Archie Bunker of All in the Family fame said it best: “There are two things a man most remembers in his life: When he buys his first home, and when he gets his first color television.”
After 13 years of watching Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Captain Kangaroo, Batman, Lost in Space, the moon landing and subsequent walk and athletic events on a grainy black and white 19-inch television, living color finally came to the Kevin Horn household just prior to the start of the 1972 football season.
Dad bought a beautiful, 21-inch Zenith from Lawrence Masek, the last of the great TV repairmen.
Lawrence lived just west of Agnew, and he not only sold us the set but delivered it and hooked it up to the antenna that was on the receiving end of five stations. Three from Omaha and two from Lincoln.
When Lawrence unhooked the antenna wire from the old black-and-white set, he gave Dad a little chewing-out when he noticed Dad had about 25 feet of antenna wire rolled up in a small pile. Lawrence explained that the wire from the set to the antenna should be as tight as possible, which would result in a much clearer, cleaner, and crisp picture.
Lawrence snipped the wire in two places, tied the two loose ends together, and turned on our new TV.
I stared at our four-hundred-dollar window to the world the same way an adolescent with overactive glands would gawk at a Playboy magazine. Not only did we finally have color TV; we had color TV to watch FOOTBALL!
So, on September 23, 1972, I viewed my first Nebraska football game in living color. And the Cornhuskers, wearing bright red pants, pasted the Army, 77-7.
The September 24, 1972, Lincoln Journal Star reported 3,500 NU fans dressed in red attended the game, which was played at Michie Stadium, located on the banks of the Hudson River in West Point, New York. The paper printed a picture of NU fans displaying a banner that proclaimed, “Red Never Fades.”
Ironically, the newspaper’s picture was printed in black and white.
Nebraska led Army, 35-0, at halftime and scored four more touchdowns in the third quarter to mount a 63-0 lead.
The pain of Nebraska’s 20-17 opening season loss at UCLA – which halted a 32-game unbeaten streak – was quickly slipping into obscurity.
The only morsel of stress experienced during the blowout of the Cadets was if NU cornerback Randy Borg’s 60-yard punt return for a touchdown was going to be nullified by a clipping penalty. The officials huddled for a few minutes and ultimately ruled the penalty was against Army – and after the Cadets had punted the football! Borg’s touchdown – his first as a Cornhusker – stood!
Borg, a 1970 graduate of Alliance High School, usually lined up a few yards in front of Heisman Trophy recipient Johnny Rodgers to field any potential short kicks. Borg fielding a punt was rare and returning one for a touchdown was a total long shot.
He would do it again, one year later, when he rambled 77 yards for a TD vs. UCLA in Lincoln as the Huskers’ main punt return man.
However, I viewed that game on an old black and white TV.
It didn’t matter. It was still Nebraska football!