In The Deed The Glory : Memorial Stadium | Nebraska Public Media Originals | Nebraska Public Media

(inspirational music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Trev] I just think there's been so much history, so many memories. (gentle music) This place is really, really important to people. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Mike] Memorial Stadium defines Athletics at the University of Nebraska. [Announcer] Here's a hand off to Thunder who gives it back to Mike Stuntz. He's gonna throw it! He's got a man out! [Announcer 2] Yeah, at the 40! [Jeremiah] Third largest city in the state when it's full, right? (intense music) [Bob] Anyone can build a stadium. (intense music) What you put into it, what you say you stand for (intense music) is more a statement of who you are as a people. (intense music) -(machine beeps) -(crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) (crowd cheering) [Trev] Really remarkable, when you think about the guts and bones of a place that's 100 years old. (intense music) [Matt] You can see how it's changed from decade to decade, and yet it still stands, and it's still one of those iconic places that people still wanna get to. So yeah, absolutely, it's got its place in America. (intense music) (intense music) (intense music) (intense music) (intense music) [Speaker] When someone is losing their eyesight, they might think that their world is ending. Blindness does not have to be a tragedy or stop them from being independent and contributing to society. The Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired believes that with training and opportunity, blind people can still enjoy life because the joy of life does not depend on our eyes, but how life is lived. For information about services, 877-809-2419, or NCBVI.nebraska.gov. (upbeat music) * Taking the good with the ups and downs * * I wanna see how the world turns round * * Let's go adventure in the deep blue sea * * Home is with you wherever that may be * * Home is with you wherever that may be * (highway sounds) (band playing) [Eric] Well, my earliest memories are playing youth football actually, and seeing some of the red balloons. You're in a huge stadium, lots of people, lots of red. You know, and that's really what I remember as a kid is coming into the stadium and just seeing, you know, the sea of red, how many people were really rooting on the team, feeling the same way. And that hit me, you know, that hit me pretty good. There's a lot of history. It goes back a long ways. I mean, it's hard to find another college football program that has won as many games as Nebraska over time, filled the stands as many years in a row with the sellouts, you know, done it in a first-class fashion. And so to me that's special. (gentle music) [Narrator] In Lincoln, Nebraska, the skyline is home to a college football cathedral. (gentle music) For 100 years, Memorial Stadium has become a place that has bound the state together. (gentle music) It has been a mecca of the sport, a destination for all college football fans to journey to. (gentle music) As it reaches a centennial celebration, this venerable venue continues to expand and change. (machine beeping) (machine beeping) (construction sounds) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] On Saturdays in the fall, the 90,000 big red faithful that fill the stadium make it the third largest city in Nebraska. (gentle music) A true blue blood of the sport, the Cornhuskers have called Memorial Stadium home since 1923. (gentle music) In that time, they've celebrated wins that put them on top of the college football world, (gentle music) and losses that left the cavernous structure silent. (gentle music) And while good old Nebraska U is synonymous with the stadium, the football team began its history on a dirt field on the edge of campus. (gentle music) [Kay] Nebraska had a chancellor in the 1890s named James Canfield, and Canfield and Roscoe Pound together really promoted the idea of football. They wanted it to be successful because they knew it would unify people in support of the university. It was really pretty brilliant when you think about it, because it was kind of unknown up, you know, up until the late 1880s. It was a brand new sport. (gentle music) Football immediately became very popular. (gentle music) In the Northwest corner where T Street and 10th Street come together, there was a dirt field. And for years and years it was the ROTC, which wasn't really called ROTC yet, but the military field where they would march and do their drills, and the military band practiced. And then when football was born in the 1890s, that became the football field. They played on a field that was basically, you had to go, before the game, you had to go onto the field and throw the rocks off and clear it off. It was such, in such bad shape. That didn't last very long, and it became clear after just a couple of seasons that they had to move. So then they jumped over T Street and created Nebraska Field in 1908. (gentle music) [Mike] Nebraska Field, it ran East and West. It was located basically to the South of where Memorial Stadium is now. There was a grandstand on one side and bleachers on the other, I believe. And it held about 10,000 people. They played the first game there in 1909. They had good crowds, good response there. Because of its location, sometimes, you know, kids could watch games. They could climb up a tree, or you know, there were coal piles, and with the railroad not too far away, and so forth. There were other ways to watch. You didn't necessarily have to