HuskerTrucker Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thought kiwihuskersfan might like this... Deep Red: The story behind the name ‘Cornhuskers’ By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star Saturday, Jun 20, 2009 - 04:09:46 am CDT Who’s to say? You might be driving down Bugeater Highway today if not for that mustachioed sportswriter of yesteryear. Charles Sumner Sherman was what his parents named him, but Cy Sherman is how his byline read in the Lincoln newspaper. Cy Sherman was in the newspaper biz for almost 60 years, the sports editor of the Lincoln Star for 31 of those. His opinion was strong (his column was titled “Brass Tacks”) and so was his influence. The newspaper once labeled him the “dean of American sportswriters,” and Nebraskans knew him by another title: “The father of the Cornhuskers.” If you’ve ever wondered who was behind the Cornhusker nickname, Cy’s your guy. Sherman started calling Nebraska’s football team the Cornhuskers in stories in 1899, back when hardly anyone was calling them the Cornhuskers. Before the 20th century, the Nebraska football team took the field under a wide collection of nicknames, ranging but not limited to the Rattlesnake Boys, Tree-planters, Antelopes and Bugeaters. Where’d Bugeaters come from? Veteran Husker writer Mike Babcock offers an explanation in his book “Stadium Stories: Nebraska Cornhuskers.” During a drought in the 1870s, an East Coast reporter wrote that since bugs devoured all the crops, all that was left for Nebraskans to eat were bugs. Not everyone was amused by the nickname. As Babcock noted, the university newspaper (it was called the Hesperian Student back then) wrote after a football win over Iowa in 1894 that “we have met the ‘cornhuskers’ and they are ours.” If there was any sarcasm intended in those words, Sherman didn’t care. Cornhuskers. He liked it. His constant mentions of the Cornhuskers in his stories in 1899 — along with a campus crusade by a journalism professor named Alvin Watkins Jr. — provided the heavy push to establish the nickname so familiar today. The student yearbook changed its name to the “Cornhusker” in 1907. The state legislature deemed Nebraska “The Cornhusker State” in 1946. The nickname found its way onto T-shirts, menus, banks, bars, the lips of politicians wanting to jazz up a crowd. Nine months before the presidential election, Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Omaha. His first two words to the crowd? “Ah, Cornhuskers.” So, yeah, the name’s taken off. The “N” Club, usually reserved for Husker letterwinners, even made Sherman an honorary member. Besides helping provide the Cornhusker nickname, Sherman was also of great influence in establishing The Associated Press football poll in 1936. Don Becker, a 1955 Husker graduate, knew Sherman and a few years ago wrote a tribute piece to him in Nebraska Magazine. Becker’s mother was a housekeeper for the writer for many years. Becker recalls Sherman as someone who was tell-it-like-it-is tough. “As a youngster I often saw him chomping on a cigar, green eyeshade on, typing away to meet a deadline,” Becker wrote. “Looking back it could have been a Spencer Tracy movie. … All that the scene needed was a voice off camera yelling ‘stop the presses.’ ” Quote Link to comment
HuskerInLostWages Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Thanks HT, I never knew that. Learned something new today. Quote Link to comment
huskernumerouno Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 Nice history lesson Quote Link to comment
redout22 Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 So I did learn something over this summer Quote Link to comment
BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 I like it. Another great "Cy" in history!! Quote Link to comment
Jeremy Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 It's my understanding that they were called the Bugeaters after the bullbats that would eat the bugs and somewhat deter total losses for the farmers in the early days... Anyone else heard this? Quote Link to comment
macroboy Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 So wait a minute...in the original cornhusker reference wasn't the writer calling iowa the cornhuskers? Quote Link to comment
Landlord Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 The real origin of the nickname came from someone involved with Iowa...Cy just 'borrowed' it. Also, wasn't one of our nicknames the Maneating Mastadons? I swear I have heard that somewhere before.. Quote Link to comment
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