Degrees of Separation for Husker Fans

[Power of Corn]

My wife works for division of NASA in pasadena, ca. and was on travel to the east coast, and met one of her vendor reps, who she had spoken to on the phone a few time, and met once before. Turns out he was the son of the long ago great, Pat Fischer, any way she had spent lots of time talking about me and that i was from nebr and a massive husker fan. When he saw her the next day, he brought a signed hat from his dad, Pat Fischer, for me. Pat is to old for me to remember, and im 55, but of course Ive heard the family name, and know what they have done for our program. Not too often you get a hat signed from an NFL hall of famer.

 

[Power of Corn]

I was fishing by myself on a very, very remote lake, 6 hour drive north of Winnipeg. 20 yr ago. It was a series of 4-5 lakes, all linked together. Hadnt seen a single boat or spoke an english word in 5 days, except swearing to myself and at the fish.

I was working around a point to move into a cove, and I saw a boat in there, maybe 100 yards away, I slowly worked their way, and when I got a bit closer, one of the guys had a husker hat on. Upon meeting him, I discovered he was in class with me in grammer school in Papillion, for 6-7 years, in my class, I just hadnt recoginzed him at 35 years of age. But I for sure remembered him. apparently had to fish 1000 miles away to run into someone who lived most of his life 3 miles from me at the time.

 

[KTexUNLfan]

I was serving as a school board member in Katy, TX when I met a district employee whose brother was Govenor of Nebraska. Interesting conversation to say the least. Really small world sometimes.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

His not to fond memories of Barry etc.........

Would you mind expanding on this? I don't remember Kenny King having any issues with Barry, so this intrigued me.

 

[CO4NU]

Would you mind expanding on this? I don't remember Kenny King having any issues with Barry, so this intrigued me.

They weren't earth shattering public type things that I can remember.. (1996 ). What I do remember was more demeanor type things at practices that at times rubbed him the wrong way. He was however VERY complimentary of our team, the toughness we had. Sorry I can't be more specific............my memory isn't what it used to be.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

Sorry I can't be more specific............my memory isn't what it used to be.

Ah, heck, then you should make stuff up. You can tag on a "but I can't remember for sure," and it'll be great reading.

I'd like to hear about any gunfights that they had after practice. Double dates? Did Barry "borrow" his girlfriend? Run with it. Have fun.

 

[CO4NU]

Ah, heck, then you should make stuff up. You can tag on a "but I can't remember for sure," and it'll be great reading.

I'd like to hear about any gunfights that they had after practice. Double dates? Did Barry "borrow" his girlfriend? Run with it. Have fun.

He was a great guy to speak with.....wish I would have been on the board 24 years ago...lol...I would have many more specifics.
Was taken aback how long he stood and spoke with us.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

He was a great guy to speak with.....wish I would have been on the board 24 years ago...lol...I would have many more specifics.
Was taken aback how long he stood and spoke with us.

It's kind of a Great Plains thing to find a common connection. If I'm on the other side of the world or the East Coast, if I meet somebody from the Great Plains, it's always cool, and we immediately start looking for people or places in common. We almost always immediately start the formal process of figuring out what tenuous connections we have, which--I assume--is partly why we like threads like this one. I would bet that you mentioned a game in which you saw him play--preferably in person, but on TV in a pinch--and he got to talk about that game, and it feels like a connection because it kind of is a connection. If I meet somebody from Kansas, I ask where they're from, and if I've been in that area, I talk about it. If they've been to South Dakota, they talk about it. How many conversations have you been in when you ended up being amazed because so-and-so went to college with somebody's sister? There's been a lot of ink spilled talking over this ritual. It's not just in the U.S. either. They do the same thing in the steppes of Asia, the plains of Canada, and so on.

It's a cool story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Redleg]

About 2001, I was stationed in Hawaii and walked on as a single at a golf course. Got paired up with a guy and as we played and talked, he asked where I was from and of course nearly anytime you say "Nebraska" (especially back then), the next question / statement is something like, "I assume you're a huge football fan." Anyway- he worked with Dominic Raiola's mother and was very good friends with the family. Dominic had just left NU for Detroit, but the guy said how much Dominic and the family loved DONU.

