George Flippin becomes first black student-athlete at University of Nebraska, competing in football, wrestling, track and field and baseball. George was a respected physician and surgeon known across the county and state for his willingness to make house calls regardless of the distance or the ability of the family to pay. George Flippin died May 15, 1929 and is the only African –American buried in the Stromsburg Cemetery in Nebraska.

Black athletes would go on to participate in athletics, specifically football, including:

• William N. Johnson (1900-1906, football)
• Robert S. Taylor (1906-1909)
• Smith (1908, football)
• Clinton Ross (1911-1913)

Louise Pound, an iconic figure who was born and lived in Lincoln her entire life, earned a Husker varsity letter in men's tennis in 1894 to complement her women's varsity letter in basketball. Louise Pound is considered one of the first Husker women's athletes.

Wilbur Wood is the first Husker African American Basketball Player 1907-1910. Later on, Wood became the coach of the Huskers freshman team.

Black athletes were banned from competing in athletics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

In November 1947, the student council at the University of Nebraska adopted a resolution urging university officials to work to have the Big Seven Conference to repeal its racial ban of black athletes and to consider withdrawing from the league “if the action is not taken.” The Daily Nebraskan (UNL student newspaper) strongly supported the student government’s position and published a poll showing that 58 percent of students questioned favored their school’s dropping out of the conference unless the color line was eliminated. At a late November meeting of student representatives from five league schools in Lincoln, participants adopted a resolution urging the Big Seven to replace its exclusion clause with one which guaranteed that “any eligible student of a member institution shall be allowed to participate in all competitive athletic events at any member institution. The rule would be changed shortly.

1952 - Charles Bryant and Jon McWilliams become the first black letterwinners of the modern era, after the 1947 ruling of Big Seven (Big Eight/Big 12 Conference) to eliminate the color line.

1963 - Bob Brown, whose No. 64 is retired, was Nebraska’s first black All-America football player, a unanimous selection in 1963.

1964 - Willie Paschall, Ted Vactor, Harry Wilson, Preston Love Jr., Tony Jeter, Jim Brown, Langston Coleman and Freeman White. They are the Huskers’ “Magnificent Eight,” were the most black football players at a FBS institution at the time. Most football teams had less than 5 total players, while Nebraska had 8.

 

Bob Brown was the first black unanimous football All-American in 1963.

 

Charles Bryant was the first black football player for the Huskers following the 30 year ban from 1917-1947.

Herschell Turner and Wilson Fitzpatrick, Turner’s Husker teammate in 1957-58, were Nebraska’s first black basketball lettermen since Wilbur Wood earned his third letter in 1910. Shortly after, Albert Maxey was recruited to the team in 1958.

Albert Maxey, Nebraska basketball letterwinner, becomes first black detective in city of Lincoln Police Department. Maxey also served as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s personal attendant during his visit to Lincoln in the 1960s.

Carol Frost becomes the first woman from Nebraska and the first Husker female student-athlete to compete in the Olympics in the 1968 Mexico City Games. In 1976-1977, Carol Frost served as the second head coach of the Husker women's track and field program from 1977 - 1980. She led NU to its first-ever Big Eight championships with a sweep of the indoor and outdoor titles during her final season in 1980.

Nebraska’s first sponsored women’s athletic programs: Softball, Women’s Cross Country, Women’s Track and Field, Volleyball, Women’s Basketball, and Women’s Gymnastics all became varsity programs in 1975-1976.

Dr. Barbara Hibner came to Nebraska after serving as a successful teacher, coach and athletic administrator at both the high school and collegiate levels. She began her Husker career as Nebraska's Assistant Women's Athletic Director from 1978 to 1985. She served as the Women's Athletic Director from 1985 to 1994 and finished her career as associate athletic director and senior women's administrator from 1994 to her retirement in December of 2005. In her honor, the University of Nebraska recognizes one student-athlete and one community leader each year with the Dr. Barbara Hibner Memorial Scholarship and Dr. Barbara Hibner Trailblazer Award. The Women's Soccer stadium is also named in her honor.

Dr. Tom Osborne hires Pat Logsdon in 1979 as a recruiting assistant, and she later became the first female Division I director of football operations.

Trischa Zorn competed as a swimmer for the Huskers from 1984-1987. Zorn was a four-time NCAA Academic All-American while attending Nebraska on an academic scholarship, and she was the first visually impaired athlete to earn an NCAA Division I scholarship. Having won 54 medals-including 41 gold, nine silver and four bronze-she is the most decorated athlete for any sport in the history of the Paralympic movement. She has also held multiple world records in her disability class in backstroke, breaststroke, individual medley and relay events.

Kenny Walker became the first deaf football player to sign a national letter-of-intent with Nebraska. Walker was a member of the team from 1986-1990. Walker became profoundly deaf from meningitis at the age of two. He is the second of only three deaf players in the history of the National Football League.

Walker starred at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. At his final home game for the Cornhuskers, the capacity crowd showed their appreciation for Walker by signing "applause" to him in unison. After playing in the Senior Bowl, the Broncos selected him in the eighth round (200th overall) of the 1991 NFL Draft.

