- Joel Geyer
Executive Producer "Husker Century"
How do you tell the story of Nebraska football from beginning to end?
Our quest began two years ago when Jeff Schmahl, Director of HuskerVision, suggested we at ETV collaborate with his staff on a end-of-the millennium project.
Jeff and I had worked together on programs like "Coach Devaney", "A Day in the Life of Husker Football", and "Coach Osborne-More Than Winning". Doing a complete history of Husker football starting before the turn of the century, seemed like a natural next step. So, what would our focus be?
Our research began like a detective story. We started with a simple question: "What made Nebraska - a sparsely populated, relatively isolated state - so phenomenally successful in football? Why not similar success in Iowa, Kansas or Colorado?"
It didn't take long to realize that there was no simple rational explanation for the Nebraska phenomenon. It is true that Nebraska had been blessed with several great coaches and players, but so had many teams. It had to be something that transcended individuals.
Then clues began to reveal themselves. We discovered that in 1902 over 3,000 Nebraskans boarded trains for Minnesota for a game. This was at a time when very few schools in the country could get 1,000 fans to a game, let alone, an out-of-state game that required a two-day train ride.
More clues were uncovered. In reading about the early Notre Dame rivalry, we found that over 10,000 Nebraska fans attended the first game between the two teams in 1915. The fans included William Jennings Bryan, John Pershing, and even Nebraska's Pulitzer-Prize winning author, Willa Cather.
We discovered that in 1923 when Nebraskans wanted to build a new 20,000-seat stadium, the cost was almost half-a-million dollars, a fortune at the time. Despite the fact that Nebraska was going through one of its many agricultural depressions, the money was raised, not by the legislature, but by everyday fans.
Then we found an 1905 quote from Omaha-World Herald sportswriter, Frederick Ware:
"In increasing numbers the sons of the pioneers entered the University. From the farms they came and from the cities and the towns, but they were boys out of a common mold; endowed with their parents fierce patience and stubborn confidence and zeal when confronted by handicaps and hazards. The qualities that had won a living in a new land against drought and grasshoppers and searing winds from the south appeared on the football field."
Finally, we realized we had our focus. Our story would be about how, over the last century, a state, its people, and a game have come together with remarkable passion. Our story would be about the spirit of Nebraska football.
WANT TO CHECK OUT PREVIOUS HUSKER VIDEOS?
You can purchase video tapes of past Husker documentarys by clicking on the icon to the left.