 

[BleedinHuskerRed]

What a great thread. So many good stories. As I don’t have any yet, I will enjoy them vicariously through you all. Keep ‘em coming!

 

[Megatron]

It’s been a few years, but I was attending a Pop Warner game in Arizona, watching my two oldest grandsons play (two talented and strong defensive linemen who wound up starting for three years at their high school).
I was, of course, wearing a Cornhuskers shirt and hat. There was a family about 10 rows in front of me that kept turning around looking at me. Then, one of the men with them stood up and hollered, “you a big Nebraska fan?” Yes I said back and he said you need to meet this man, he is too, and he played for them! It was Toby Wright. He came up and we talked for 30 or 40 minutes. His son, who was on my grandkids team now plays for NU. I can tell you that Toby is a 100% class act. What a thrill to meet him.

 

[Hvskers]

In 1984 I enlisted in the USAF and my first duty assignment was at Castle AFB in Merced/Atwater CA. On my first day at the base and they didn't have anything for me to do so they assigned me to the "Snack Bar" to sell pop/chips/candy and etc. As I am setting up this "hulk of a dude" comes up to the counter. He can tell I'm new and that I don't really know what I am doing. He says, "You're new here. Where you from?" I proudly exclaim "Nebraska". He reply's back, "NEBRASKA?!?! Shoot I played football for Nebraska! My cousin and I walked on to play football there. THEY BOKE BOTH MY LEGS!! Big 8 football is for real! Look at me now, I'm in the Air Force!" I asked him who his cousin was.......... it was I.M. Hipp! I don' think I asked what his name was. What a dope!

A few years earlier (1980/81) I was working at a neighborhood grocery store (high school job) in North Omaha. We had a sale on Carnation French Fries. We had sold out and the owner called the warehouse to get a few more cases delivered. Turns out the warehouse was out and they would make a call to get some to us. After a couple hours, this guy comes in carrying two cases of fries under one arm (each case weighed about 40 lbs). As he placed them on the counter I couldn't help but notice a gold college ring with a red stone and "Big 8" on it. I knew he was a football player but I didn't know who he was. As he turned to leave I said "You'll have to sign this invoice for me" (Why I don't know, but that was how I was going to find out who he was). Who was it? Clete Pillen!

OK. Those are my stories and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Huskerthom]

@BigRedMax I have 2 for you.

I went to a UCLA game in 1988. Walked in the Rose bowl about an hour before the game. Talked to an older couple in front of me. We got to the point of asking where we were from. The man said he was from Ashton. I said "Oh my dad grew up in Ashton." He asked my dads name and I told him Ivan Beran. Then he started to tell me things about my Uncles I did not know.

2014 the tables were turned in Chicago. This time my wife and I were the older couple. a group of younger 20 somethings were sitting in front of me. Same conversation. This time when i said North Platte they said really so are we. Turns out they were kids of people I went to school with at NPSP. I sent a pic of them to a girl I knew who was one of their teachers.

The world is a funny place.

 

[NUinID]

Ok this is sorta Husker related. The second year my wife and I were married we took jobs teaching at Cody-Kilgore in Cherry County. This is 1991. I am teaching all the science and she is k-12 special education. The speech pathologist that comes to the schools out of the esu in Valentine was a cheerleader at Penn St in 82 at the infamous out of bounds catch game against Nebraska.

 

[Tootall]

Here's one:

My wife and I got married in Banff Alberta Canada, after the wedding, we went to downtown Banff to have dinner at the Keg Steakhouse, still in our wedding attire. At some point a couple at a nearby table say congrats and ask us about the ceremony,etc, then ask if they can take our picture, and say they will send us a copy. So the husband takes the picture and asks my wife to write down our address, she does and hands it to him, he grins and says, what do you guys do in Lincoln, my wife says she is a professor at UNL, he starts to laugh and says, I'll just inter-campus mail the photo to you, I'm a professor on East Campus.

TT