Heart of a Husker is a portrait of Nebraska football coaching legend Tom Osborne, drawn with interviews from former players and coaches who were with the team during his 25 seasons as head coach. Osborne is a congressman now, in his third term in the House of Representatives.Among the most successful coaches in college football history, Osborne's Cornhuskers had a combined record of 255-49-3 from 1973-1997. They won or shared 13 conference titles, went to bowls in each of his 25 seasons and won three national championships in his final four seasons. Osborne reached 200 victories and 250 victories quicker than any major college head football coach and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.Heart of a Husker is an intimate look at a man whose quiet, but intense, demeanor touched thousands of lives, both on and off the college gridiron.

Firsthand tales of the most memorable moments in Cornhusker football history A traditional powerhouse, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are one of the most successful NCAA football teams, with five national championships and the highest winning percentage of any program over the last half century. Authors Jerry Murtaugh, an All-American linebacker at Nebraska in 1970, Jimmy Sheil, George Achola, and Brian Rosenthal, through interviews with current and past players, provide fans with a one-of-a-kind, insider's look into the great moments, the lowlights, and everything in between in Cornhuskers history. Readers will hear from players, coaches, and administrators as they discuss their moments of greatness as well as their defeats, making If These Walls Could Talk: Nebraska Cornhuskers a keepsake no fan will want to miss.

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is one of the most storied and decorated football programs in NCAA history—since its inception in 1890, the program has claimed five National Championships, all of which are explored in this essential guide, along with the personalities, events, and facts that any and every Cornhuskers fan should know. The book recalls the key moments and players from Tom Osborne’s reign on the Nebraska sidelines from the 1970s to the 1990s—an unprecedented period that included 13 conference championships and three national championships—as well as the program’s early years and recent success under head coach Bo Pelini. Author Sean Callahan also includes the unforgettable players who have worn the Scarlet and Cream, including Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, Tommie Frazier, and Ndamukong Suh. More than a century of team history is distilled to capture the essential moments, highlighting the personalities, games, rivalries, and plays that have come together to make Nebraska one of college football’s legendary programs.

Relive Classic Moments in Cornhuskers History! Thrilling victories, crushing defeats, comical mishaps, and colorful coaches, players, and fans--these are the legendary moments and larger-than-life personalities that have made the Nebraska Cornhuskers a gridiron favorite. In Stadium Stories: Nebraska Cornhuskers, veteran journalist Mike Babcock shares his favorite memories of this beloved team. Together you'll relive the highs and lows and become reacquainted with some of the team's all-time greatest heroes and legends including: Hall of Fame coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne "Trainwreck" Tom Novak, the scariest linebacker on the team "The Game of the Century" that made football history

As head coach of the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers for twenty-five years, Tom Osborne had one of the most impressive records in college football. Before retiring in 1997, he took his team to a bowl game every year, won three national championships in the last four years he coached, and ended his career boasting an almost unheard of 84 percent winning record. But while these numbers testify to an undeniable accomplishment, it has been another, more powerful force that has shaped Tom's life: his faith. In Faith in the Game, this legendary coach shares the philosophy he used to create not only a champion football team but also a meaningful life. Both a memoir of Osborne's career with the Cornhuskers and an inspirational guide to making the most out of life by cultivating core values like honesty, courage, and loyalty, Faith in the Game presents the traits Osborne helped to instill in his team--traits that helped the Cornhuskers achieve their spectacular level of success. Osborne focuses on the aspects of character that he has emphasized in his work on and off the field, illustrated with compelling behind-the-scenes stories of the Nebraska football team. Conveyed with his own captivating integrity, Osborne's message reveals the value of hard work, the importance of finding a balance between our professional and personal obligations, and, above all, the importance of bringing faith into our lives to help us through times of crisis. Tom Osborne is beloved not only for his outstanding record but also for the commitment and dedication he has always shown to his players and coaching staff as a mentor, coach, and friend. His ability to motivate a team has come not with last-minute pep talks but through a focus on consistency and strength of character. "Winning," as he writes in Faith in the Game, "is a by-product of sound preparation." For those seeking a spiritually centered approach to living and working, this candid account of Tom Osborne's faith and strength is a warm and authentic book from which all of us can learn.

