Saturday, September 16, 2006

Harry Husker, et al.



Harry Husker
vs.
Herbie Husker,
then
Lil' Red
.
Mom was a BIG Husker fan. A really big one. As far as I know she had only been to one game, at the one that LSU tied Nebraska at LSU with us . Mrs. Jim has two degrees from LSU so we all had a good time.

In the 90s some time, Mrs. Jim and I got my mom a hand-painted plywood Harry Husker like you see all over Tekamah during football season. The craft place just south of the hardware store was selling them.

Mom would put her Harry out in the yard every game day. The rest of the time Harry lived on her front porch. When Mom died Harry became mine. He lives in our office room and sometimes gets to come out for football games.

Harry did get us a ticket. Well, not a real ticket, but a letter from the Properties Owner's Association telling us we were in violation for having an unauthorzed sign in our garage window. We have more Oklahoma State people in our subdivision than Husker fans. I think one of these other team fans turned us in.

That time he had been in the window for a couple of weeks. He is in our dining room window as of this morning and will stay at least until January something.

I missed out somehow on Herbie. Maybe I was behind the door when he was announced. For sure I was in Texas. I have heard people calling our Harry by the wrong name and until today I just figured he was going by another name. But I googled 'Harry Husker' and found out these guys were different in time.

Besides Bob's below, another site with pretty good info is on the Husker News at the Husker Press Site. Read it for a better rundown about Harry's demise. They did a cute interview today with Harry. Harry was quoted as willing to return to Lincoln to help the team.
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The guys here are from the Web site of Bob's Gridiron Grille and the Pigskin Pub, located at 4200 South 27th Street, Bishop Heights Shopping Center, Lincoln, Nebraska. At 27th and Hwy 2. The information about the mascots is also courtesey of them. SEE NOTE BELOW!!


Harry Husker--"The 1960's Harry HuskerWhen Bob Devaney arrived in Nebraska in 1962, he felt Nebraska needed a new image and a new mascot. He finally found that mascot in 1964 when he was reading an article in the NEBRASKA FARMER MAGAZINE. Inside was a mascot drawn by Bill Goggins, the magazine's art director. Nebraska asked for permission to use the mascot and in 1965, Harry Husker was adopted as the official Nebraska mascot."
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Herbie Husker--"The 1970's Herbie Husker When Tom Osborne took over the head coaching duties in 1973, it was felt that a new mascot was needed for the new era of Nebraska football. At the end of Coach Osborne's 1st year, the team traveled to the Cotton Bowl to play the University of Texas. While at the Cotton Bowl, the Lubbock, Texas artist Dirk West had created a caricature to hang in the Cotton Bowl headquarters. Nebraska officials saw the caricature and commissioned Dirk West to perfect the mascot. In 1974, the revised mascot was officially adopted as Nebraska's new mascot." [Herbie courtesy of Capital One All Mascot Team ].

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Lil' Red--"As the Osborne Era was starting to wind down, after 25 glorious years, it was felt that Nebraska needed a new image. Although Herbie Husker remained as an official mascot, a new mascot was adopted in the early 1990's. At present, Nebraska has two mascots, a new looking Herbie Husker, and Lil' Red."


Closed before I even knew it was there!
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The latest info on Bob's Web site reads:
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Thank you for your past patronage! Bob's Gridiron Grille and the Pigskin Pub
is closed!
We will miss our valued employees and faithful customers!
Thanks for all the good times! Our trouble started with the City of Lincoln's smoking ban, and ended with a serious disagreement with the landlord.
.
We like our Harry and will just keep him for all our time.
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p.s. You can see him also on my September 15 post (link) as well as links to the Husker fight songs, etc.
at

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