Radio Saturdays

[YUENGLING]

Occasionally I'll see, hear or smell something that brings back memories from the past. I'm not always blessed with perfect memories of things that happened in the last few years, sometimes not the last few days either, but I can recall with clarity that is sometimes disturbing things that are completely amazing to me from years ago.

Recently my youngest was home from school and happened to be up early Sunday morning watching an old Nebraska game on YouTube, only half paying attention while he did some homework. The game was an early season 1977 contest against Alabama. He was facing me and I couldn't see the screen on his laptop, but I could hear the audio of Keith Jackson and man did it bring back memories.

My family moved to Colorado from Nebraska in 1972. Cable TV didn't exist, so it was usually one local and one national game a weekend. That was all, so most Saturdays I listened to the Nebraska game on the radio. Coloradan's for Nebraska had some affiliation to the broadcasts that I don't think I ever really understood, but I'm quite positive I owe them a great debt for keeping me tied to Nebraska football for the decade between my arrival in enemy territory and the advent of cable TV and greatly enhanced access to Husker football. Every week I'd look through the TV guide looking for 'Nebraska' on Saturday's, usually to be disappointed except for one non conference game a year and two or three Big 8 games if I was lucky, so it was mostly radio broadcasts. I'd spend Saturday mornings making sure I'd taken care of all I needed to to be allowed to spend the three hours by the radio instead of working on something for my folks. Breakfast, chores, Nebraska football. I'd get chills running up and down my spine when I'd hear 'Nebraska Football is on the air!'

The play by play descriptions were only enhanced by my over active imagination to paint a picture I couldn't see. Lyle or his successors setting the stage, calling out the lineups, describing the formations, I lived for it all. Descriptions of their uniforms and those of the opponents, the crowd, the sky and weather, the sounds caught by the mikes that helped complete the picture were always part of my Saturdays.

Phrases like this from '76 still bounce around my memory to this day:

'Huskers in their home scarlet jerseys and cream pants in front of another sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium. NU with the football at their own 20, driving North to South, right to left, against the wind. I formation from the left hashmark, Ferragamo under center, Craig in the slot to the left, Malito split out to wide side'

The names I'll never forget. Ferragamo, Curtis Craig, Dave Butterfield, Chuck Malito, Andra Franklin, Tom Sorley, Richard Berns, Jeff Quinn, Junior Miller, Steve Damkroger, Tim Hager, IM Hipp, Jarvis Redwine and so many more. The games I recall like they were yesterday. The '76 loss to Iowa State and an early morning radio broadcast of the Hawaii road game. The '77 obliteration Oklahoma put on Nebraska that cost me a quarter bet to a school buddy. The '78 heartbreak against Missouri after finally getting the monkey off our backs the week before. I sat many a Saturday in the upstairs family room in front of my dad's old Telefunken, tuned into Husker football, rooting for the Big Red to win the day.

I can see it all like it happened yesterday. From the time I was 7 or 8 until my early 30's, I attended, watched on TV or listened to almost every Nebraska football game played. I'd say better than 75% of the games were radio broadcasts until the mid '80's and while I'm glad I can see them all now, I'll admit I miss the simpler times of 'Husker Football is on the air!'.

I was pissed when we had a few High School football games my junior and senior years on Saturday and not Friday night. I took the radio with me when I started working in construction and listened to the games as best I could, sometimes not so well when we were out in a field in the mountains or on the plains.

Times change and things move on, but I'll never forget those Saturday afternoons. I tried to explain it to my youngest while he studied and the '77 NU-Alabama game played in the background, but it just wasn't the same for him and isn't for his generation. They've always had video. They've always seen it, not heard it and imagined it. He'll never know what it was like to hear Lyle call a play, a score or a Husker victory. I remember it like it was last Saturday.

I have been a Husker fan since 1965 ,the only game I got to see each year was the Oklahoma game. It’s hard for me to believe I can hear every game on the radio today. I watch the game with the sound off and listen to Greg and Matt. They’re usually a play behind( I get all kinds of grief for this from my wife) but it’s the best way for me . For a VERY long time ( unbelievable today) it was really difficult to get a score on a Saturday afternoon. I am proud I NEVER went to the DARK side( living in Pennsylvania) and rooted for Penn State.

