Drew the Bones: Mouse Poison, Mylar & the Origins of Nebraska’s Blackshirts Logo
Brandon Vogel on November 4, 2015 at 6:59 pm
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In the moments before kickoff, a man in a black shirt carrying a bundle of black cloth picked his way through the tangle of sweaty bodies in Section 34 on the north end of the stadium. He had something to show the 75,943 as well as a national television audience. When he got to the front row, he asked the fans sitting there if they’d take the black bundle of cloth and flip it over the railing. This wasn’t an uncommon request at the time. Back then the north and south end zone walls were papered with signs and banners, Georgians for Nebraska, Alaskans, Californians. It made the stadium on 10th and Vine feel if not global at least continental.
But this sign was different. Its message wasn’t exactly one of support, but more of intimidation. When Florida State kicked off to start the game, it did so staring directly at a big black banner with a menacing skull in a Huskers helmet atop two crossed bones. None of the 75,943 knew this then either, but a key part of Nebraska’s visual identity changed that day. The Huskers’ Blackshirts tradition, more than 20 years old at that point, finally got a face and it was scary as hell.
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