Wayne Binfield – Scottsbluff
Coach–Like the trace of the old Oregon Trail, the impact of this champion coach is still felt across Western Nebraska. For four decades of the twentieth century, his high school athletes left a lasting place in the record books. During the fall of the great crash of 1929, this then young coach inspired his Crawford […]
Harold ‘Hilly’ Beck – Minden
Athlete A three sport athlete at Minden High School, “Hilly” really excelled in football and basketball. In his senior year the Whippets had an undefeated football season and team captain “Hilly” was selected as All State Honorable Mention as a running back. Basketball was probably his big sport, he was picked on the Class B […]
Randy Butts – Grand Island
Class of 1969 Athlete Randy Butts reigned as Nebraska’s premier high school hurdler at the end of the 1960s. The Lincoln Journal-Star’s Athlete of the Year, Butts earned all-state honors in football where, as a running back, he helped the Islanders to a 6-3 record his senior year and a Top Ten ranking. His efforts […]
Ralph Beechner – Lincoln High
Coach. One of a handful of great high school football coaches for Lincoln High School over the years, his success began as a student Red and Black-clad Link himself, lettering in both basketball and football days. During the early 1930s he was both a basketball and football coach for Jackson High School in Lincoln, then […]
Richard Beran – Omaha South
Coach. As Omaha South’s gymnastics coach from 1967 to 1988, Rich Beran coached Olympians Jim Hartung and Phil Cahoy (Hall of Fame inductees, too) among his 64 individual state champions. His boys teams won seven state titles and 12 Metro Conference titles and had a 158-27 dual meet record. His girls teams won two state […]
Joe Blahak – Columbus Scotus Central
Class of 1969 Athlete A defensive stalwart on the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ Team of the Century, Blahak made his mark on the high school scene competing in football, basketball and track. A Class B all-state football player in 1968, he led Scotus in rushing, scoring and interceptions as the Shamrocks claimed a state title. He […]
Ron Boone – Omaha Tech
Athlete. 1963 graduate of Omaha Technical High School, his high school career, perhaps stymied because he didn’t begin to get basketball height until his senior year, served as a springboard to a professional basketball career. He came off the bench and had some good games on the high school varsity in 1963 when Tech won […]
Diane Beideck Van Brocklin – Millard North
Athlete. 1987. Diane (Beideck) Van Brocklin was The Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal-Star 1987 girl athlete of the year, was all-class all-state in basketball in 1986 and 1987 and in volleyball in 1986 when the Mustangs were Class A runners-up. She scored 1,266 points in basketball, averaging 17.6 points as a senior. She shattered school […]
Dean Brittenham – Brady
Class of 1949 Athlete The Brady Eagles flew high with Dean Brittenham on the team. An all-state end, he led Brady to the six-man state title and a runner-up finish at the state basketball tournament where he was named to the all-class state tournament team. In track, he won the state pentathlon championship twice and […]
John J. “Jug” Brown – Falls City
Athlete, Coach–One of the few who was both a fine athlete himself and also a fine coach, this gentleman played on the undefeated 1922 state championship team of Lincoln High School; being selected as an all-state quarterback. In addition, he was all-state in basketball and a member of the state track & field championship group […]
