51 years ago, on Thursday and Friday, January 9 and 10, 1975, a powerful blizzard stranded the residents of eastern Nebraska.
Hardest hit was Omaha. 16 inches of snow combined with 60 mph winds.
50 miles to the southwest of the Big O, our farm was struck with similar intensity.
The country roads and highways were closed for days.
Shortly after the storm, one of my pet goats gave birth to quadruplets.
Do protect mama and her four babies from the elements, I housed them in a small pigeon house with a heat lamp and portable radio.
I tuned the radio to KFAB, Omaha. The station’s music and wonderful announcers helped calm my goats.
The radio played around the clock.
That meant my goats were subject to University of Nebraska basketball broadcasts,
Enter Kent Pavelka, who was in his first year of announcing Big Red hoops.
After the roads cleared, my dad took me to a Husker game. On the night of January 29, 1975, Nebraska beat Oklahoma State, 73-58, at the NU Coliseum.
It gave me comfort knowing the goats could hear my cheers, mixed with the throats of 8,000 other fans, coming through the radio.
It also was consoling that the goats were subjected to Pavelka’s enthusiastic broadcast.
Now, in 2026, those five goats are long gone. But the enduring Pavelka is still behind the Big Red microphone.
As of this writing, Nebraska is undefeated and ranked tenth in the country.
Most of those victories have been shown on television.
I haven’t watched many, though.
My radio has been tuned to Pavelka’s broadcasts.
The mental pictures he paints of this incredible team is as invigorating as listening a symphony orchestra perform Galop (William Tell Overture).
This past Saturday, I was cruising around Box Butte County roads with my dogs listening to Pavelka’s descriptions of Nebraska digging itself out of a 16-point hole at Indiana and knock off the Hoosiers, 83-77.
At the end of the broadcast, Pavelka bleated, “Basketball School Nebraska 83, Football School Indiana 77!!!!”
I told my dogs that they were listening to a GOAT.
The acronym for Greatest Of All Time.