[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4500-S4501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO BOB DEVANEY

 Mr. KERREY. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Bob 
Devaney, the former athletic director and head football coach of the 
University of Nebraska, who passed away last Friday.
  It is impossible to overstate the impact that Bob Devaney had on the 
people of our State. And although he was born and raised in Saginaw, 
MI, he was the pride of all Nebraska.
  In 1962, he came from Wyoming and took the helm of a football team 
that finished 3-6-1 the year before. In his first year as head coach, 
he turned them into a 9-1 winner--the best record at Nebraska since 
1905.
  By the time he left the head coaching job to become athletic director 
in 1972, he had won two national championships, boasted the winningest 
record in college football at the time, and built the third-largest 
city in the State--Memorial Stadium on a fall Saturday. He won eight 
Big Eight championships, six bowl games, and in 1982, a place in the 
College Football Hall of Fame.
  Numbers alone cannot measure Bob Devaney's achievement. He brought 
pride to Nebraska and taught us what it took and what it felt like to 
be No. 1. He taught our children how to dream beyond the boundaries of 
the rural communities and urban neighborhoods in which they live, and 
he taught us all that with commitment and determination, our dreams 
could become realities.
  But his most important legacy was that of sportsmanship. One of the 
many tributes to Bob Devaney in the wake of his death shared this 
story, and captures the greatness of the man:

       In one game in 1970, after Nebraska trailed Kansas by 20-
     10, the Cornhuskers rallied for a 41-20 victory. ``You 
     learned something today,'' Mr. Devaney told his players after 
     the game. ``You learned you can come back. Remember that. 
     That's the lesson of life.''

  Bob Devaney taught all of us about the lessons of life. Bob was a 
source of inspiration, a great Nebraskan, and a friend to us all. 
Because of Bob Devaney, there is no place like Nebraska. He will be 
badly missed.
  Mr. President, I ask that Bob Reeves' tribute from the May 10 Lincoln 
Journal-Star and an editorial from the May 11 Omaha World-Herald be 
printed into the Record.
  The material follows:

             [From the Lincoln Journal-Star, May 10, 1997]

                   Devaney an `Inspiration' to State

                            (By Bob Reeves)

       Nebraska lost more than a great football coach when Bob 
     Devaney died Friday. The state lost a born motivational 
     expert who helped give the state a real sense of self-esteem, 
     current and former state and university leaders said Friday.
       ``Bob Devaney was an inspiration to Nebraska,'' Gov. Ben 
     Nelson said. ``He made pride in football and pride in 
     Nebraska the same. He helped Nebraskans believe that we could 
     be No. 1 in football and in anything we did. He will be 
     missed personally, and by the people who knew and loved 
     him.''
       ``All of us who knew and worked for Bob Devaney feel a 
     great sense of loss,'' said University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
     head football coach Tom Osborne. ``It's an end of an era, so 
     to speak. Bob always had great joy for the people who worked 
     for him and was very supportive.''
       James Moeser, UNL chancellor, said Devaney ``helped make 
     the University of Nebraska synonymous with strength, a solid 
     work ethic and people who strive to do their very best.''
       Former Gov. Norbert Tiemann, who served from 1967 to 1971, 
     described Devaney as ``a tremendous leader.''
       Devaney ``turned the whole athletic program around (and) 
     gave the state a sense of pride in itself,'' said Tiemann, 
     who now lives in Dallas. ``I've got the greatest admiration 
     for him, both from a professional and personal standpoint. It 
     was a tremendous boost to the state's ego to have a winning 
     football team.''
       Those comments were echoed by former Gov. Frank Morrison, 
     who served from 1961 through 1967. He was governor at the 
     time then-chancellor Clifford Hardin hired Devaney to take 
     over the football program.
       ``In many ways, he changed the psychological attitude of 
     the state,'' Morrison said. ``The majority of people had an 
     inferiority complex. It (Devaney's enthusiasm) was pervasive. 
     He helped unify the state and improve our pride in 
     Nebraska.''
       Both Morrison and Tiemann talked about the positive 
     impression Devaney made when he first arrived in the state 
     from neighboring Wyoming. Tiemann was a banker in Wausa at 
     the time and traveled throughout the state with a group 
     introducing Devaney to various communities.
       ``Wherever we went, we didn't have to do much selling,'' 
     because of Devaney's winning personality, Tiemann said. ``He 
     made a great impression. He was a wonderful person to be 
     around.''
       He added that Devaney had such a likable personality that 
     ``he could tell the dirtiest jokes in mixed company and get 
     away with it. I could never do that.''
       He also forged an intense loyalty from his players, said 
     Morrison, who remained a close friend of Devaney's over the 
     years. ``Johnny Rodgers (1972 Heisman Trophy winner) told me 
     one time, `I would have died for Bob Devaney.' ''

[[Page S4501]]

