Oldest Husker, Plus Three Other NU Lettermen Die

Oldest Husker Fischer, 102, Dies in Colorado

Baseball Letterman Tunnison, 71, Dies in Lincoln

Offensive Tackle Doak, 64, Dies in Florida

Defensive Tackle Gissler, 63, Dies in Colorado

Randy York N-Sider

Official Blog of the Huskers

Three Nebraska football letterwinners, including one who is believed to have been the oldest Husker player, died recently. Halfback Richard Owen Fischer, 102, died March 13 in Colorado Springs, Colo. Offensive tackle Mark Doak, 64, died Feb. 29 in St. Augustine, Fla., and defensive tackle Dean Gissler, 63, died Feb. 23 in Aurora, Colo. In addition to those three football letterwinners, four-year Nebraska baseball letterman Gary Tunnison, 71, died in his Lincoln home in a fatal house fire last weekend.

Fischer, a native of Valentine, Neb., earned one NU varsity letter in 1936 as a backup. Doak, a native of Whittier, Calif., lettered in 1972, ’73 and ’74, and Gissler, a native of Central City, Neb., lettered in 1973, ’74 and ’75. Ken Hambleton wrote an obituary on Fischer in Wednesday’s Lincoln Journal Star, acknowledging that Fischer also was a longtime season-ticket holder who loved his alma mater and enjoyed stories about playing at Nebraska. Fischer lettered on the 1936 team that won the Big Six Conference Championship.

One of Fischer’s 1936 teammates was Ron Douglas Sr., a starting fullback who was believed to be the oldest living Husker student-athlete/football letterman at age 100. Douglas died in June last year after spending 97 years of his life in Crete, Neb. Fischer also lettered in track at Nebraska. Services for the World War II and Korean War veteran will be April 2 in Valentine.

Doak played for two College Football Hall of Fame head coaches, the late Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. A sixth-round NFL draft choice, Doak played for the Washington Redskins and the Denver Broncos. Doak suffered a stroke in 2011 and spent nearly two years in rehabilitation before moving to Florida. Gissler, who transferred from the U.S. Air Force Academy to Nebraska, also played briefly in the NFL for the Redskins and the New York Giants. Gissler battled Alzheimer’s Disease before his death.

The late Nebraska Baseball Coach Tony Sharpe recruited Tunnison, a New York native who lettered four years as an outfielder before going on to receive his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. from UNL. A rosary will be held on Easter Sunday, March 27th at 7:30 p.m. at Butherus, Maser and Love Funeral Home at 4040 A St. Funeral services will be held at Cathedral of the Risen Christ, 3500 Sheridan Blvd., on Monday, March 28, at 10 a.m.

Keith Zimmer, Nebraska Athletics’ Senior Associate Athletic Director for Life Skills and the N Club, encourages former Husker student-athletes from all sports to contact him directly whenever a teammate dies, so the N Club can recognize varsity letterwinners in memoriam. Zimmer's email  is kzimmer@huskers.com.

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