SHOES AT KICKOFF???

H

HuskerRoxie

New member
Hey guys! I am working on an article about Husker traditions. I am a student at UNL right now and in the student section we always take off one shoe and hold it in the air during kick off. I've talked to a lot of people about how this might have started and it seems like it must be a pretty recent thing since most Husker alums don't know, but none of the students I've talked to know either. Does anyone know how this tradition started??? Please let me know ASAP!

Thanks!

Roxie

 
HuskerRoxie said:
Hey guys! I am working on an article about Husker traditions. I am a student at UNL right now and in the student section we always take off one shoe and hold it in the air during kick off. I've talked to a lot of people about how this might have started and it seems like it must be a pretty recent thing since most Husker alums don't know, but none of the students I've talked to know either. Does anyone know how this tradition started??? Please let me know ASAP!

Thanks!

Roxie
Click to expand...
It happened, not to lie, but other schools have been doing this way before the student section started doing it. It is not a Nebraska tradition just so you know. It was copied just like the "black out" crap.

 
KingBlank said:
HuskerRoxie said:
Hey guys! I am working on an article about Husker traditions. I am a student at UNL right now and in the student section we always take off one shoe and hold it in the air during kick off. I've talked to a lot of people about how this might have started and it seems like it must be a pretty recent thing since most Husker alums don't know, but none of the students I've talked to know either. Does anyone know how this tradition started??? Please let me know ASAP!

Thanks!

Roxie
Click to expand...
It happened, not to lie, but other schools have been doing this way before the student section started doing it. It is not a Nebraska tradition just so you know. It was copied just like the "black out" crap.
Click to expand...

:yeah

It has been going on for a while, but REALLY took off in '07 when Adi started booting everything into or through the endzone.

 
I thought it started as some landmine treaty protest. They announced it on NBC in the 90s and then panned our stadium to show all of 1% of students that agreed.

 
I thought it was sponsored by Odor-Eaters..

20090829134443_cute-puppy-pictures-odor-eaters.jpg


 
Last edited by a moderator:
The shoe thing may have been done at other schools too, I don’t know for sure. But it’s been done at UNL for a great many years. And for a specific purpose. Students who sneak booze into the game would often buy a red balloon at the gate to release at the first NU score (another NU tradition). Well, it was hard to hang onto the balloons while retrieving the booze filled bota bags from underneath layers of clothing. So we would take a shoe off and tie our balloon onto our shoe. (Hey, quite a bit of alcohol had already been consumed at this point——so it made sense to us.) After the first score there would be a bunch of drunken students waiving their shoes in the air, their red balloons floating off into the sky. Then other students started doing it. That’s how the shoe thing got started.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
KingBlank said:
HuskerRoxie said:
Hey guys! I am working on an article about Husker traditions. I am a student at UNL right now and in the student section we always take off one shoe and hold it in the air during kick off. I've talked to a lot of people about how this might have started and it seems like it must be a pretty recent thing since most Husker alums don't know, but none of the students I've talked to know either. Does anyone know how this tradition started??? Please let me know ASAP!

Thanks!

Roxie
Click to expand...
It happened, not to lie, but other schools have been doing this way before the student section started doing it. It is not a Nebraska tradition just so you know. It was copied just like the "black out" crap.
Click to expand...

:yeah

It has been going on for a while, but REALLY took off in '07 when Adi started booting everything into or through the endzone.
Click to expand...
There was always a small contingency of students doing it in '05 and '06 when I was there.

 
As a reference point, we definitely did it in 99', although key jingling was more prominent.

 
I believe the shoe thing dates back further than most people think, especially to other schools across the country. I can't remember what school it was, but I know there have been plenty of kickers throughout the years that don't use a shoe to kick the ball. I remember watching a replay on ESPNC once (can't remember the teams), but kick off specialist didn't wear a shoe and hundreds of fans in the stands were holding their shoes up in the air. It was a game from the late 60's or early 70's.

 
I believe it dates back to post WWI times, when the students were urged to raise awareness for the numerous soldiers suffering from trench foot in the foxholes over in Europe. A student group called "Husker fans for trench foot awareness" started a committee to raise money for the boys overseas in order to get more funding for proper footwear.

 
Bradr said:
As a reference point, we definitely did it in 99', although key jingling was more prominent.
Click to expand...
The "key-jingle" is an important piece to increase sound decibels within the stadium. I really wish those blue hairs (and younger folks too) that refuse to stand up and yell for our D would at least give their keys a jingle. :corndance

The shoe thing has been around a long time and I am pretty sure that was not a nebraska born tradition.

as far as traditions go, look no further than the blackshirts. You can also touch on staff continuity in the glory years, offensive line play, WALKONS, and tons of other good stuff.

 
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