       Woody Varner, who was president of the university from 
     1970-77, during Nebraska's first two national championships, 
     said he knew Devaney when he was an assistant coach at 
     Michigan State.
       ``He came (here) with real devotion to Nebraska,'' Varner 
     said.
       ``He was always a fighter for Nebraska. He never swallowed 
     the story that Nebraska was second-class in any respect. He 
     wanted Nebraskans to feel proud of themselves and of the 
     state.''
       Varner added that what Devaney did for athletics helped 
     build the reputation of the university.
       ``It was easier to recruit students and faculty,'' he said. 
     ``The state of Nebraska held its head high, thanks to Bob 
     Devaney.''
       Don Bryant, UNL associate athletic director and former 
     longtime sports information director, said, ``I have lost a 
     dear, personal friend and it results in a feeling of numbness 
     and shock to realize that Bob Devaney no longer is a force in 
     Nebraska and intercollegiate athletics.''
       Bryant said Devaney's coaching ability and administrative 
     leadership ``raised the standards of excellence and the 
     visions of highest expectations for all Nebraskans.''
       Osborne said that besides being a great coach, Devaney was 
     ``a great friend.''
       ``He was the one who gave me a chance to be a graduate 
     assistant, an assistant coach and a head coach at Nebraska,'' 
     Osborne said. ``Most everything I know about coaching I 
     learned from him. He was exceptional at handling players, 
     always had a great sense of humor, and the players enjoyed 
     playing for him because of the type of person he was. We will 
     all miss him dearly.''
       UNL Athletic Director Bill Byrne described Devaney as ``a 
     giant in the world of college football, a dear friend and 
     national leader.'' Devaney's leadership ``created a football 
     dynasty and athletic program that is the best in America,'' 
     he said. ``Our goal at Nebraska will be to continue the 
     legacy created by Bob. We all will miss him very much.''
       UNL sports historian Ben Rader described Devancy as ``a 
     modern icon of success, in as much as his victories 
     represented success for the entire state . . . He was also an 
     example of a self-made man, who came from modest origins. 
     Success is very difficult to measure in the world of 
     bureaucracies, but an athletics or sports, it's very clear-
     cut.''
       UNL volleyball coach Terry Pettit recalled that when 
     Devancy came to Nebraska, he had two missions.
       ``First, he turned around an average football program and 
     made it into the best in the nation. Then, as athletic 
     director, he (took) a mediocre athletic department and built 
     it into one of the best all-around athletic programs in the 
     country.''
       Petit credited Devaney with helping make Nebraska 
     competitive in women's athletics.
       ``He gave me the resources and opportunity to succeed,'' 
     Petiti said.
       ``He did have, and he will continue to have a lasting 
     impact on the Nebraska athletic department and the entire 
     state of Nebraska. His energy, enthusiasm and drive shaped 
     our athletic department. For a lot of people, especially the 
     coaches under him, he was a sort of father figure. We looked 
     to him for guidance and support, and he always showed great 
     loyalty to his staff.''
                                                                    ____


              [From the Omaha World Herald, May 11, 1997]

                     Bob Devaney, Builder of Pride

       Bob Devaney.
       The name unleashes a flood of symbols and memories.
       Johnnie the Jet.
       Gotham Bowl.
       The Game of the Century.
       Tagge-Brownson.
       Back-to-back national football championships.
       Tom Osborne.
       Expansion after expansion of Memorial Stadium.
       A sea of helium-filled red balloons, released by thousands 
     of football fans on Nebraska's first touchdown of the game, 
     hanging in the air above Lincoln on a brilliant fall day.
       Even before Devaney's death on Friday, it has been an 
     often-repeated cliche that Devaney's impact on Nebraska went 
     far beyond football, that he brought Nebraskans together, 
     east and west.
       But like most other cliches, this one is backed by solid 
     evidence.
       A stumbling athletic program wasn't the only negative that 
     greeted Devaney when he accepted the head coaching job in 
     1962. The state's spirit in general had been bruised by 
     events of the previous five years. The Starkweather mass 
     murders were still fresh in people's memories. A governor had 
     recently died in office. Angry debates over tax policy and 
     school financing, gathering steam since the 1940s, were 
     dividing urban and rural Nebraska interests.
       Nebraskans were ready for a little good news. Devaney gave 
     it to them.
       Under him, the Cornhuskers played with noticeably greater 
     verve.
       They won games that they would have lost in earlier years.
       They began appearing in the national ratings. Then the Top 
     10.
       Finally, in 1970 and 1971, they were national champions.
       Interstate 80 was pushing westward across Nebraska in those 
     days.
       Westerners sometimes asked what good it was.
       Devaney's success gave people in Hyannis, Kimball and 
     Scottsbluff a reason to use the new superhighway.
       Cowboy boots and Stetsons, often bright red, became a 
     familiar sight in Lincoln on autumm Saturdays.
       Lincoln's economy benefited.
       East-west friendships grew stronger. The financial success 
     of the football team made it possible for Nebraska to have a 
     high-caliber women's athletic program. The classy Devaney 
     football teams gave the university national visibility.
       Some people say that too much is made of college athletics, 
     and they're right. Devaney knew that. Remember, he told fans 
     before a game in 1965, there are 800 million people in China 
     ``who don't give a damn whether Nebraska wins or loses.'' 
     There are bigger things in life than whether the team wins.
       Devaney never seemed driven or angry. He respected his 
     opponents. His spirit of good sportsmanship lives on in the 
     Memorial Stadium fans who traditionally applaud Nebraska's 
     opponents at the end of each game, even when Nebraska loses.
       Devaney never set out to transform Nebraska. He would have 
     laughed if someone in 1962 said he was responsible for 
     propping up the self-esteem of an entire state. He was just a 
     man with something he could do very, very well. But 
     excellence on the football field inspired excellence in other 
     walks of life.
       Devaney's success, and the positive influence his 
     accomplishments had on his adopted state, constitutes a 
     memorial that will long bring honor to his name.

                          ____________________