Willard Schmidt – Swanton
Athlete. Despite his height – 6 feet, 6 inches – Willard Schmidt did not start playing basketball until his junior year when he joined the team coached by Hall of Famer Joe Sukovaty. His junior year, Schmidt led his team to a Class L state basketball championship. Schmidt scored 43 of the 107 points the […]
Dick Thompson – North Platte
Official. Dick worked for 40 years officiating high school football, 20 years of officiating basketball, and was starter at the state track meet for 17 years. Dick was a member of the crew that worked the first Nebraska Shrine Bowl game plus some time in the Big 8. In the early 1950’s, he began a […]
Allison Weston – Papillion-LaVista
Athlete. The captain of the 2000 Olympic volleyball team in Sydney, Australia, Weston was a multi-sport standout and a 1992 graduate of Papillion-LaVista High School. The 1992 Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star Athlete of the Year, Weston was all-state in volleyball and basketball her junior and senior seasons, and she was named the Gatorade […]
Merle Bauer – Holdrege & North Platte
Coach. Before graduating from Shubert High School in 1943, Merle earned All State honors in basketball and football in both junior and senior years. He took his bachelors degree at Peru State where he was a four letterman in basketball, receiving All Conference recognition three years and selected N.A.I.A. Division II All American. Merle’s first […]
Bob Cerv – Weston
Athlete. A big-time talent from a small town in Saunders County, he graduated from Weston High School in 1942. Star of his basketball team (Class C state runner-up, 1941), he was named all-state in both 1941 and 1942. Following service in World War II, he did well in two sports at the University of Nebraska. […]
Jack Lewis – Omaha
Contributor. Dr. Jack Lewis gave countless honors to the athletic program at his alma mater, Omaha Central High School. Every year, he has provided free fall, winter and spring physical examinations for athletes and can’t remember an Omaha Central football game where he wasn’t on the sidelines. He was the school’s “team” doctor for 39 […]
Jim Mather – Arapahoe
Athlete. The premier Nebraska high school long jumper of the 1930s, Jim Mather was a 1936 graduate of Arapahoe High School in Furnas County. He was years ahead of others in this track & field event and capped his career in 1936 at the state track meet by jumping 23 feet, 4 inches, a record […]
Jay Novacek – Gothenburg
Athlete–A multi-sports talent, this tall young man graduated from Gothenburg High School in 1981. He set a record in the pole vault, 15-1 in 1981 and also won medals in the hurdles at state track meets. He was all-state in basketball and an all-state quarterback for the Swedes in football. After an outstanding career in […]
Vern Plambeck – Kearney
Official. It is enough said, perhaps, that Vern Plambeck has officiated high school sports since 1954. That’s six decades, and it would have been continuous except for a 1957 Army tour of duty. In the whistle-blowing fraternity, he developed into one of the best — calling seven state basketball tournaments, including the 1973 Class A […]
John Reta – Lincoln Southeast
Coach. John Reta was the center of swimming in Nebraska for nearly 20 years. Instituting the program at Lincoln Southeast, Reta coached the Knights to eight consecutive boys state swimming championships from 1959 to 1966. His swimmers won 11 individual state titles and set 18 state records. The Knights put together a winning streak of […]