During the 2005 football season, I was honored to present a program at the Alliance Public Library on my collection of over 100 Nebraska football books. I shared a variety of stories and received the most accolades for reviewing two books: Lessons from Nebraska Football by Gordon Thiessen and Mark Todd, and Hearts of a Champion by Mark Todd. In those books, several players and coaches shared the spiritual aspect of their lives and how it applied to Cornhusker football. My Cornhusker football book program was held the day before Nebraska’s 7-6 victory over Pittsburgh. A few days later, a letter arrived in the mail from one of my all-time favorite Alliance people, Ross Boyer. Here is Boyer’s short — but-to-the-point — letter.
9/20/05
Kevin,
I heard your account on the radio today of Brent Musburger getting a ticket in Lincoln for drinking a beer after the Nebraska/Pittsburgh game last Saturday. It ain’t right to have penalized ANYONE for drinking after THAT game! It was, without a doubt, the sorriest game I have ever watched. However, we must hope for the best. Your interest in – and knowledge of – and your collection of Nebraska football books is phenomenal. Thanks for your presentation. I always enjoy being around you and sharing a stage with you. Now, that’s all you’re gonna get from me!
Ross Boyer
Boyer was referring to ABC’s Brent Musburger receiving a citation for drinking a beer while sitting in the passenger seat of a car near the stadium — an exercise practiced by thousands of fans each home game Saturday. Musburger was fined $100 plus $44 court costs. The incident made the national news for two or three days. Boyer, a Dale Carnegie graduate, possessed a gift for explaining even the minutest detail in a humorous way. I was honored to have participated in several Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day programs with Boyer, who delivered many inspirational messages on patriotism. A month after my book review – on October 14, 2005 — Ross Boyer passed away. He was 81 years old. During my quarter-century career in radio broadcasting, I have received hundreds of thank-you notes and letters of gratitude from listeners. But a letter from Boyer dated November 11, 2002, in which he complimented me for my broadcast ethics in news reporting, is the only letter I’ve ever framed and hung on an office wall.
The day after Ross died, another one of my favorite people, Delbert Grothen, passed away at the age of 81. Delbert was Cynthia’s uncle — her mother’s brother. Delbert, who worked in the Burlington Northern Railroad’s communication department for 37 years, had invited me to watch the 1993 Nebraska at Oklahoma State game with him on television at his home, which was the night Tom Osborne won his 200th game as Nebraska’s head coach. It was an honor for me to read a prepared eulogy at Delbert’s memorial service, which was written by his three children.
I did the same for Delbert’s bride of 55 years, Marion, when she passed away five months earlier. Marion’s memorial service was held at St. John’s Lutheran Church on May 7, 2005, the day before her 83rd birthday. Marion had loved to share with me her experience of attending a Cornhusker football game in 1972, when Johnny Rodgers scored a touchdown by running into the end zone backwards. And I heard the story several times. Shortly before her death, Marion, a retired Grandview Elementary school teacher, had her life’s story published. Titled, Beads on a Necklace, the book details her experiences of growing up on an Iowa farm, surviving the Great Depression, dealing with the heartaches of World War II, traveling the world with Delbert, and spending over 50 years in Alliance. Delbert and Marion were honored as Alliance’s Heritage Days Grand Marshals in 1996, and I am proud to say I submitted their nomination letter. Delbert and Marion are now resting in peace, forever together, in the St. John’s Lutheran Church Columbarium.
Like me, Delbert was born on July 1. And we celebrated our birthdays together on two or three occasions.
While the two men were gifted with two extremely different personalities, they were gentlemen I much admired: Ross for his ability to tell wonderful stories and generally make people feel better about themselves, and Delbert for the gentle compassion and love he shared with his family and mankind in general.
Delbert and Ross were two guys who certainly could wear the title of role model. I’ve learned over the years that the older a man gets, the harder it is to find other men who serve as role models. Following President Bill Clinton’s 1996 sexual encounters with White House Intern Monica Lewinsky, a national newspaper columnist wrote that Clinton’s crime wasn’t so much his committing adultery and the subsequent perjury; it was the President destroying his own opportunity to serve as a role model for millions of American men.
Amen.