stories and a cross between a soothing restaurant with comfy chairs and couches and quiet dining tables and a heavy-drinking Irish bar where curse words echo off the walls. Moore said it’s off the beaten path of most tourists who visit New York City, but it’s less than a mile from Times Square.

As far as the bars regulars are concerned, Moore said they were a little shocked at first when they showed up on a Saturday afternoon, expecting to grab a few relaxing beers but instead were met with “Goooo Big Red.”

“They think it’s funny,” Moore said. “They know to show up early now.”

When Moore first started working at the bar five years ago, he didn’t know much about the Huskers, but he checks the schedule now and knows when to expect a rowdy crowd for a big game.

“Very passionate and loyal,” Moore said of Husker fans. “It’s serious during the game, but win or lose they’ll still hang around after to have a good time."

What's you favorite bar, Husker fans? Post your comments and we'll try to write about that locale, too!

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College football fantasy enthusiasts are starting to crop up all over America. While smaller conferences with awful defenses, such as WAC and the Sun Belt, are often loaded with players picked (along with the three Heisman Trophy contenders, Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow) for picks, we decided to look at some potential value of Nebraska players.

We examine presuming that a fantasy league starts one quarterback, two running backs, two-three wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker and a defense.

QB Zac Lee: Hard to say at this point. Lee is unlikely to produce the same number of yards as predecessor Joe Ganz, especially with a tougher schedule in the Big 12 North. But, given Lee’s running ability, he might match the touchdown count.

Fantasy Verdict: It’s no shot to Lee, really, but there are better stat options out there. He might be a guy you pick up on a flyer vs. Iowa State or something.

Best QB (overall): Tebow. Gotta be. Yeah, Bradford threw for a truckload of TDs last year, but Tebow is a threat to score 10-15 rushing touchdowns. You know, week in and week out, he’ll get the scores.

Sleeper QB: Case Keenum, Houston. Threw for 5,011 yards and 44 touchdowns in 2008.

RB Roy Helu: Because he’ll split carries with Quentin Castille, Helu isn’t going to gain as many yards and score as many touchdowns as, say, Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter. But he’s not a bad choice if your fantasy league has two or three slots for running back, or if it awards points for yards per carry.

Fantasy Verdict: Roll the dice and spend a late pick on Helu.

RB Quentin Castille: See Helu, although Castille may get more carries in the red zone, and thus may have a better shot at scoring touchdowns. Castille tends to get more carries in short yardage situations, where the goal is three or four yards, so his yardage count is bound to be a little lower than Helu’s.

Fantasy Verdict: You may get touchdowns, but not as many yards. Castille is a gamble.

Best RB (overall): Hunter. He rushed for 1,555 yards and 16 TDs last year.

Sleeper RB: Charles Scott, LSU. Gained 1,174 yards but, more importantly the big man (5-11, 235) scored 18 TDs. He’s the Tigers’ short-yardage man.

WR Niles Paul: We anticipate Paul having more total receptions than any other receiver on NU’s team, plus he gets the added value of kickoff and possibly punt returns. He could be a keeper as a No. 3 receiver, but nothing more.

Fantasy Verdict: Not enough production at this time to take the plunge. Ditto for any other NU receivers.

Best WR (overall): Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State. Yards and TD machine. He may be the first non-QB taken in most leagues.

Sleeper WR: DeAndre Brown, Southern Mississippi. The spectacular freshman WR (1,117 yards, 12 TDs) who broke his leg late last season will not probably be drafted before the season. But what a midseason pick-me-up he could be.

TE Mike McNeill: Excellent value pick here if the top Big 12 guy, Jermaine Gresham, isn’t available. There is good potential that McNeill will lead the team in yards, receptions and touchdowns. If your league has a tight end slot, McNeill is a great pick.

Fantasy verdict: A top ten TE. Somebody in your league will get him; if the timing is right, go for it.

Best TE (overall): Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma. He won’t catch the most passes as a tight end - that’ll be BYU’s Dennis Pitta – but we’re guessing he catches the most touchdowns.

Sleeper TE: Rob Gronkowski, Arizona. Caught 10 TDs last year. Nice player.

K Alex Henery: As good of a pick as there may be at this position. Not only because of his accuracy, but, if your league offers extra points for field goals over 50 yards (and it should) then Henery is your man.

