Charles Bryant – Omaha South
Athlete. Charles Bryant earned all-state honors in football while playing at Omaha South. He also earned a letter on the Packers’ wrestling team. But it was in college at the University of Nebraska where he excelled. As a walk-on, and the first black player in the modern age, and despite being 5-foot-11 and less than […]
Don Benning – Omaha North & UNO
Coach. Setting a high standard for athletes of all ages, this educator and coach returned to the Omaha University after earning a graduate degree in 1963, he served in several capacities, including head wrestling coach. His college wrestling team brought the first ever collegiate national championship in wrestling to the state of Nebraska in 1970, […]
Dale Butler – Norfolk
Official. Some advice from his father, a coach, laid the groundwork for Dale Butler’s career as an official. It requires less time, less commitment, generates fewer headaches and heartaches and the money was better, his father said. Intramural games at Chadron State College launched Butler’s officiating career that spanned an estimated 2,000-plus games over a […]
Ritch Bahe – Fremont
Athlete, 1971. The 1971 Fremont graduate picked up seven varsity letters in high school, two in football, three in basketball and two in track. Football honors included All State twice and All Conference twice, 1969 to 1970, and in 1970 was selected High School American both academic and athletic. Football found him running, catching, kicking […]
Roger Barry – Schuyler
Contributor. A Kansas native, Roger Barry has been an organizer and promoter of wrestling and girls track in Nebraska since graduating from Nebraska Wesleyan in 1959. As an assistant football coach at Neligh, he helped turn around a struggling program that went 17-1 in 1960 and 1961. He also inaugurated the school’s wrestling program, bringing […]
Al Bahe – Fremont
Athete, Coach. Attended Wayne High ’42-’44 and Wayne Prep from ’44-’46 where he lettered in football at both schools, making the six man All State in 1945’ much the same in basketball playing on the Class B state runner-up team in 1944 and the 1946 state meet semifinals team at Wayne Prep in 1946. Wayne […]
Roy Bassett – Hastings
Coach. Roy Bassett earned the title of “Coach.” For 40 years, he coached high school athletics at Nelson and Hastings High Schools. From 1932 to 1937, he coached football, basketball and track at Nelson, a coaching load he would take on for a few years at Hastings High School. He was the head football coach […]
Charles Brock – Columbus
Athlete. Charles attended Kramer High in Columbus from 1932 to 1935 where he was earned 12 varsity letters, four each in football, basketball and track. He was selected to the All State Football and Basketball teams two years each year. As a way of demonstrating his all around athletic ability his resume would include state […]
Kelli Benson Jeffries – Grand Island
Athlete. Class of 1980. Kelli (Benson) Jeffries was not a stranger to the state tournaments, or state championships. She was the Class A high jump champion and an all-state volleyball player who helped her Grand Island team to a state runner-up finish her junior year. In basketball, she started every game on Grand Island’s state […]
Bob Boozer – Omaha Tech
Athlete. Today in western Omaha is situated an interesting junction of history. The main line of the Union Pacific Railroad’s push west across America intersected Pacific Street. Years later another street crossed Pacific, Bob Boozer Drive, appropriately bearing the name of one of the finest basketball players in our nation’s history. Graduating from Omaha Technical […]
