The World Herald revised its list recently of Top 100 athletes that originate from Nebraska.
One of the things that's interesting to me about the top athletes is that only 2 of the top 10 are tied to Nebraska football. For a state whose identity is tied so strongly to Husker football, it's kinda surprising that so few are part of that history among the most elite athletes on the list.
For example, you've got #1 Bob Gibson (Creighton); #2 Gale Sayers (Kansas); #3 Grover Cleveland Alexander (pro baseball); and #4 Bob Boozer (Kansas State). Johnny Rodgers is #5 and Ahman Green is #8, but those are the only Nebraska football players in the Top 10. That group is rounded out by Lloyd Hahn (track); Richie Ashburn (pro baseball); Tom Kropp (Kearney State); and Jordan Larson (volleyball).
If you look more deeply into the list, there's only one more Husker football player in the Top 20 and that's Lloyd Cardwell at #19. I'm sure there are dozens of other Nebraska footballers in the Top 100, but I was surprised that only three cracked the Top 20.
One of the things that's interesting to me about the top athletes is that only 2 of the top 10 are tied to Nebraska football. For a state whose identity is tied so strongly to Husker football, it's kinda surprising that so few are part of that history among the most elite athletes on the list.
For example, you've got #1 Bob Gibson (Creighton); #2 Gale Sayers (Kansas); #3 Grover Cleveland Alexander (pro baseball); and #4 Bob Boozer (Kansas State). Johnny Rodgers is #5 and Ahman Green is #8, but those are the only Nebraska football players in the Top 10. That group is rounded out by Lloyd Hahn (track); Richie Ashburn (pro baseball); Tom Kropp (Kearney State); and Jordan Larson (volleyball).
If you look more deeply into the list, there's only one more Husker football player in the Top 20 and that's Lloyd Cardwell at #19. I'm sure there are dozens of other Nebraska footballers in the Top 100, but I was surprised that only three cracked the Top 20.
