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Harvey Perlman
had an interesting observation Wednesday about a Hall-of-Fame coach who
also served three Congressional terms and five years as NU’s athletic
director. Perlman said Tom Osborne has “the kind of
national respect and awe” and “reputation and position” that fascinates
Nebraska’s chancellor, who has walked from one place to another in more
than one “foreign stadium” with Osborne. “A walk that
would usually take five minutes would take 20 because people want to
stop for an autograph or just say hello,” Perlman said. “I think we
probably don’t recognize in Nebraska the tremendous amount of respect
nationally, not just in intercollegiate athletics, but in other venues
as well.”
Perlman was right on. I will never forget the
longest walk I’ve seen Osborne take – from the Nebraska locker room to
the team bus after the Huskers lost a 28-25 decision at Texas in 2007.
There was a Longhorn fan complimenting Osborne about every five or 10
yards in what seemed like a 20-minute walk. At the time, Osborne had
been Nebraska’s interim athletic director for all of 11 days when he
made that walk. I must say that every remark made that day showed
nothing but respect and in some cases, even a measure of awe that
Perlman described.
“Tom Osborne is one of those rarities in college sports where a school’s identity is strongly tied to a singular figure,” Kansas City Star columnist Blair Kerkoff
wrote following Osborne’s announcement to retire. “When you think of
Alabama, Bear Bryant comes to mind. Florida State? Bobby Bowden. In
today’s game, it’s Kansas State and Bill Snyder, Virginia Tech and Frank
Beamer. But Osborne’s association with Nebraska runs deeper than any.
He not only served as an assistant and head football coach but also
athletic director for his university. And congressman for his state.”
ESPN.com Columnist Ivan Maisel said: “Tom Osborne had a tough standard to live up to as Nebraska athletic director – the
one he set as the Huskers football coach for 25 years. Not only did
Osborne stabilize a football program that had gone shaky under his
predecessor, but he shepherded the university from the internecine
battles of the Big 12 to the safe and financially secure harbor of the
Big Ten. You’d have to say that when Osborne retires in January, he will
have met that tough standard.”
Because he has measured up to
Hall-of-Fame-like expectations as an athletic director as well, Osborne
can expect more long walks in his retirement … in Nebraska and even
across a country that has a deep and an abiding respect for all that
he’s accomplished and everything he stands for.
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