 

[Middle-aged_Ball_Coach]

The ‘78 Mizzou game, IIRC, I listened to on the 856’s fender-mount AM radio hauling corn or beans to town for Dad.

The only tractor big enough to work the fields that my dad ever owned while I was growing up was a 656 with no cab and the world's loudest fender-mounted radio. That thing could pick up a signal, too.

I'm right there with you. I have many fond memories of working outside in the yard with my dad or out hunting with my uncles, glued to the radio. I specifically remember asking my dad, "Is I.M. Hipp really that guy's name?" when I was about six. I definitely prefer to listen to a game than watch it.

We must be the same age because I asked the same question at the same time. When my dad told me that it was short for "Isaiah Moses Hipp," I couldn't decide which version was more cool. When you're first exposed to a name like that over radio, versus seeing the guy in a picture or on TV or in person, the name conjures images that often didn't match reality. Jarvis Redwine was another one of the coolest names that I'd ever heard, but when I finally saw him on TV, I was disappointed to realize that he wasn't 7' tall and faster than a cheetah. He seemed larger than life on radio. He was a great player, but man, that name.

People tell me they remember how deserted everything was when a game was on but I don't remember it that way. I remember the air completely saturated with the radio broadcast. You could go anywhere and hear the game. Stores had it playing on their speakers. Everyone was raking leaves and had their radio in the window at full volume.You could ride your bike down the street and not miss a play. If by chance you did miss any part of the game, there was always someone around who could tell you the score.

I can remember walking down the old Main Street of Yankton, SD, on game day with my mom when I was probably about 6 years old, and EVERY store had the game on, and most had it so that you could hear it in the street. When I was 10-14 years old I had a paper route that I delivered on bike. The houses were too spaced out to hear the whole game, but I knew which guys would be listening to it, so I'd stop and ask for updates as needed, and sometimes I'd stop and listen if it was a tense moment. I heard the Irving Fryar "Bounce-arooski" play to Mitch Krenk on the radio while standing next to the fence in a yard that had the game going on the radio on a porch. He kept describing it, over and over, and I was having a difficult time imagining how it was possible to purposefully throw a pass into the turf so that it would bounce into the other's players hands so that he could throw it. I saw it on the game highlights later, and then it made sense, but it was still impossible to figure out how to throw a ball to make it do that.

As for getting psyched up after the game and wanting to go outside and re-enact it, Turner Gill was almost always the guy that I wanted to imitate. I was 10 years old, working endlessly on my reverse pivots, ball fakes, and left-hand option pitches. The other player that I fell in love with on the radio was Jeff Smith. We were beating the tar out of Iowa in '82 when he came in late in the game. My dad knew all of the players, where they were from, backstories, etc., so he paused while working on his pull-type combine to tell me, "Hey, this kid's just a sophomore, out of Wichita. He's supposed to be fast." His first carry of his career, he went 80 yards for a touchdown against Iowa while my dad and I were standing there, leaning against the tractor, listening intently. He was forever my favorite RB after that. I was probably the only Nebraska fan alive who wasn't related to Jeff Smith who was excited to see him come into the '84 Orange Bowl when Rozier hurt his ankle. I jumped up and down when he scored the last touchdown, and I bawled when the 2-point conversion pass bounced off of his shoulder pad.

Good memories. Thanks, @CrabHusker.

 

[AzHusker]

Pheasant hunting border of Iowa Neb. Duck hunting as well. We would knock on the land owner door and ask if we could hunt. To the person it was sure as soon as game is over. What! What game? Nebraska you dumb ass. so couple years went by and saw the 82 Neb Miami game when TO went for 2 instead of a sure tie

I was hooked

Very cool, Pops, I had no idea. I thought you were from Nebraska. Damn, the pheasant, duck, and goose hunting was good back then, eh?

So the same year the T.O. went for two and we got beaten in that bowl game, Darryl Rogers, ASU coach had a lead late in a big late season game, got conservative on offense, played prevent on defense and ASU lost.

The Az Republic paper that weekend had a cartoon depicting Osborne as a giant, and Rogers as a goofy little midget-looking guy in comparison. It was priceless.

 

[Sleepy]

or was it 84? i’m old

1983 season, Jan 1984 Orange Bowl.