have a ticket. But it was a good facility for the time. (inspirational music) [Narrator] During that 13-year stretch, the world was changing around the growing campus and the program. (inspirational music) Conflict grew across the globe, and the United States entered World War I in 1917. (inspirational music) The resulting loss of American lives would top 116,000. (inspirational music) From those losses sprung the seeds of memorials across the country to honor those fallen soldiers. (inspirational music) [Mary Ellen] The team captain for the football team, his name was Roscoe Dusty Rhodes. (inspirational music) He had been chosen by the 1917 football team to be their captain for 1918. (inspirational music) In April, he decided to go and enter the military as a sergeant. (inspirational music) On October 25th in 1918, he was actually killed in action in France. (inspirational music) (inspirational music) We'd just came from this really sobering experience of World War I. And you know, that was a stressful time. It was a stressful time for, you know, the United States, for the world, particularly on campus. [Kay] There was a national movement after World War I to build memorial structures. There were, you know, 20 or 30 schools in the process of building a memorial building. (gentle music) It was a movement that kinda swept through academia from coast to coast. I believe there was a great kind of coming of age, kind of can-do attitude that kind of permeated the whole country at that time. I think they really had the confidence that if they put their mind to it, anything was possible. (gentle music) [Mary Ellen] They had really big plans for this building, right? And it was gonna have the memorial, and that would be a rotunda area. Colonnades. (gentle music) There would be a museum that you could put artifacts from the different war periods. 'Cause they'd started to think beyond just World War I. They were gonna have the, of course, the football field, indoor track. (gentle music) So it really became this giant thing. (gentle music) [Kay] They used a couple of methods to fund it, but the main one was a system of pledging. And they got some funding that way. But then there was kind of an economic downturn in Nebraska. (gentle music) That stopped the fundraising for about six months, from about 1920 to 1921. No fundraising. They were just done. (gentle music) And that's when they decided there will be no colonnades on either end of the stadium. And I think that's when they kind of abandoned the idea of the museum as well. So there was a challenge over the course of numerous years to get the money from the pledges. (gentle music) It wasn't until close to 1940 when they actually closed the books and had actually paid for all the money that they intended to have for the stadium, which was about $450,000. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Mike] Groundbreaking was in April of 1923. It's very labor intensive to build a poured in place concrete building, which is exactly what the original Memorial Stadium is. (gentle music) It's the core of the stadium on the East and the West side. (intense music) [Mike] The construction company had 89 days to complete the project. They lost 31 days to weather. It was an issue. So it went up pretty fast. (gentle music) [Bob] The design of the building is interesting in that it's very typical of its era. The late 19th and early 20th century saw architects and architecture in this country, not exclusively but heavily based in what is known today as neoclassical architecture. (gentle music) And here's where the Capitol and the stadium share some talent. The Capitol was started under construction a good year before Memorial Stadium was begun. And that was enough time to bring in a man from the university, a PhD philosopher and head of that department at the university in the 1920s by the name of Dr. Hartley Burr Alexander. (gentle music) He was brought into the team and provided all the inscription, some in painted murals, some carved in stone. He provided images of what the subject matter was to be in carvings on the outside of the building. He organized the entire thematic scheme both on the exterior and the interior of the Capitol. He was asked by the university, "You know, you're doing this for the Capitol, how about providing some work for us at the stadium?" Which he was glad to do. (gentle music) There are four corner pavilions, and the two inscriptions on the East side of the building that face campus were dedicated as memorial statements to those who'd given their lives in service to the state and nation. (gentle music) (gentle music) In commemoration of the men of Nebraska who served and fell in the nation's wars, (gentle music) their lives they held their country's trust. (gentle music) They kept its faith. They died its heroes. (gentle music) Since this facility was to be about sports as well, there were two inscriptions installed on the corner pavilions on the West stadium. (gentle music) Not the victory but the action. Not the goal, but the game. In the deed, the glory. (gentle music) Courage, generosity, fairness, and honor. And these are the true awards of manly sport. (gentle music) Anyone can build a stadium. What you put into it, what you say you stand for (gentle music) is more a statement of who you are as a people. (gentle music) I mean, he darn well knew that. (gentle music) And so he chose statements on the face of the stadium, if you take time to read them, (gentle music) talk about the merit of the activities to go on inside the stadium, not the win-loss