At age twenty-eight, when Tom Osborne agreed to join Bob Devaney?s full-time coaching staff at the University of Nebraska, he resolved to be a head coach by the time he reached age thirty-five. Little did he know that this goal would chart his course toward becoming one of the nation?s premier football coaches. Six years later in 1972, Devaney named Osborne as head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. ø In high school and college, Osborne had been an outstanding athlete in his own right. He went on to play professional football and to earn his master?s and doctorate degrees in educational psychology. Throughout all these years in sports and academics, he was developing his unusual and inspiring philosophy of coaching, which above all emphasizes the process of athletics. ø In More Than Winning, Osborne gives an in-depth personal account of his life?the forces that shaped his values, his own accomplishments in sports, and his experiences as a coach at Nebraska. He describes his philosophy of coaching, shares personal perspectives on football greats, and gives his view of key Nebraska games up through the 1984 Orange Bowl.

Nebraska has enjoyed thirty-six consecutive winning seasons, made twenty-nine consecutive bowl appearances, and won five national championships, including three in the last four seasons. During that time, the Cornhuskers have had just two head coaches, Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. Without question, this is the golden era of Cornhusker football, and Go Big Red is a celebration of that indisputable fact. It is much more than a trivia book-- it goes beyond the hefty and comprehensive media guides published each season by the Nebraska Sports Information Office. The book covers Nebraska football in a way no other publication has, with personality profiles, anecdotes, and original research, as well as questions of fact and trivia, some of which will test even the most devoted and knowledgeable Cornhusker fans. Some things you'll remember. There is a section devoted to the best of Broderick Thomas, the loquacious outside linebacker. And there are also some things you won't remember, or things you might not have known. Can you name all of the assistant coaches on Osborne's first staff in 1973? Can you list Nebraska's starters for the 1941 Rose Bowl game? Do you know how the "Blackshirt" tradition began? Devaney was a master storyteller, and the book includes a humorous story or two of his. The program became a haven for walk-ons under Osborne, and the book includes an all-walk-on team. Though Nebraska is enjoying its greatest successes now, Cornhusker football was king long ago. And the book offers insight into that past glory, achieved by the likes of "Jumbo" Stiehm, Ed Weir, and Guy Chamberlin. All-American Trev Albert, the Butkus Award winner in 1993, has expressed the meaing of Cornhusker football in the introduction, which is an integral part of the book's experience. Reading Go Big Red isn't the same as sitting in Memorial Stadium, awash in red on game day. But it's the next best thing.

The “beautifully written” biography of the first African American player to be drafted by the NFL, “a must read for any sports fan” (Warren Rogan, host of the podcast Sports’ Forgotten Heroes). As the first African American to play quarterback, George Taliaferro was a trailblazer whose athletic prowess earned him accolades throughout his football career. Instrumental in leading Indiana University to an undefeated season and undisputed Big Ten championship in 1945, Taliaferro was a star when many major universities had no black players on their rosters and others were stacking black players behind white starters. George Taliaferro would later rack up impressive statistics while playing professionally for the New York Yanks, Dallas Texans, Baltimore Colts, and Philadelphia Eagles. His athletic prowess did little to prevent him from facing segregation and discrimination on a daily basis, but his popularity as an athlete also gave him a platform. Playing professionally gave Taliaferro more opportunity to use football to fight oppression and to interact with other important trailblazers, like Joe Louis, Nat King Cole, Muhammad Ali, and Congressman John Lewis. Race and Football in America tells Taliaferro’s story and profiles the experiences of other athletes of color who were recognized for their athleticism yet oppressed for their skin color, as they fought (and continue to fight) for equal rights and opportunities. Together these stories provide an insightful portrait of race in America. “A portrait of a young man who overcame the obstacles of racism, the military draft, and the death of his father. His vehicle for climbing over obstacles was athletic prowess and inner strength.” —Jim Baumgartner, College Football Hall of Fame