 

[MadRat]

I was born into a Husker family and I will die as one.

Radio coverage was better than television in those days. Even when televised you ran the radio with tv sound low or off altogether.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

You can't pause your video to sync with the audio?

I kind of wish the Huskervision audio player would allow you to go forward or backward to help with syncing to my TV.

Last night, I was able to sync the broadcast of Husker Sports Network on my Google Home, with the video through YouTubeTV. Both obviously streamed. My only controllable variable is pausing the video.

 

[CrabHusker]

I forgot the game that changed football for college fans forever. Thanksgiving day, 1971 Oklahoma. I can still find the exact place where I sat on the floor to watch the game. We had always had the big meal at straight up noon. Since no one in the family had a house that could accommodate everyone sitting in front of the lone TV, the meal was moved to the evening. I heard many years later that 65% of the USA adjusted their meal time around the Game of the Century. Too much money for TV execs to pass up. Sure it took a couple of decades to get all the TV networks in place rather than just the 3 we had back in 1971. But after that game, it quickly became more than just 1 game a week. And that was when college football became more of a money-grubbing business and less of a college sporting event. Still, it is nice to have every game on TV. Even if it is just to record the game while at the stadium.

That game was the first Husker game I watched and I was hooked. Still am.

I appreciate being able to see them all now, but I don't know that I wouldn't like to go back in time and sit in front of that old radio, or in my truck at a job site and maybe have to imagine some of it. Listen to the descriptions of the scene, the players and the plays. I think sometimes that's what's missing with modern people. Imagination is an atrophied muscle.

 

[anotherdumbprediction]

Pops, how did you become a Husker fan?

Gophers have great hockey. What’s with the Sioux?

 

[anotherdumbprediction]

Similarly Pops, Gophers have great hockey. What’s with the Sioux?

 

[huskerndenver]

Pavelka will always be the guy for me. I never have especially taken a liking to any of the others.

I think I've told this story before on here. But I was making a barbwire gate while listening to TF's first game against Missouri. Now every time I open that gate (which is now well past it's prime) I remember that day.

 

[Sleepy]

That game was the first Husker game I watched and I was hooked. Still am.

I appreciate being able to see them all now, but I don't know that I wouldn't like to go back in time and sit in front of that old radio, or in my truck at a job site and maybe have to imagine some of it. Listen to the descriptions of the scene, the players and the plays. I think sometimes that's what's missing with modern people. Imagination is an atrophied muscle.

Back then, I was hitting the bottle hard and soiling myself regularly.

 

[Husker Country Doc]

Pavelka will always be the guy for me. I never have especially taken a liking to any of the others.

I think I've told this story before on here. But I was making a barbwire gate while listening to TF's first game against Missouri. Now every time I open that gate (which is now well past it's prime) I remember that day.

I remember that game, too. We were prepping for a party outside of Lincoln, cleaning up a farmstead to host "Leigh in the Hay."

 

[Husker Country Doc]

Pavelka will always be the guy for me. I never have especially taken a liking to any of the others.

I think I've told this story before on here. But I was making a barbwire gate while listening to TF's first game against Missouri. Now every time I open that gate (which is now well past it's prime) I remember that day.

I remember that game, too. We were prepping for a party outside of Lincoln, cleaning up a farmstead to host "Leigh in the Hay."

 

[Huskerthom]

I remember that game, too. We were prepping for a party outside of Lincoln, cleaning up a farmstead to host "Leigh in the Hay."

I see the upgrade has not fixed your stuttering.

 

[CrabHusker]

Pavelka will always be the guy for me. I never have especially taken a liking to any of the others.

I think I've told this story before on here. But I was making a barbwire gate while listening to TF's first game against Missouri. Now every time I open that gate (which is now well past it's prime) I remember that day.

Other than Rose, I've liked all the radio play by play guys Nebraska's had.

I've got many a memory attached to Nebraska football on radio. Poured and finished a basement slab for a house in Elizabeth listening to the 1981 Oklahoma State game. Stripped a foundation wall in Brighton listening to 1982 Kansas State. '85 Sheathing a roof in Denver listening to Rathman run wild against Kansas. It goes on like that until '07 which is the last year I heard NU on the radio. Amazing how the mind works.