record, but how you conduct yourself competing in those sports representing our state. (gentle music) The stadium was essentially an East and a West stadium. The East stadium that which faced campus was to be the main entrance. (gentle music) The real visual appearance of the stadium was oriented to the East, as it should be in the campus where the students would enter. And that's still to this day the predominant student and faculty side of the stadium. The West stadium, more the general public. (gentle music) And so the East stadium and West were both clad with a facade. (gentle music) It had a whole series of arches along the exterior face of the building. And at the very center of the East side was this semi-dome, which was a semicircular recess into the face of the stadium with a half dome at the top of it. It had kind of coffers in it, and bosses or flowers in the center of that dome. So it was a, had some real antecedents in Roman architecture. (gentle music) It was meant to be a very impressive, make no mistake about it, where the front entrance is kind of expression on that side of the building. (gentle music) It was a really quick build really, 'cause you're talking that, you know, they're groundbreaking in April of 1923, but they're playing games in October of '23. But again, that's where you had the field could be made available, certain sections of the stand could be available, but the entire stadium was not complete at that time. (gentle music) [Kay] It still had wood frame holding the concrete. It looked a little too fresh to be safe. But I do think they tested it before they let people sit up there in the stands. And in fact, I think there's a note where Parsons Construction Company that was responsible for actually building the stadium, they just said, "If you're gonna be having fans in the stands in October or on these games, we're not gonna be responsible for any injuries." (gentle music) The first game happened on October 13th in 1923, and that was against Oklahoma. (gentle music) Nebraska won that game fairly handily, I think 24 to nothing or something like that. And the interesting thing about that was that Nebraska wore blue jerseys that day because Oklahoma had only brought its red ones. And rather than have them both teams looking the same, Nebraska agreed to, we'll do the blue jersey thing. So that's the only time that Nebraska ever didn't wear red in a game. And then the next game on October 20th against Kansas and Jayhawks is when it was actually dedicated. And at that time they said it was 30,000 fans could come into the stadium. Now sometimes, depending on the archival record that you're looking at, you might see that read is 31,000. And in fact, at one point I found a citation where there was actually 47,000 possible seats in the stands because the intention was that you could bring in bleachers in an emergency situation. (gentle music) [Narrator] Nebraska had begun a new chapter on campus and within the football program. (gentle music) Even though the stadium wasn't quite finished, the first games played inside ushered in a new era of winning football that only grew from there. (gentle music) (crowd cheering) [Announcer] Thompson, now he's throwing, end zone, down the right side, and he drops the throw in the bucket for a touchdown for Nebraska to Oliver Martin! (gentle music) [Jeremiah] It's just one of those places, it's hard to explain to people that don't know it what a game day atmosphere in Memorial Stadium is like. But it's one of the first things I remember coming here as a junior in high school on an unofficial visit. You're driving down I-80, and all of a sudden it's just, boom, stadium. (gentle music) You say Memorial Stadium and like the tingles already start because you just know how magic that place truly is. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] Nebraska's one of a handful of NCAA football programs with over 900 total wins. (gentle music) Many of those wins have come from inside their home at Memorial Stadium. (gentle music) Those memorable victories began that first season in 1923 (gentle music) with the second win in a row against the historic Four Horsemen of Notre Dame. (gentle music) [Mike] The last game at Nebraska Field, which had been against Notre Dame, there were 15,000, and then there were another 1,000 or so on coal piles, climbing telephone poles, climbing up into trees, anything to see this game against Notre Dame. (gentle music) The teams that had the Four Horsemen on them, Jim Crowley, Harry Stuhldreher, Elmer Layden, and Don Miller, those Notre Dame teams only lost two games, and both those losses were against Nebraska. (gentle music) [Narrator] The still under construction stadium held a then record crowd of 43,000 as the Cornhuskers upset the Fighting Irish 14 to 7. (gentle music) Anytime you beat a Knute Rockne team, that was a big deal, and Nebraska did it again. (gentle music) [Narrator] As conference rivals dating back to the Missouri Valley in 1921, Nebraska and Oklahoma have shared in many memorable games throughout that time span. From 1959 when the Huskers upset the Sooners at home to break a 16-game losing streak to the game of the century in 1971. [Announcer] To the 40, to the 35, to the 20, to the 10! He's all the way home! [Mike] '78 versus Oklahoma. Husker, Power! Husker, Power! Husker! [Mike] That was one of the more significant games too because Oklahoma was number one. Nebraska was number four. [Tom] We hadn't beaten him for about five years, and people were getting ready to get rid of me, and we went out there and beat 'em 