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The End of an Era.
It was Saturday, September 1st, 2007. I remember it was a warm day for September, right before the summer season gives way to Fall. I was nineteen. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln was playing Nevada that day. It was an early afternoon game, first of the season. I was there well before the student section began to fill up. I knew I wouldn’t be there long.
The second the first half ended, I went sprinting from my seat in the stadium to hop in a car with my mom. Leaving behind something I was already missing, even with a 52-10 win, I began a journey to Kearney, Nebraska. On the drive, I swapped t-shirts. Red for red, it wasn’t much of a change, but now, instead of the “Huskers,” I was supporting the “Mavericks.” I made it to Kearney, and for the first time, experienced a true University of Nebraska at Omaha football game.
For the sake of full transparency, I didn’t just hop on the UNO bandwagon out of nowhere - My (then) boyfriend was a wide receiver for the team at that time. I’m a giant sports fan to begin with, so being a supportive girlfriend wasn’t difficult. What was difficult was the amount of Husker games I was going to miss as a result. As many of you may recall, that was Coach Bill Callahan’s last season. It was also a rough season in Nebraska history.
While Nebraska struggled to find its’ new identity within the walls of Memorial Stadium, UNO began to shine. It was that season that UNO won game after game…after game. I soon began to notice that I was no longer on the sidelines strictly as support for my boyfriend, but more because I wanted to be there. I fell in love with the atmosphere, the small town feel, and the players. The passion was unmatched and the coaching was outstanding. I couldn’t get enough.
I would later break up with that boyfriend, but I wouldn’t change the season I got to spend with UNO for anything. It was that season that I learned there was more than just the Nebraska Cornhuskers; there was the UNO Mavericks. Omaha’s team.
This morning, I watched as the NU Board of Regents voted unanimously to move UNO to Division One athletics, removing football and wrestling from the program. While I went back and forth on what was the right thing to do, watching the regents all vote in support was a dagger I could not have predicted. I thought about that season, only four years ago, and what it meant to me. I thought about the tradition that I watched the boys share, on and off the field. I thought about the legacies that were ending. I could no longer debate the right and wrong.
At the end of every tough decision lies the human heart and the emotion. And that’s where many were left just an hour ago. Players wondering where they can go from here and alums wondering if their children will ever understand the program they loved. It’s extremely heart wrenching and none of us can deny that.
Sports are emotion and teams are identities. Omaha lost a little piece of its’ identity today. So whether or not you were in support of the movement, take a little time to remember the boys of Omaha. May their legacy live on.
Picture taken September 22, 2007 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Mavs beat Augustana 36-23 as the sun set over the field.
