Everyone has a favorite uncle. The one who tells great stories and whose visits to your home are met with anticipation greater than the annual visit of Santa or the Easter Bunny.
I was introduced to mine 55 years ago.
September 19, 1970.
Well, let’s call him my uncle who wasn’t an uncle.
He was Lyell Bremser, the 45-year radio voice of Nebraska football on KFAB, Omaha.
As a sixth grader at Valparaiso Elementary school in eastern Nebraska, I was blossoming into an avid Cornhusker football fan. I had spent the 1969 season listening – albeit on and off – to NU football as described by various radio men.
On this warm late summer night, with kickoff at 10 pm CST, I was completely captivated by Uncle Lyell vividly describing NU’s 21-21 tie with third-ranked USC in the Los Angeles Coliseum. His descriptions were so clear that, in my mind, it was as if I were seated on the 50-yard-line.
One of the of the game’s high points was a 67-yard TD run by Big Red running back Joe Orduna of Omaha. Bremser’s enthusiasm increased with Orduna’s passage of each five-yard chalk stripe.
The tie with USC would prove to be the only blemish on NU’s record, as the Cornhuskers would go on to win its first mythical national championship three-and-a-half months later.
However, the highlight of the game was being introduced to my new favorite uncle – who wasn’t an uncle – Lyell Bremser. Our relationship would last for 14 years until he retired following the 1983 season.
Uncle Lyell’s weekly stories provoked an 11-year-old kid into dreaming that he, too, could sometime paint pictures in the minds of radio listeners.
My dream became reality for 30 years.
And now it’s the talented Kyle Crooks who is painting those pictures on the radio.
Here’s hoping Kyle – who could be considered by favorite radio nephew – will broadcast Nebraska’s first-ever victory over USC this Saturday night!