17-14. Jim Pillen recovered a fumble, and what most people don't remember is we another three, four minutes, drove the ball out, and didn't let him get it again. (crowd cheering) But it was a very hard hitting game. (crowd cheering) [Mike] It was a really good Oklahoma team. Nebraska played really well on a cold day in Lincoln and won 17 to 14. (crowd cheering) (band playing) (band playing) [Narrator] Over time, Nebraska gained a new heated rival in Colorado. (crowd cheering) The board of battles were intense in the late 80s and early 90s (gentle music) as both teams battled for control of the conference. (crowd Cheering) [Mike] I remember the weather wasn't very good. (crowd cheering) Both teams were ranked. They tied for number eight in the country, and you wouldn't have known that from the score. (crowd cheering) [Trev] I just remember it was all around Halloween. It was at night. Two great teams, and they didn't particularly care for one another. (crowd cheering) That place just erupted. (crowd cheering) (band playing) Our fans had a whole day to get themselves prepared for that night game, and they came prepared, and they were incredibly helpful in that game. (crowd cheering) We always knew playing here at home, we had a 7 to 10-point advantage, (gentle music) and that was in large part because we knew, you know, our fans were very knowledgeable. As a defender, I mean, it was so loud, it was crazy. You know, we had to have a lot of hand signals and calls. (crowd cheering) So the fans just made a tremendous difference and a huge impact in the game. [Mike] Nebraska won the game 52 to 7. (crowd cheering) I think people, for the most part, stayed to the end because they were happy about the fact that Colorado was the opponent. (wind blowing) [Narrator] Some games are remembered more for what they did for the program and community than the result on the field. (inaudible noise) [Eric] That game against Rice, I think, means a lot to our team. To me personally, just being able to be one of the first football games played. You know, after 9/11. Football didn't really mean a whole lot, but on the other hand, it just meant everything. You know, 'cause a lot of people lost their lives, and when you compare it to that, football, you know, is pretty minimal. (crowd cheering) But then also to be one of the first games to be played on national television, to go out and kind of get back to normal, (crowd cheering) and then to honor all the first responders and, you know, veterans, and local officers, and to see, you know, how much they felt appreciated that day. (all singing national anthem) It was like we were playing for them. And I think that's what made it so cool and such, so rewarding to us is that, you know, kind of not playing football today for ourselves. We're playing this for other people, and you know, for the people that lost their lives, and that kind of just gave you this, wow, let's just go out, and play, and have fun, and do our best, and compete at a high level, and let's, you know, get this country rolling again. (crowd cheering) I don't even think I remember one, maybe one play of that whole entire game. (crowd cheering) It was for something different than football that day. (crowd cheering) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] As the stadium has increased in size and capacity, it's been the sight of loud moments from fans. From Eric Crouch catching a pass in the final quarter against Oklahoma to a school record kick, Memorial Stadium can be a thunderous environment. (crowd cheering) As we went into the last game of the year against Colorado, we were really looking forward to ending this season on a high note. So really tried to build momentum into a good Bowl game. Real tense game. Kind of we're driving towards the end there, third down, and Joe Ganz took a sack. Pelini comes over and asks us if we can make it (gentle music) a fourth down. And I think it was like 17, something like that. (gentle music) After we talked it over, I went up to Pelini and I said I could make it. So from then on, it was kinda getting prepared mentally to go out on the field and try to kick a field goal that was probably the longest I've ever had. Actually was the longest I've ever had. And as a kicker, you kinda focus in and really make sure your mind's on the right things and focus on making it. And from then on, hit the ball well, got it just enough, and from there on it kind of, your mind and body take over, and it all happened so fast. So luckily it went in, and we ended up winning the game. (crowd cheering) [Announcer] Ball right on the N. The snap is down, the kick is up, the kick is on its way. And the kick is good! (crowd cheering) -He makes it in there! -(crowd cheering) 57 yards out. A school record to put the Huskers in front, 33-31! (crowd cheering) [Announcer 2] Wow, this place is on their feet. I haven't seen Memorial Stadium like this in quite some time, fellas. (crowd cheering) [Narrator] The wonder of experiencing a game at Memorial Stadium is a tradition passed down to each new generation of Nebraskans. (gentle music) The drive to fill the stands has been in full effect for over 60 years as the Huskers boast an NCAA ongoing sellout record. (gentle music) [Trev] What makes Nebraska Nebraska is things like, you know, the sellout streak. It's things like these traditions that we hold really near and dear. (gentle music) The reality is, as college football and the world around us changes and evolves, our ability to be innovative ourselves. I mean we got to this point because the University of Nebraska, Tom