Try on all 5 National Championship Rings

H

husker rob

All-American
I found this article in the Denver Post, if you are going to be in the Estes Park, Co on Sept. 2, you can try them all on.

No shirt, no shoes, no notes ...

We interrupt our regularly scheduled teasing of Nebraska football fans for this important message: Husker Nationalists will have a chance to wear all five of the team's national championship rings over Labor Day weekend.

"They can put them on their hands and take pictures, whatever they want," Jesse Kosch said. "Just so they don't walk off with them. That would be a small problem."

Kosch was a punter on the Huskers' 1994, 1995 and 1997 national championship teams. Claim to fame: He and his father, Bill, an all-Big 8 defensive back on the 1970 and 1971 teams, have earned rings from all five national titles between them.

The rings will be on display Sept. 2, when Kosch hosts the "Big Red of the Rockies" kickoff party at the Lake Shore Lodge in Estes Park. He bought the Big Red of the Rockies store, an institution in Estes Park since the 1990s, in April, moving it three blocks and tripling its size to 1,000 square feet of wall-to-wall Huskerabilia.

Tickets for the bash are going for $15 and include raffle giveaways, a silent auction, eats and, of course, a viewing of the Huskers' season opener against Louisiana Tech. For info, call 888-244-7339 or go to www.bigredoftherockies.com. ...

 
I have been to the old store about 5 years ago and it was pretty cool. A store with nothing but Husker Gear in the middle of sCUm country.

If I wasnt going to be in Iraq by the start of the season I would have to go up to Estes Park and join in the festivities. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun, for $15 you get a buffet lunch and get to watch the game with 200 Husker fans.

 
I'm already planning a vacation in Estes Park, but its the week of Aug 9th. I'm still guna have to check the store out.

 
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the store that i went to was pretty small, about 300 square feet, since Jesse bought the store and moved it to its new location it is about 1000 sf

 
if you like cooler temperatures, less humidity, mountains, and trees I guess Estes Park is OK

actually it is beautiful country up there, to bad it is near Boulder

 
if you like cooler temperatures, less humidity, mountains, and trees I guess Estes Park is OK
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and you can stay at the famous (infamous?) Stanley Hotel while your there too, no?

We interrupt our regularly scheduled teasing of Nebraska football fans for this important message: Husker Nationalists will have a chance to wear all five of the team's national championship rings over Labor Day weekend
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regularly scheduled teasing? i thought last november they changed the theme from teasing to post-shock whining.

 
I bet those Colorado fans really enjoy reading this in their newspaper...
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or if you just *happen* to follow a college football team from Manhattan, KS.

bottomline, mildcats: we're us and you're you. you'll understand what that means when the big xii north title returns to it's proper place... LINCOLN, NEBRASKA.

and the order? it's about to be restored *big-freakin'-time*.

 
My Grandma saw Jesse one time (on her way to get her hair done). He took the time to sign an autograph for me, which we still have in our Husker Room.

 
Omaha

ESTES PARK, Colo. - Walk into Big Red of the Rockies and ask Jesse Kosch to impress you.

T-shirts and posters adorn the walls. There are jerseys with signatures of Mike Rozier and Johnny Rodgers and Eric Crouch. But what's so special about this particular Husker store, other than its relation to Memorial Stadium (500 miles) and sea level (7,600 feet above)?

The former Nebraska punter reaches behind the counter. His hand returns with three rings - three national championship rings.

Kosch, an NU starter from 1995 to '97, could've been a weatherman somewhere. The new owner of the Rockies' best-known Cornhusker cavern has opted to share - or flaunt - his passion.

"I don't want a real job," Kosch says. "I've got the Big Thompson River 20 feet out the backdoor. I see the snow-capped mountains every morning when I wake up. I get to tell old football stories and show off national championship rings."

Kosch was swinging his leg on fourth downs when Big Red of the Rockies, the invention of Nebraskans Gary and Gayle Novotny, opened its doors in 1996. Word eventually spread down the winding mountain roads, down the foothills back to Nebraska. The merchandise store became a destination, a must-see, for Husker fans visiting Rocky Mountain National Park.

Kosch, a Columbus Scotus graduate, earned his meteorology degree in Lincoln. That didn't bear fruit on the job market, so four years ago, he packed his hiking boots and moved west. He had always wanted to live in the mountains, where as a kid, his family took summer vacations.

He settled in Estes and worked on some "odds and ends" for a while. He managed a few downtown stores. He coached at the local high school.

Big Red of the Rockies wasn't even a thought until he talked to Gary Novotny at Christmas time. Novotny said brother Gayle, who operated the store, was moving back to Nebraska. Any interest in buying it, Jesse?

"I said, 'OK.' It happened pretty fast," Kosch said.

He moved the store a few blocks east to a larger location, leaving the old site to a new owner who surprisingly kept the theme and changed the name to "Husker Haven." (For the record, Nebraska leads Colorado 2-0 in Estes Park apparel stores.)

Many Estes tourists still wonder how Big Red of the Rockies makes enough money to stay in business. Kosch said three million people visit Estes Park every year. The majority hail from the Midwest. The largest fan base in the Midwest: Nebraska football.

Besides, about 30,000 NU alumni live in the foothills east of Estes, he said.

"They don't have a whole lot of places to shop," said Kosch, who mans the store by himself, working 84 hours a week.

Kosch intends to celebrate the Nebraska season opener on Sept. 2 with a kickoff party at nearby Lake Shore Lodge. He expects at least 200 people, including his dad, Bill, who started in the defensive backfield for Bob Devaney in 1970 and 1971. The Koschs claim to be the only father-son combination in the country with five national titles - all five NU has won.

By the way, Pop, don't forget your rings.

That's the part of the kickoff party that doesn't thrill the younger Kosch: Fans can take pictures with the rings. They can try them on, one for each finger.

"I'll be standing right by them," Kosch said. "Making sure they stay."

 
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