[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 66 (Monday, May 19, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E973-E974]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BOB DEVANEY'S LEGACY LIVES ON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 19, 1997

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, Bob Devaney has left a tremendous legacy 
that extends across the State of Nebraska and continues to touch 
coaches, players, and fans with whom he came into contact. As a 
football coach, he instilled a sense of pride in his players and their 
fans and helped make Nebraska a winner both on and off the field.
  It is clear from the statistics that Bob Devaney was an exceptional 
football coach. He took a team with a history of losing and instantly 
transformed it into a victorious powerhouse with a national reputation 
for success. The turnaround was dramatic. Since his first year as head 
coach, the team has not had a losing record. During Devaney's tenure as 
coach, the Nebraska Cornhuskers won or shared eight Big Eight 
championships and were crowned as National Champion twice. His teams 
compiled an impressive record of 101-20-2. As a coach, Devaney was a 
skilled motivator and teacher.
  However, Devaney's influence on Nebraska extended far beyond the 
football field. He created a unifying experience for the State's 
citizens which is unrivaled in the Nation. Devaney created a positive 
bond that was obvious not only on football Saturday, but during the 
week and throughout the year. He drew together east and west; urban and 
rural; man, woman, and child.
  The State was fortunate to have the benefit of Devaney's leadership 
and expertise not only as a coach but also as athletic director for the 
University of Nebraska. In that capacity, he helped establish quality 
facilities programs for women and men, and established a winning 
attitude throughout the athletic department.
  Bob Devaney earned the respect of his coaches, his players, and fans 
across the State and throughout the Nation. He demonstrated what can be 
accomplished through collegiate athletics. With his competitive spirit, 
lively sense of humor, and genuine concern for his players, Devaney set 
a positive example of success and good sportsmanship which lives on in 
Nebraska's football program and throughout the lives of Nebraskans.
  This Member would like to commend to his colleagues the following 
editorials from the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal-Star. 
The editorials highlight the importance of Bob Devaney to the State of 
Nebraska and his legacy that will always endure.

              [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 had been 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 autumn 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.
                                  ____



             [From the Lincoln Journal-Star, May 14, 1997]

        Bob Devaney Taught Us All To Reach for Best That's in Us

       From Scottsbluff to Omaha, Nebraskans tip their hats to Bob 
     Devaney, who will be honored with fondness and gratitude at 
     an unprecedented statewide funeral observance today.
       The funeral services in Lincoln will be telecast live over 
     the statewide educational television network, allowing 
     Nebraskans across the state to participate in the event.
       Devaney's enduring gift to Nebraska was an awakening of 
     unity and possibility and pride. He left behind more than 
     those two national football championships and 101 Husker 
     victories.
       He brought a whole state to its feet, not only to cheer a 
     winning football program that is still winning 35 years after 
     his arrival, but ultimately to look and reach and achieve 
     beyond that. As thrilling and satisfying as the football 
     success has been, there is more to the Devaney legacy. He 
     showed us the possibilities. He removed the limits. He 
     extended our reach. He raised the bar.
       Devaney established new standards. He did not stop at 
     saying we could be better. He said we could be the best, and 
     then he went out and did it. And the lesson began to dawn on 
     us: If this small prairie state could be best in football, it 
     could be best in other endeavors as well.
       He showed us excellence. And if he could achieve it with 
     hard work and an iron will, each of us might be able to 
     achieve it in our own pursuits as well.
       Devaney came our way from Wyoming in 1962, and immediately 
     turned Nebraska's long slumbering football program around. 
     The success was so instantaneous that it was stunning. The 
     Huskers went from 3-6-1 in 1961 to 9-2 and their first bowl 
     victory in 1962. They have not had a losing season since.
       After Devaney's 1970 and 1971 national championships, he 
     turned over the coaching reins to Tom Osborne and set about 
     building the university's entire athletic program into one of 
     the strongest in the country. That also stands as testimony 
     to him today.
       So, most vividly, does the red-splashed, sold-out Memorial 
     Stadium of autumn Saturdays in Lincoln. It truly is the house 
     that Bob built, Devaney Bowl. Its seating capacity when he 
     came here in 1962 was 36,000. Four additions more than 
     doubled the stadium's capacity during Devaney's football 
     tenure.
       Bob Devaney. Builder. Winner.
       And a good-natured Irish wit. He also brought us the 
     pleasure of joy and laughter, and he will be remembered with 
     a smile today all across the state.
       Perhaps Osborne knows best the measure of the man. When 
     Devaney turned the football program over to his young 
     assistant in 1973, he stepped back out of the spotlight and

[[Page E974]]

     tried to keep his shadow off Nebraska's new coach. Devaney 
     told Nebraskans they had a better football coach now. And 
     through the years, he gave Osborne his total support, never 
     failing to praise him, never getting in the way.
       It was a tough job following in the footsteps of Devaney at 
     Nebraska. But it would have been even tougher for Osborne if 
     Devaney had not worked so hard to smooth the way. Tom Osborne 
     is another of Bob Devaney's legacies.
       We're proud of you, Coach Devaney. We salute you. You gave 
     us more than football victories and national championships. 
     You showed us how to dream and do.
       What we give back to you today is our gratitude--and the 
     promise that we will cherish you now in memory and legend.

     

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