Osborne, our football program was very innovative. We were doing things before anybody else. And so the challenge is when you've had a history of success doing a certain thing, how do we thread the needle in terms of maintaining those traditions but yet pushing ourselves to continue to innovate. (gentle music) That's gonna be critically important for us to make sure that the sellout streak remains (gentle music) and that this stadium remains viable for the next 50 years. (gentle music) (gentle music) (construction noise) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Mary Ellen] In 1923 you had the bleachers on both sides, but you didn't have much more than that except the playing field. (gentle music) In January around 1926 is when they finally put the finishing touches on some windows and doors to make them look beautiful. (gentle music) And at that time they had planned on creating medallions for each of the schools that were part of the Missouri Valley Conference. (gentle music) [Mike] So if you walked up there, and you looked at the stadium, and you'd say, "What's Washington, Missouri? What's Grinnell College? What's Drake doing on the side of Memorial Stadium?" They were conference opponents at that time. (gentle music) And all the conference schools are represented on the facade of the East Stadium. (gentle music) Sometimes it was a stunner for people. (gentle music) [Narrator] Nebraska began the first series of expansions to grow Memorial Stadium beginning in the late 1930s. (gentle music) Hoping to create more locker rooms, offices, and other athletic department spaces, the university broke ground on Schulte Field House in 1939. [Kay] Schulte Field House probably should have been integrated into the original stadium plan, and it could be that it was, and those things were eliminated due to cost. But it provided sort of some breathing room for the athletic department. (gentle music) [Mary Ellen] They wanted to expand and have more opportunities for locker rooms, equipment rooms, and coaches and administrative offices. (gentle music) The first floor of the Field House was just a dirt playing field. The third floor of the Field House was meant to have courts for handball and squash, and then another indoor playing field for the football team. And you could also use it for track. (gentle music) They finally completed the entire facility, and then a couple years later they dedicated it to Henry Schulte. (gentle music) [Mike] Schulte was hired from Missouri as a track coach 'cause he was a great track coach, and he was an outstanding track coach at Nebraska. (gentle music) He also coached the football team for two years, 1919, 1920. (gentle music) I've always thought the field house was a really kind of a cool building. On the exterior of the North side of the building, it had the UN tiled letters. It had the big clock on the stadium side. (gentle music) The clock was huge. It was a significant landmark in the same sense of the stadium, you know, Schulte Field House. Wow, that's, you know, that's pretty cool. (gentle music) [Narrator] Schulte Field House also helped to connect to an indoor track installed underneath East Stadium. (gentle music) We had an indoor track that was, it wasn't a perfect oval. It kind of went around like this. And I remember jogging down there, and we used to work our players out down there during the winter conditioning. (gentle music) But they had indoor track meets, and the thing was always kind of interesting. They'd have the pole vault, and they had a beam there, and I could swear those guys were gonna hit that beam when they got up around the 12-foot range. (gentle music) It was used for a long time even after the track team had moved away from it. (gentle music) I think it was called Mushroom Gardens because it was damp, and wet, -(Kay laughs) -and dark. It was covered with cinders, and probably wasn't a great environment as far as what you were inhaling, but at least it was someplace fairly warm we could run. (gentle music) I don't remember anybody growing mushrooms, but it seemed like a place you could. (gentle music) [Mike] It was a cool thing, I thought, for its time. You know, obviously when it got to be the Mushroom Gardens, it wasn't so cool anymore. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] Since its completion in 1926, Nebraska had placed bleachers in the North and South end zones to accommodate additional fans who wanted to attend. (gentle music) The sections, known fondly as the knotholes, were the beginnings of what we know of North and South Stadium today. (gentle music) [Kay] The World War II generation grew up sitting in that knothole section, which was basically wooden bleachers down there in the South end zone. And then there was a much smaller set of bleachers in the North end zone for the girls. The boys sat in the South end zone, and the girls sat in the North end zone. And I think it was super cheap, like 10 cents in the '40s probably. (gentle music) [Tom] When Bob came here in 1962, the previous season they'd won three games, I think, and lost seven or eight. And Bob's first year we went nine and two. (gentle music) And then demand for tickets continued to increase. (gentle music) [Mike] The interest in Nebraska football was such that by in 1964, it's like, well, we need to start expanding. [Kay] As the team got more successful, they wanted stadium seats where they could sell real tickets. So the knothole section on the South was taken down, and the South Stadium went up. (gentle music) [Mary Ellen] The stadium goes up from about 31,000, and