Fantasy verdict: The top returning pick, statistically, whenever you want to draft a kicker.

Best K (overall): Henery

Sleeper K: Oklahoma State’s Dan Bailey made 15 of 19 field goals, and you know he’ll kick a lot of extra points on that team.

Defense: Nebraska has a potential for sacks, which most leagues tend to track. The turnover situation wasn’t so pretty. The Huskers failed to come through in a number of circumstances to cause fumbles and get interceptions. But NU did OK with the defensive touchdowns – thanks to Ndamukong Suh. Your call here.

Fantasy verdict: Not in our top 20, but that may change after a few games.

Best defense (overall): For sheer points, it has to be Oklahoma, which was +23 in turnover margin last year and recorded 42 sacks. Both numbers may go up in 2009.

Sleeper defense: Virginia Tech. Three returner starters in the secondary and along the line for a bunch that was pretty darn good in 2008 with a +14 TO margin and 35 sacks.

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Another season of college fantasy football is looming on the horizon, so if you’re interested get ready to start following the sport closer than ever before, we’ll be offering it on the site come the fall.

Nebraska football fans are loyal and knowledgeable about the overall sport as any fan base. At Husker Locker, we know that, and we’ll be zeroing in on this activity this fall to help bring this terrific culture home. Look for a CFB fantasy group soon!

“It raises your awareness of teams you wouldn’t normally follow,” said Tyler Cotten, a teacher at Kiewit middle school who has been playing fantasy sports for nine years. “You can root for a variety.”

Cotten has yet to be play college fantasy, but he said having a team will open the fantasy managers’ eyes to the sport. He thinks baseball, being as much of a numbers game as it is, is the best sport for fantasy, followed closely by football.

Each fantasy football league has a set number of teams who draft quarterbacks, running backs, right ends, wide receivers a kicker and a defense. They create a roster every week to compete against one other team in the league. A fantasy team scores points by way of the stats the players on each fantasy team tally up during the week.

What could become a problem for some fantasy managers is that there is much more to study each compared to the pro game. There are thousands of possible players, and sometimes the best ones aren’t going to score the most points.

For example NU will go with a committee of running backs, meaning they will score fewer points than the star running back of a team. Other college teams tend to use specialty backs down by the goal line.

Also, strength of schedule is something each manager is going to have to think about each and every week. Stud athletes from lesser known conferences – for example the WAC is stacked with talented running backs – will score more points than some of the backs competing for BCS caliber schools.

“Look at Hawaii,” Cotten said. “Even before they were good Timmy Chang was throwing for thousands of yards.”

A good fantasy manager will incorporate fantasy players from lesser known, and big name schools. The Big 12 and SEC are going to be the place to score top-of-the-line backs, receivers and quarterbacks. Fantasy College blitz ranked Ohio, Nebraska, South Florida, Rutgers and North Carolina State as defenses with a lot of fantasy-scoring potential.

While having a fantasy team with players from all over the country gives you reason to cheer for teams you never have before, Cotten said when push comes to shove, and fantasy takes a back seat. So even if you have Sam Bradford on your team, you’ll be rooting against your team on Nov. 7.

“Your allegiance to your team outweighs your allegiance to your fantasy team,” Cotten said.

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Just like the players, fans need to prepare for games. An ill-conceived game day can ruin a Saturday almost as much as a loss does. Well, not really, but it still makes sense to think ahead and make sure your Saturdays go smoothly and you’re not scrambling around Lincoln 15 minutes before kickoff.

Alex Dye, who will graduate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a business degree in August, has the type of game day behavior that gets some people in trouble, but it works out well for him, he said. He starts the day off “hard liquor mixed with some kind of stimulant, like Red Bull.”

But that’s it for the hard stuff, at least for a while. His custom is to go to a tailgate for a solid two hours of beers and brats. Then, most importantly, Dye said, he goes to a gas station and buys the biggest water they have and one 5-hour energy and chugs them on his way to the gates.

Kyle Webster, an education major who is a senior in the fall, tailgates in the North Bottoms and does things a little differently.

“I like to start off slow and gradually get into it,” he said.

For a 2:30 game, Webster is up at 8:00 and eats a big breakfast. He’s able to get up early, by taking it easy on Friday night. Instead of going out, he waits tables.

Throughout the day, he drinks more water than beer until about two hours before the game.

