Funeral Services Wednesday for John Bordogna, 83

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Funeral services for Nebraska All-Big Seven Conference quarterback John Bordogna (Bor-don-ya)will be Wednesday, March 11, at 11:30 a.m. at Lincoln’s Cathedral of the Risen Christ Church, 3500 Sheridan Blvd., with Robert Tucker officiating. A native of Turtle Creek, Pa., and a Lincoln businessman for six decades, Bordogna, 83, died last Wednesday with his loving wife, Sue, by his side. Visitation will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday with Rosary following at Lincoln’s Roper and Sons Funeral Home, 4300 O Street.

Bordogna quarterbacked a Nebraska offense that featured All-America halfback Bobby Reynolds in 1951 and 1952. He became a three-year starter in 1953 for Coach Bill Glassford’s Huskers and played 558 minutes, all but 42 minutes of the season. “We played both ways, and were on the field almost all the time,” Bordogna told Lincoln sportswriter Ken Hambleton in 2008. “I don’t know if guys today could do that.” Missouri Coach Don Faurot selected Bordogna to play on the 1953 South team in the annual North-South All-Star game. Faurot thought Bordogna was “a good fit” for his offense, “so I got to spend seven days in Miami and play football with some of the best players in the country.”

Tagge, Taylor Broke Records Bordogna Set in 1953

In 1953, Bordogna set two school records that lasted until Jerry Tagge broke one in the early 1970s. Three decades later, Steve Taylor broke Bordogna's 143-yard rushing game record against Iowa State in 1952. Bordogna was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1986. According to his wife, Bardogna started caddying at age 10 and did not stop working until the day he died. After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2006, Sue Bordogna said her late husband was almost constantly on chemotherapy, but continued to work hard and enjoy a good life for nine years while simultaneously fighting against the currently incurable disease.

John Bordogna, Inc. is a commercial and industrial business in its 60th year of operation in Lincoln. In 2012, the company’s painters completed the Bob Devaney Sports Center and Nebraska’s East Memorial Stadium addition. Bordogna also was a commercial real estate developer. Two of his projects, in conjunction with partners, were Lincoln’s South Pointe Pavilion and the "Amazing Pizza Machine" in Omaha. Bordogna followed Ralph Fife, his high school coach, to Nebraska, where Fife became Glassford’s offensive line coach. Bordogna spurned offers from Pitt and Penn State in his home state. Clemson, Georgia and North Carolina also were unsuccessful in recruiting him.

On the first play in Nebraska’s game against Penn State, “Roosevelt Grier came across the line and smashed a forearm into my chin and I lost four teeth,” Bordogna told Hambleton, pointing out how no one wore faceguards in the early 1950s. “I was bleeding and my mother and my brothers and sisters were in the stands. My brother had to calm my mother down and tell her I wanted to play. I finished the game.” The Huskers also lost a tough game at Pitt in 1953. “On the last play of the game, we stopped them at the goal line,” Bordogna recalled. “Everybody piled up, and all of a sudden, one of their linemen picked up their running back by the jersey and threw him over the goal line.” Pitt won, 14-6.

Back in the '50s, Nebraska Trained at State Ag College

Butch Rasmussen, the retired former owner of the Touchdown Club in North Platte, Neb., wrote a profile on Bordogna for Huskers Illustrated magazine, pointing out how Nebraska players in the 1950s had fall practice at the Ag College in Curtis, Neb. Bodogna remembered a variety of conditioning exercises that included jumping out of a cattle loading chute while hanging onto a rope. Glassford believed that moving his players away from Lincoln and into a town of 800 sharpened their focus and minimized distractions.

“It was strange for a lot of reasons,” Bordogna told Rasmussen. “We were running around in 110-degree heat and climbed a ladder in the open pavilion where we slept in army cots.” Bordogna said he was required to work for a Lincoln business to help pay for his scholarship. Sue Bordogna called her late husband “the toughest and most amazing person I’ve ever known.” They met in the coffee shop at the Miller and Paine Department Store in downtown Lincoln. John’s company had a painting contract for the store, and Sue was Miller and Paine's credit manager. When one employee spilled paint on expensive handbags, John settled the damage with Sue. “Terms of their agreement seem to have worked out well,” Rasmussen said.

Bordogna Was Generous, Kind, Hard-Working, Humble

Bordogna is survived by wife Sue, daughter Lisa Jensen and grandsons Daniel and John Anthony Jensen, in Ft. Collins, Colo. He is also survived by a number of nieces, nephews, cousins, brothers-in-law and sisters-in law. In his obituary, Bordogna is described as generous and kind. Known for his strong work ethic and humility, he enjoyed helping others. Friends of the late quarterback/businessman believe that his 60 years of contracting work in Lincoln would mean very few city blocks or buildings that were not touched by John Bordogna Inc.

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Thank you so much for the article about John Bordogna. In 1992, John and I became "stadium neighbors" at Memorial Stadium. We immediately became friends and I enjoyed his stories of playing for Bill Glassford and Nebraska. He was a kind and giving man and will leave a wonderful legacy for many people. John would tell his guests sitting with him at the games, "I don't need to buy a program, Cynthia knows all the players and I just ask her who made that play." Cynthia Wehland-Falk, Lincoln, Nebraska