A Word from Fox

Don Bryant

Don "Fox" Bryant brings his extensive knowledge and storytelling to HuskersNside Magazine. Bryant has witnessed nearly 50 years of Cornhusker Athletics, serving as the Sports Information Director at Nebraska for 31 years after 10 years as Sports Editor at the Lincoln Journal Star. A member of the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, Bryant currently serves as Sports Information Director Emeritus at Nebraska and has written two books, Tales from the Nebraska Sideline was published in 2001, and More Tales from the Nebraska Sideline, which is now available.

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"The Darkest Day" by Don Bryant
November 22, 1963 was a terrible day in the history of our country. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and America was shocked into deep mourning.

Volney Meece, longtime sportswriter at the Oklahoma City Times and the Daily Oklahoman, as well as secretary of the Football Writers Association of America for years, and I were eating lunch in Barry’s Bar across the street from the Lincoln Journal and Star Building when we heard the news.

A man opened the door and yelled, "The President has been shot!" Volney and I immediately ran across the street to the newsroom and followed the story on the Associated Press wire until it was announced that the President was dead. It was the beginning of a long day and night and a trying Saturday.

Volney was in town to cover the Nebraska-Oklahoma football game the next day, but the President’s death put an immediate pall on the game. We went to the University of Nebraska Coliseum, where a decision about playing the game would be made.

Among the decision makers were Nebraska AD Tippy Dye, football coaches Bob Devaney of Nebraska and Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, Big Eight Commissioner Wayne Duke, and several concerned representatives of the Orange Bowl Committee.

OU and the Huskers were scheduled to play for the conference championship and a spot in the Orange Bowl, but games were being canceled all over the country in the wake of the tragedy.

There were long hours of deliberations, and it was not until late on Friday night that a decision was made to play the game. Wayne Duke contacted the NCAA and other conference schools, and the administrators of both schools were involved in the process. Other conferences were contacted, also. It wasn’t decided to play the game until after Bud Wilkinson managed to contact Bobby Kennedy, the President’s brother. Wilkinson was the director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, and he reported that Bobby Kennedy urged the game to be played because "the President would want you to play." At that point, there was a "go" to play three Big Eight games, primarily because of Bud’s phone call. But they did not happen.

Late Saturday morning when hushed fans were gathering at Memorial Stadium, Nebraska learned that the other conference schools had decided to cancel, leaving Nebraska and Oklahoma open to considerable criticism across the country. A pregame service and tribute to President Kennedy was held, and the Huskers managed a 29-20 win for Bob Devaney’s first conference title in Bud Wilkinson’s last game at OU. But it was bittersweet.