Whether you’re an early or late starter or even if you don’t drink at all, there are still a few things you need to be prepared for.

Fortunately it doesn’t take much for us to get ready for the game, here are a few rules you should adhere to.

Know your limits. For those of you who don’t already know, it’s not cool to be the drunkest guy in the stadium on game day. Nothing wrong with getting a little loose before or after kickoff, but Memorial Stadium is not the place to lose control. Don’t drink more than you’re used to. It’ll embarrass you and anger those around you.

Game day starts on Saturday. If you want to be the up-at-dawn, breakfast, lunch and dinner tailgater, take it easy or find a part-time job on Friday night. It’s for your own good if you want to last through the postgame celebration.

Stay hydrated and eat throughout the day. A good rule would be to chase every beer with a water or sports drink, at least during the heat of the day. And tailgate food is awesome, so get something from off the grill.

Be mindful of the weather. They have played in rain, snow and sleet at Memorial Stadium and will likely do so next season. Unless you want to go to the hospital after the game, don’t show up with nothing but paint on your chest. Dress in layers and bring something waterproof if rain is in the forecast.

Bring at least $20 in cash. Even if you already have a ticket, you’re still going to need to eat something. If a stranger ends up giving you a beer and a brat it’s at least nice to have a $5 bill to offer. And remember that you’ll need to pay for parking too.

Wear red. A gray shirt with Nebraska on it doesn’t count. Black is acceptable.

Don’t be a vulture. Everyone knows someone who knows someone who has a tailgate. But tailgates are expensive and groups of five or more shouldn’t stumble up to as many as possible and wolf down all the food and drink. Make sure your wanted before you dig in to the food.

A tailgate isn’t a pick-up joint. This is Nebraska, not College Station, so don’t make out at the game. There sort of an unwritten code throughout Nebraska on game day that makes blue jeans, tennis shoes and red sweatshirts acceptable apparel for both sexes for all social gatherings. Don’t spoil the atmosphere with new your khakis and polo and leave the cologne and hair gel for another night.

Go ahead and stand all game if you’re a student. The student seating section moved to the back Memorial Stadium last year – main reason being that students would stand up all game and the season ticket holder behind them were upset. If you’re seats are elsewhere, it isn’t an issue; you sit for most of the game and stand for the crucial plays. But if you somehow end up in the student section you’re going to have to watch the game from your feet. Because the only thing dumber than standing up for an entire four-hour football game would be sitting down for it after you lost your good seats because you stood up for the whole game.

Don’t disrespect the opposing team’s fans. This isn’t Colorado or Penn State, and this is probably one of the most important rules on the list. Whenever fans travel to Memorial Stadium, they should leave thinking they just saw a game in the best environment for college football.

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Here's the next installment of our 50 Husker Fans, 50 States Series!

Today we go to, well, tomorrow! On the other side of the international date line and Guam, where Husker fan genotee lives. Read how he got there, how long it's been since he's lived in Nebraska and how he follows the Huskers today!

Check out the entire archive here.

And remember - if you want to be a part of the series...or you know someone who would llike to...just shoot us an email at sam@ne.statepaper.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your history as a Husker fan? Were you born into it? Family? Friends? Did you attend UNL? Did you grow up in Nebraska? How long have you been a Husker fan?

A: I was born a Husker fan basically cause all my family were husker fans. (4 sisters, 2 brothers and parents). I grew up just down the road from Lincoln in Ashland. We used to say just down Highway-6 from Memorial Stadium. All my friends in those days were husker fans and I think most of us still are and we were from the time we were born.


How did you come to live in Guam? Military? And where in Guam do you live? What's the general ethnic makeup of Guam? What side of the international dateline are you on? Sunrises and sunsets must be something to behold. And for Nebraskans who probably don't know, talk about Super Typhoons and the risk Guam faces from them, if you could.

I graduated from Ashland-Greenwood High back in 1969 and joined the Navy shortly after high school. I spent 21 years and retired from the Navy and my last tour was on Guam and back then things were going pretty well for me on Guam so I chose to stay here.

Basically Guam is made up of Chamorro people and nowadays they are outnumbered because there are a lot of other groups on the Island and a lot of the Chamarro people have migrated to the states and elsewhere. They are very patriotic people and are US Citizens and most of them join the military or the national guard at one time or another. A lot of Chinese, Phillipino and Korean people here a long with quite a few of us statesiders, sprinkle in some people from Thailand and that’s about it.

