It was 50 years ago tomorrow. January 14, 1971. And on this date my 40-year-old mother had had enough of her 11-year-old son’s begging to be excused from school.
“The bus will be here in ten minutes,” she hollered. “Get out that door and wait for it!”
She was directing her exasperation at me.
However, to this day, I believe my pleas for a one-day dismissal from my sixth grade classroom at Valparaiso Elementary School in Saunders County were beyond legitimate. I wanted to listen to the President of the United States honor the 1970 National Champion Nebraska football team at the NU Coliseum.
Despite several inches of snow on the ground, the 37th president was scheduled to speak to a crowd of mostly UNL students. He did. And I wasn’t there. I was stuck in school listening to my hard-nosed teacher, Mrs. Millward, share her oral interpretation of Brighty of the Grand Canyon. Being force-fed literature about a stupid donkey when a Republican President was only 25 miles down the road certainly added insult to injury.
While Brighty and Homer Hobbs bored me to tears, the President honored Bob Devaney, co-captains Dan Schneiss and Jerry Murtaugh and the entire Cornhusker football team. Each Cornhusker player wore a red blazer and college students stood within a few feet of the President’s makeshift stage.
I know, because I saw the news coverage on television that night. And the next day’s Lincoln newspaper was loaded with photos.
Despite my disappointment with having my school excusal request vetoed by my mother, Dad came through a few days later. He presented me with a special Lincoln Journal-Star tabloid recapping the 1970 Cornhusker season. On the front page: a giant color photo of Devaney, Schneiss and Murtaugh receiving the presidential national champion plaque from Mr. Nixon.
It certainly made my disposition a little more – shall we say – brighty.