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Happy Easter Corn Nation! I hope you are all safe and well.
Here they are - the final installment of “first Husker game” stories that were submitted by you - the CN community. Where I could find a story or video about the game, I added it below the submission (in italics).
Australian Husker - Memorial Stadium 2014
I remember the crowd being vocal, but no more so than I have experienced at an Australian Rules football game. It was versus the FAU Owls, final score 55—7. Nebraska allowed FAU to score on their first possession, but shut them out after that.
Kudos to Australian Husker, I think you win the award for longest trip to watch the Huskers! Here’s the Sports Illustrated game recap. The most memorable play from this game was the Jordan Westerkamp behind-the-back catch. I could watch this on a loop over and over and over...and over...
Old Gold Knight - 1976
It was Oklahoma. My Dad got tickets from my cousin. He took my younger brother and I. I remember it was brutally cold. Oklahoma won in the waning minutes of the game. It was the birth of “Sooner magic” and the birth of my hatred of Barry Switzer.
I embedded two videos - the short version (“Sooner Magic is Born”) and the entire game. On a blizzard-y Easter, what else you got to do?
atomiclawnchair - 1986
Husker hoops against Wyoming. Danny Nee’s first season. Minor hype around this game because Wyoming was kinda good (NIT finals the previous year, ended up making the sweet 16 that season). They had a guy named Fennis Dembo who was good, but the Huskers shut him down mostly and won the game. I guess the Huskers won the runner up game of the NIT that year but I’ve completely forgotten about it.
The golden age of Nebrasketball. I couldn’t find any videos, but a reminder that even mid-majors like Wyoming have won NCAA tournament games. Sigh.
Todd Wolverton - 1972
On November 11, 1972 my family watched Iowa State vs. Nebraska at Clyde Williams field in Ames, Iowa. We were Iowa State season ticket holders. It was a dreary day, and my hero at the time, George Amundson quarterbacked the Cyclones to what should have been the greatest Iowa State victory of all time. I remember that Amundson was amazing that day, throwing and passing, and running back Mike Strachan had a big day too. David Humm was the Nebraska QB and I thought he was an over-hyped pretty boy! He actually had a decent day as well, but as I checked out old newspaper articles, the story of the day was six Cornhusker fumbles. Of course, as a die-hard Cyclone fan, that was no excuse!
Anyway, the climatic play that day came when Iowa State scored to tie it up late in the game, 23-23 and only had to kick the PAT to beat the almighty Cornhuskers. Tom Goedjen missed it! He missed it! I cried and talk about a miserable ride back to Council Bluffs! I had fantasized about all of the smack I was going to talk at school on Monday to the Nebraska fans. That did not materialize.
Despite the six fumbles, Johnny Majors out-coached the great Bob Devaney that day. Nebraska was ranked #3 and Iowa State was ranked #17. The Cyclones went on to play Georgia Tech in the Liberty Bowl. We went as a family and I was so sick at the game with the flu I puked all over the people in front of us. Yuck! However, I was not going to miss that game. Nebraska destroyed Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day 40-6. My conversion to Nebraska fan came about in 1981 when I became a student at UNL. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever believe I would cheer on the Cornhuskers!
We’re glad you have converted from the dark side Todd! Here’s the DataOmaha recap.
wolfmanhuskerfan - 2010
My first Husker experience was as a member of the Cornhusker Marching Band. We came out for pregame strut, and I remember just being in complete awe of the crowd. My mom (also an alum) had never attended a game when she lived in Lincoln, but always told me about the Sea of Red and this was the first time I ever saw it. It took a lot of willpower to just focus on marching the show and not look around at the crowd.
I don’t remember a whole lot about the game, beyond this being Taylor Martinez’s first game as the starting QB. I wasn’t really entrenched in the football culture at the time, and was more interested about making it through the game in one piece. First marching band games are always nuts.
First of all, we need to know what instrument you played wolfmanhuskerfan! Also - who can forget Taylor Martinez’ first career carry? That run made everyone who suffered through the 2009 offense (and amazing 2009 defense) wonder why Martinez was stashed as a redshirt - Oh...what if he was the QB in 2009....????