We are on the side of the dateline that puts us a day ahead and a few hours besides.

Sunrises are not that big a thing but the sunsets, when it isn't cloudy, are some of the most beautiful I have laid eyes on and I have seen a few. Typhoons, I could talk all day about them but they are similar and have tornado type winds in them. The big difference is they begin way out at sea and we start getting warnings days in advance. We just move everything inside and put up shutters on the windows and get ready. Most all houses here are cement so the winds don’t bother too much. Big problem is we lose power and sometimes water for days. Everyone owns a generator here. I’ve been through some pretty bad both here on Guam and elsewhere in the Pacific since I spent my entire naval career over here in the area. Closest I got to the states was Hawaii for awhile after training camp.


How often, if ever, do you get back to the United States? How often, if ever, do you get back to watch a Nebraska football game? And how long, from Guam, does it take to get back? What's the last game you've seen in person?

Haven't been back to the states since 1981. Me being the youngest I only have one sister and one brother left back there, one in Ashland area and the other in California. Went to a Husker game back in about 1964 I believe but can't remember for sure. Would love to come back and see them one time at least but don’t know if I could take that cold weather during football season anymore.


How do you keep track of Nebraska sports from Guam? I'm guessing the games aren't on there, so do you have the videos of them sent to you in the mail? Obviously, you're on the Internet...is the Internet connection expensive on the island? Or is there a place where the games are available via satellite? Are there a bunch of Husker fans on the island?

I keep up with the Huskers through every sports magazine I can get my hands, three different Newspapers here and the TV. We get a Nebraska game every year at least one and sometimes two either on ESPN or ABC. We have a pretty good satellite TV system here so we get a lot of coverage. There are a few Husker fans here because there are a lot of Air Force people here that have been stationed in Omaha before and there are a few local people who have been there and they know me so they root for the Huskers too. I’ve been here on the Island since 1988 so I know a lot of people. Some harass me about all the red I wear and my red car, but they know why.


What's the most popular sport on Guam? Is there a national team for that particular sport? Does Guam identify more with American athletes or Filipino athletes or Australian athletes or whomever? Is sport a big part of the culture in general?

As for the most popular sport on Guam it is pretty close between football and Soccer. However they have some good baseball players here and basketball is getting bigger all the time. They have national teams that play in soccer, rugby and a few other sports and the little league boys here have been to Williamsport for the Little League World Series a couple times in the last four or five years. They have a junior league team going to South Carolina for that tournament next month. Sports of all kinds are big here.


Guam's a somewhat popular vacation spot for people who know about it. Ever run across any Husker fans on the island? What kind of conversations are you able to strike up with them?

There are a lot of people come here for vacation and a lot of people come through here going other places and I run into a lot of military also and I do meet a lot of people who are Husker fans or know a little about the history of the Huskers. I run into people all the time with a shirt or hat with the Husker logo or something like that and it becomes quite a talking piece. I’ve got plenty of Big Red shirts and hats and love to wear them around because I am proud of the Huskers.


What's your favorite Husker memory? Feel free to list as many as you wish.

One of biggest memories was when I was in California on a training mission and we beat Alabama and I was running around with my head in the clouds and another great memory was when Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers ran all over Notre Dame.


What other sports, besides Husker football, do you like to follow?

I follow everything just about. Have seen that great girls Volleyball team on TV a few times. Saw the basketball team a few times also. Don't see much college baseball but try to keep up with it as much as I can. I think they had a little down year in baseball but they will be back. You can't lose all the players to pro ball and expect to field great teams all the time.


Is there was one Nebraska food you could have from the mainland...what would it be?

We get about anything we want here as for food. Some is shipped in so isn't like getting it fresh off the plant but I sure would love to have some Pheasant under glass or some real deer meat. We have deer here but they are small and don't taste the same. I was spoiled years ago. Would love to have some fresh water fish too.



Feel free to add anything you wish.

I could babble all day but just wanted to add that while I was in the Navy friends back there used to tape the radio Broadcast of Husker football and send it out to me and some of the other guys so got to listen to some great games and will never forget people like Lyle Bremser and Jack Payne and a few others. I have quite a few VCR tapes of games and a couple of DVDs now.

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