Two Husker Gymnasts inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame

Legendary head coach Francis Allen and highly-decorated gymnast Wes Suter were among seven distinguished Husker student-athletes and coaches that made up the 2019 University of Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame class. The 2019 class was formally inducted into the Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, August 30. A granite plaque with the names of the seven members of the 2019 Hall of Fame class will be added to the University of Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame Plaza. 
 
Francis Allen becomes only the third Husker coach to be selected for the Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame. Allen led his Nebraska men's gymnastics team to eight NCAA team championships. Allen has also coached Huskers to 42 individual NCAA titles, including three titles from Suter, while Blanford was a four-time individual national champion. 
 
Allen was involved with the Husker gymnastics program for nearly 50 consecutive years, lettering as a gymnast for three years (1962-64), serving as an assistant coach for five seasons (1965-69) and then leading the program as head coach for 40 seasons (1970-2009). 
 
Allen began his affiliation with Nebraska as a Husker gymnast. He was the Big Eight champion on parallel bars as a senior in 1964 and was Nebraska's first All-American on that event the same year, finishing four at the NCAA Championships. Allen earned his degree in physical education from the University of Nebraska in 1965. 
 
The longest tenured head coach in the history of Nebraska Athletics, Allen's achievements were staggering. He led the Huskers to eight NCAA team championships, including five consecutive titles from 1979-83. In addition to the eight national titles, Nebraska finished as the NCAA runner-up seven times while posting a total of 20 top-five national finishes. His gymnasts also won 42 individual national titles, including nine NCAA all-around crowns, and claimed a total of 171 All-America awards. At the conference level, Nebraska won 14 team championships and produced 92 individual champions. Allen also coached four Nissen-Emery award winners as the nation's top gymnast and 11 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. 
 
Allen himself was an eight-time national coach of the year. Internationally, Allen coached nine Olympians at Nebraska and served as the head coach of Team USA for the 1980 and 1992 Olympics, although the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics. 
 
Wes Suter was a gymnast for Nebraska from 1983-86. Suter was an individual and team national champion, the nation's top gymnast and an Olympian during his decorated career. 
 
As a freshman, Suter helped Nebraska to the 1983 NCAA Championship team, the program's fifth consecutive national title. The Huskers finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships in each of Suter's four seasons, including first or second three times. Nebraska also won three Big Eight championships during Suter's career. As a junior, Suter had one of the most impressive seasons in NCAA history. He was the Big Eight all-around champion in addition to winning three of the six individual event titles. Suter then won three individual national titles at the NCAA Championships, where he was the NCAA all-around champion and also finished first on floor exercise and high bar. As a senior, Suter won the Nissen-Emery Award as the nation's top gymnast. He won a pair of Big Eight individual titles and was an All-American in the all-around and on parallel bars, finishing his career as a six-time Big Eight individual champion and five-time All-American. 
 
Suter competed for the United States at the 1988 Olympics. He earned his degree in marketing from the University of Nebraska is 1987.