by 1966 we're up to 65,000 seats. (gentle music) [Narrator] The East and West sides were now connected with the construction of South Stadium. (gentle music) The horseshoe looking structure still wasn't entirely connected though as fans couldn't walk from East to West Stadium through a joined concourse. (gentle music) The horseshoe would've lasted (gentle music) really only one or two seasons before the North Stadium went in, and that was right in front of the Field House. (gentle music) [Narrator] This new expansion in the North would cover the familiar sight of Schulte Field House. (gentle music) North Stadium, unlike its south counterpart, was done in stages. (gentle music) First, beginning in 1965, the center portion was built, (gentle music) adding 5,000 more seats. The following year, the wings on either side of the North end zone were completed raising capacity inside the stadium to more than 65,000. (crowd cheering) And Cornhusker fans' passion was the leading cause for that end increased seating. (gentle music) [Tom] There's no use expanding the stadium if you can't sell the seats. (gentle music) When Bob came here in '62 until Frank Solich left here, (gentle music) we won 82% of our games, (gentle music) which was about 60 more games than anybody else. And I think Ohio State was second at 75%. And so we went through a pretty good period of success on the field, and that certainly had to be part of it too. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Matt] First thing they say is great people. Every time without fail, they talk about the people of Nebraska. (gentle music) (machine dings) (gentle music) (gentle music) When Big Red starts to come alive, the whole crowd comes alive. That's the way it's always been. That's the way it's always gonna be. Look, this is one of those places that it doesn't change. It hasn't changed; it's not going to change. They love Nebraska football. It's always gonna be that way. (gentle music) [Jeremiah] The stadium is fantastic. It's the coolest thing ever, but if there's 10,000 people in it, it doesn't have the allure, it doesn't have the pull. (gentle music) Husker faithful to just show up week in and week out. And to the point where in my four or five years I got to know the people that had the season tickets right behind the bench, or the person that stood at the same corner of the tunnel walk every single week and without fail did not miss. (gentle music) Third largest city in the state when it's full, right? I tell people that all the time, and they kind of laugh. I'm like, but it's true. You know, it's not just something that is for the fans, but I think it's something that brings the state together. (gentle music) [Narrator] Memorial Stadium status in Nebraska is unquestionable, (gentle music) a true touchstone of the state. (gentle music) The stadium has become intertwined in the lives of Nebraskans. (gentle music) It has hosted several concerts from Farm Aid in 1987 (gentle music) to a sold out show for Garth Brooks in 2021. (gentle music) A popular backdrop for wedding photos (gentle music) and the new home for spring commencement. (gentle music) Nebraska's old gray lady is more than just Husker football. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Mary Ellen] The West side of the stadium held all kinds of different things. (gentle music) When it was first built, we put in the auto repair shop. We had the head custodian live there. We had landscape architecture in there. And then one of the things that I think is really interesting is they had the print shop there. So there's all these different pockets on campus that keep us connected to that concept of that stadium and the athletics. When we do projects in athletics, we always try to see if there's other uses, other partnerships across campus. (gentle music) [Narrator] West Stadium grew to include the training table where all student athletes could gather for meals. A student life center and the home of the production unit responsible for the stadium big screens, Husker Vision. (gentle music) Memorial Stadium's ability to connect goes beyond the playing field. (gentle music) [Denny] The very first day we met, we both loved Nebraska football, and our kids love Nebraska football. My mom. (gentle music) [Narrator] Denny and Joyce Korinek have a unique connection to the stadium that brought the two of them together. My father bought two tickets in 1929 during the Depression, on the 50 yard line halfway up in the West Stadium. (gentle music) I think he paid 50 cents. (gentle music) That's 90 some years that those seats have been sat in by my father's relatives. [Denny] I signed this 1954. My number is 31. (gentle music) Memorial Stadium to me is probably more important to many people because I ended up playing here. (gentle music) I did not only play football, but I also played baseball for the University of Nebraska. In football I was offensive running back, right and left half back. And during that time that was playing, (gentle music) we ended up having to play defense also going both ways. (gentle music) [Narrator] Happenstance would bring the two of them together later in life through a love of the University of Nebraska. (gentle music) The couple who reside in Florida travel back to the stadium for each home game. (gentle music) [Joyce] My son is a retired pilot for Southwest Airline, which allows us to fly as parents. So we have no excuses. We can fly back and see a game and fly back to Florida. (gentle music) We don't miss games. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] Denny and Joyce have seen the stadium and team evolve over the years. (gentle music) Their passion and dedication to all things Nebraska shows no signs of stopping. (upbeat music) [Denny] Listen, never coming back to a game? As long as I can walk, and talk, and drive, and steer, -and ride a horse- -[Joyce] What? I will be coming back for Nebraska football. [Joyce] Ride a horse? (gentle music) [Denny] To me this stadium is a shrine to all of Nebraska. (gentle music) End of story. (gentle music) [Joyce] I can be so proud that this beautiful stadium has added on very gracefully. (gentle music) My compliments not so much to the concrete, but to the people that sit on that concrete in that stadium. (gentle music) We have the best fans in the whole world. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] That concrete structure had stayed primarily the same after the last round of expansions, which included the North and South seating. Plans for continued expansion were on the horizon as fan interest and wins piled up. (gentle music) But as Nebraska's athletic department would find out, they needed to secure what was there before more could be added on. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Tom] The one thing that was a rather vivid memory for me was that we had those expansions in South and North Stadium, but we still had the track. So the track ran underneath them. With that expansion, where was a support beam there at the Southeast corner of the track. During games they would put bleachers under there. And for some reason somebody took that beam down because I think because it kind of obstructed the track. And then we had a collapse. (gentle music) [John] It was a lower part of section 14. (gentle music) They had a removable column. And so they had decided to leave that out and add some structural components to that section. And then small cracks developed, freeze thaw, freeze thaw, and then there just wasn't enough structure in the end of a raker beam, and it had finally just failed. (gentle music) When the stadium collapsed in May of 1993, it was a major event. Could have been a disaster. If that would've happened during a game, I just don't know what would've happened. It would've been terrible. (gentle music) First, they had to investigate of what happened, what caused this collapse. And then secondly, they hired an engineering firm out of Chicago who specializes in more forensic engineering to come in and look at the entire stadium just to make sure that this wasn't gonna happen again. (gentle music) And so for the next few years we systematically repaired the stadium, and in some cases we replaced about 50% of the concrete. (gentle music) [Narrator] As the stadium was repaired and set up for the future, (gentle music) the football team experienced unprecedented success. (gentle music) The winning prompted the first in a series of large expansion projects at Memorial Stadium. (gentle music) West Stadium expansion was kind of triggered because the original press box, which was built in the late 60s, had become really obsolete by the 90s. (gentle music) And that led to the sky boxes, and the expansion, and then the club seating. (gentle music) First and foremost in my mind was to preserve the original stadium. (gentle music) We were able to memorialize the original facade in the concourses. (gentle music) The old footings of the stadium, they couldn't handle any more structure on top. So the only thing that's touching the original stadium is a rubber gasket at the top. (gentle music) The East and West sides are both independent structures of the original stadium. (gentle music) [Narrator] In 2004, work began on a North Stadium expansion project that removed Schulte Field House, replacing it with a new structure that was modeled after its predecessor. (gentle music) Originally we were going to just build around Schulte and remodel it, but it just structurally just couldn't work. (gentle music) But we wanted to keep the features of the original Schulte Field House when we built the North Stadium and recreated it in a sense. (gentle music) One of the things, once it was decided that we were gonna remove Schulte Field house, (gentle music) I wanted that clock off of there 'cause I just thought it was something that we needed to preserve. But contractors worked for three weeks, and it was so tied in to about four foot of concrete and brick that it just wasn't practical to remove. So we removed several key pieces of it, and then we were able to use those to recreate the clock in the concourse. (gentle music) [Narrator] Finally, in 2013, (gentle music) Nebraska opened its latest expansion in East Stadium. (gentle music) When we were building and planning East Stadium. I went to Coach Osborne and encouraged him to build the shell space that is now the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab and then the CB3 Lab. [Personnel] Keep going, Kelly. Really good. [John] When we built West Stadium, we had this big expansive area in the concourse that really wasn't put to use at all. And so we didn't wanna make that mistake when we planned and constructed the East Stadium. (gentle music) [Narrator] By that time the Nebraska Cornhuskers had moved conferences and saw a rotating cast of coaches come into the stadium. (gentle music) The winning ways of the past had waned. (gentle music) Player development became a focus for success, and a new offshoot of the football stadium came into view. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) [Trev] This place really cares about football. (gentle music) You think about as time's gone on and all that has changed, it really just reaffirms the commitment that the university has towards its football program, how important it is to not just the university, but to the entire state. (gentle music) [Narrator] In 2019, Nebraska embarked on the construction of a $165 million facility that would be connected to Memorial Stadium on the Northeast corner. Obviously football is very important here, but you know, there always is gonna be a component of all of our student athletes. You know, you put the academic support, and the training table, and life skills, and some of that programming in there that affects all of our student athletes. (gentle music) But you know, it really is part of the DNA of Nebraska. This is a place that's always believed in development. This is a place that's always tried to identify, you know, overlooked student athletes with maybe a chip on their shoulder. I was one. That they could come in and develop, who were willing to work hard. (gentle music) [John] We did an evaluation of what our football facilities were. We went around the country and toured new facilities, and just to see what others were doing. (gentle music) We just fell short on a couple features, especially on the recovery side for student athletes. (gentle music) We've never wanted to do something just because somebody else did it. We always were very thoughtful on what we're gonna build and what we're gonna bring online to make sure that it met our needs, not just because it was bigger and better than somebody else did it. We just wanted make this facility more of a one-stop shop for our student athletes. Whether it's football or for all of our student athletes, it's right on campus. It's very convenient. [Trev] I'm not sure that I can think of any other school that's gonna be more well positioned than the University of Nebraska. Between our development facility that's 315,000 square feet, a vision around modernizing Memorial Stadium, and the support that our fans have shown, (gentle music) we've got a great chance. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] In 2023 the new facility opens and ushers in the latest phase of the stadium's footprint on campus. But changes aren't stopping there. (gentle music) Already in progress are plans for modernization to help Nebraska's Memorial Stadium continue to be a destination for all fans of college football. (gentle music) [Trev] We wanna make sure that this place is still the place to be 50 years from now. (gentle music) It takes a lot of work 'cause the world's changed. People's expectations have changed. People's mobility have changed. (gentle music) Shoot, the size of all of us have changed, right? The way we consume live sporting events has changed. (gentle music) We can't be paralyzed in fear by change. (gentle music) Kind of really remarkable when you think about the guts and bones of a place that's 100 years old. (gentle music) Doing the very best you can to continue to embrace what was really special about this place when it was built in 1923. (gentle music) I love the fact that I can still go down in the concourse and go on the outside of the 100-year-old facade and still see the signs that says through these gates pass the greatest fans in the world, and see the architecture and the brilliance really of it when it was built is pretty cool. (crowd cheering) [Announcer] And this setting right here, listen to this crowd. (crowd cheering) A very appreciative crowd. Hundred years this stadium has been sitting here. (crowd cheering) This is one of the iconic stadiums in our country, mostly because of the people who occupy it. [Announcer 2] Who have sold it out for 60 years. (crowd cheering) [Jeremiah] You know, I think one thing that for me was always really important was you would always walk by those gates, and they'd always be open. Even today I was over there and I walked by, and one of the janitors who was throwing trash walked by, and he was just standing in there looking out of the stadium. And he looked at me and he goes, "Never gets old, does it?" And I was like, "Yeah, it never gets old." (upbeat music) [Bob] There's a great statement written by a man by the name of John Ruskin. (upbeat music) And he says, "Therefore when we build, let us think that we build forever. (gentle music) Let it not be for present delight or present use alone. (gentle music) Let it be such work our descendants will thank us for. (gentle music) And let us think when we lay stone on stone (gentle music) that those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them. And that people will say when they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, see this our parents did for us." (gentle music) You know, I'm biased. I think it's the most important building in our state. And I think it's representative of how athletics can be used as a catalyst to bring people all across our state together. (gentle music) And at the end of the day, you know, Nebraska as a state, Our university and our football program is at its best when everybody feels like they have a part of it. Doesn't matter where you live, where you grew up, what you look like, none of it. (gentle music) This is a place to assemble and bring people together that may have some difference of opinions on other things in life, but can they sit next to each other for three hours and cheer on the big red? That's pretty cool. (gentle music) (gentle music) [Narrator] "In The Deed The Glory: Memorial Stadium" is brought to you in part by the Nebraska Lottery. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)