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Official Husker Locker Blog
2009 Oct 01
50 Husker Fans, 50 States: Pastoral Minnesota
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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
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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Home > Blogs > Official Husker Locker Blog > 50 Husker Fans, 50 States: Pastoral Minnesota
gbr my name is mike leonard. iwent to high school in nebraska and have always been a big fan. i now live in tennessee and getting ready to retire in belize. i wear my husker gear everywhere,when i get comments i always say " i purchase husker gear myself but i do have an assortment of vol gear that has been given to me. its in my closet never worn. if tn ever beats nebraska in football i will consider wearing some of it. i went to the tn university hospital 2 weeks ago for open heart surgery. it would have been impossible to get better treatment or results. great place. i wore husker sleep pants the entire time gbr thanks. i have been saving a huskers flag to fly over my home in sartenja belize. all welcome
– Mar 15, 2010