The University of Nebraska Athletic Department has announced that Larry and Sheryl Snyder are the recipients of the 2018-19 Dr. Barbara Hibner Trailblazer Award. Larry and Sheryl were presented with the award during a luncheon with Nebraska Athletic Director Bill Moos in April.
The Trailblazer Award was first given in 2000 to honor outstanding support and generous contributions to women's athletics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2007, following Dr. Hibner's death, the prestigious award was renamed the Dr. Barbara Hibner Trailblazer Award in honor of the longtime member of the Nebraska Athletic Department and the inaugural recipient of the award.
“We were so pleased to receive the award,” Sheryl Snyder said. “We became acquainted with Barb [Hibner] in the 1980s and it’s an honor to win an award named after her.”
Larry and Sheryl have been tremendous fans and supporters of Nebraska Athletics. The Snyders have been season ticket holders for nearly every ticketed sport at Nebraska and have provided monetary support for several different Nebraska programs, including football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, soccer, track and field, softball and volleyball . Additionally, they were instrumental in providing funding for the baseball and softball complex at Haymarket Park as well as the Barbara Hibner Soccer Stadium. Additionally, Sheryl was one of the fans who helped set up and put away folding chairs in the Coliseum for Nebraska volleyball matches when the program first started. The Snyders also were some of the first volleyball season ticket holders at Nebraska.
“We focus our philanthropy on higher education and include within that target the role that athletics plays in the overall college experience,” Sheryl said. “Larry was fortunate to have the opportunity to play basketball at Nebraska Wesleyan, and we recognize the importance of that experience, along with his business degree as key elements of his successful entrepreneurial business career.”
Past winners of the award, in addition to Hibner, are the Raimondi family (2001-02), Ione Bowlin (2002-03), the Betty Geis family (2003-04), Carol Frost (2004-05), Pinnacle Sports Productions (2005-06), Dr. Joanne Owens Nauslar (2006-07), current head softball coach Rhonda Revelle (2007-08), the Stephen Rohman family (2008-09), former NU volleyball head coach Terry Pettit (2009-10), Tom and Mary Hendricks (2010-11), Dick Herman (2011-12), JoAnn Martin and Ameritas (2012-13), Linda Olson (2013-14), Sid and Hazel Dillon (2014-15), Bill and Ruth Scott (2015-16), Gary and Janet Latimer (2016-17) and Marian Andersen (2017-18).