Sonya Varnell, a former coordinator of multicultural programs for athletics, begins working in Nebraska Athletics to help student-athletes of color transition into the department and Lincoln, ultimately creating one of the first roles in athletics specialized in student-athletes of color retention. Sonya now serves as the senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Billie Winsett-Fletcher, a member of the 1995 NCAA national-championship volleyball team from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, has been selected as the NCAA Woman of the Year. Winsett-Fletcher received the award at the sixth annual NCAA Woman of the Year awards dinner October 6 in Kansas City, Missouri. The award honors academic and athletics excellence as well as community service and leadership. She was the first Nebraska student-athlete to win the Woman of the Year award.

Nebraska Athletics would start the program Your Degree First. Your Degree First is a program designed to assist, motivate and promote minority student-athletes in pursuing the degree of their choice. It is constructed to offer a support system among minority student-athletes regarding educational progress, degree program awareness, skill development and future employment opportunities.

Pablo Morales becomes the head coach for Swimming and Diving in 2001, the first head coach of color for Nebraska Athletics. Morales also served as the U.S. Swimming Diversity Select Camp Head Coach, a four-day camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2007. Coach Morales serves as the head coach to this day.

Eric Lueshen, a former Husker football player, is believed to be one of the first openly gay football players in Division 1 football. A native of Pierce, Nebraska, Lueshen is a co-founder of LGBT Sportsafe, an organization that strives to make every college, university and professional sports team in the United States, so coaches and athletes alike can compete in welcoming, respectful and inclusive athletic communities.

Eric is also has a PhD in bioengineering and biomedical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Nebraska Athletics starts Ladies First, an identity based group to enhance the female student-athlete experience at Nebraska. Female student-athletes would meet and converse, and share tips.

Inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Summit Launches

Nebraska Athletics starts the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Summit. Nebraska Athletics has planned and executed the Diversity and Inclusion Summit since 2016, devoting time and resources to maintaining Diversity and Inclusion as a consistent conversation in athletics. The goal is to expand the definition of diversity, spread awareness and educate student-athletes and staff on the concept of celebrating diversity and practicing inclusion. The Summit has received praise from NCAA administrators, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration, national experts on diversity and inclusion, coaches, staff and student-athletes.

Athletics joins LGBT SportSafe

Nebraska Athletics becomes an inaugural member of the LGBT SportSafe program by former Husker Dr. Eric Lueshen. The LGBT SportSafe Inclusion Program was developed to create an infrastructure for athletic administration to support LGBTQ inclusion in college, high school and professional sports. LGBT SportSafe utilizes a new framework, the 3‐Peat Model, to help coaches and athletic administrators champion a culture of respect and inclusion. The 3‐Peat Model addresses the importance of Programming, Policy and Public Awareness at all levels of sport, while offering incentives to institutions that reach inclusion goals.

Nebraska Athletics hosts International Student-Athlete Welcome programming

On Thursday, August 25th, 2016, Life Skills hosted an International Student-Athlete Welcome for incoming international student-athletes, as a part of diversity and inclusion initiatives within Nebraska Athletics.

The first six weeks of college are critical for freshmen. During this period of time, students are expected to make difficult academic and social transitions. Consider the challenge of this transition as a Division I student-athlete with a limited mastery of the English language. Staff members and current athletes met with incoming international students to provide resources and words of advice for international student-athletes.

Noor Ahmed attends Nebraska, and is believed to be the only golfer at the college level or higher who competes in a hijab, the headscarf worn in adherence to the Muslim faith. Ahmed is not just the first Nebraska student-athlete to compete with the hijab, but is believed to be the first at the collegiate golf level in the U.S.

Nebraska athletics hires DaWon Baker, 1st diversity and inclusion director in department history, among the first athletic departments to hire a full-time role within diversity and inclusion in athletics.

Football Spanish Broadcast

Nebraska is the first school in the Big Ten to offer a Spanish-language radio broadcast for a football game when the Cornhuskers play Northwestern on Saturday, and the hope is such broadcasts become a regular part of the team’s media offering in coming seasons. Oscar Monterroso and Enrique Morales called the Nebraska game. Monterroso, the color commentator, and Morales, the play-by-play man, have been calling Kansas City NFL games in Spanish since 2011 and have an estimated audience of 13,000 on radio and digital platforms.

First ever Spanish radio broadcast for Huskers game

Global Huskers Festival

Nebraska Athletics co-hosted the Global Huskers Festival. This multicultural festival, sponsored by ISSO in partnership with Athletics, Student Involvement, and Housing, provides attendees the chance to explore the world through informational booths that will have food, cultural décor, art, and more, each hosted by UNL students from those cultures!

Angela Mercurio, a three-time Nebraska track and field All-American, has been named the 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year. Mercurio is the second University of Nebraska–Lincoln student-athlete to receive the honor. She joins former Husker volleyball national champion Billie Winsett-Fletcher, who earned the honor in 1996. The award recognizes the nation’s top senior female student-athlete who has excelled in areas of academics, athletics, service and leadership.

Nebraska Athletics Diversity and Inclusion program is honored by the NCAA with the Minority Opportunities Athletics Association Award for Diversity and Inclusion at the annual convention.

To see Nebraska Athletics current initiatives, please visit the Inclusive Excellence home page.