Happy Thanksgiving!

I was talking with a friend earlier today about the huge Thanksgiving celebrations our family used to have. One thought leading to another, I began reflecting on one gathering in particular, one that will be permanently inscribed in my memory, probably many of your memories as well.

Hard to believe, but it was forty-three years ago, Thanksgiving Day in 1971 (25 November that year). We all gathered mid-morning at Matilda’s house in Central City: Grandpa and Grandma and aunts and uncles and I don’t know how many of us cousins, plus two friends of Kenny’s, college girls, if my memory is correct, originally from Oklahoma.

Lyell Bremser, early 1970s

Ah, yes, this was the year of THE Nebraska–Oklahoma game, the Game of the Century. Memories being what they are I am not positive, but I think we all watched the game on the television with the sound turned down so we could listen to that Husker radio icon, Lyell Bremser. Man, woman, and child—what an announcer!

The house was loud and raucous (sorry, Grandma, I know it was insanely noisy), with emotions riding a wild roller coaster up and down and up and down and … up. Johnny Rodgers took us to the heights early on with a punt return for the ages (and no, Joe Blahak did not clip the OU player). OU’s Jack Mildren–Jon Harrison passing combination plunged us to the depths as the Huskers fell behind at halftime 17–14.

Several of us played catch during halftime (Dave, Stan, Dennis, and me, I think), all of us nervously hoping that Nebraska could retake the lead. True to form, NU stormed out of halftime and powered their way to a 28–17 lead after three quarters. OU was no patsy, however, and with a little more than seven minutes to go in the game the Huskers were behind 31–28.

Jeff Kinney, 1971 NU–OU game

But the Huskers would not be denied this day. Led by the clutch play of quarterback Jerry Tagge, a great catch and run by Johnny the Jet, and the bruising running of Jeff Kinney, Nebraska retook the lead on Kinney’s fourth rushing touchdown of the day.

With two minutes remaining, Oklahoma still had a chance, but the vaunted Blackshirts shut down Mildren and company, and OU’s last drive ended harmlessly in its own end of the field, as NU’s Larry Jacobson rushed Mildren into a hurried throw on 4th and 14, which Rich Glover then batted down. (Jacobson won the Outland Trophy as college football’s best interior lineman that year; Glover won the same award the following year.)

As you can imagine, the stadium (Matilda’s house) went wild at that point. For all intents and purposes, the game was over, NU ahead 35–31, and Nebraska was on its way to meet Alabama’s Crimson Tide (whom it pounded) in the Orange Bowl.

It is difficult to imagine that my (our) memories of that amazing game would have been so potent, so powerful, so vivid had I (we) watched it alone. It was the sharing of the experience with family, with loved ones, that inscribed it on our brains. There is a lesson in there somewhere, but before I get too sentimental let me close by inviting you to share one more thing, one more memory: a highlights video—with Lyell Bremser audio!—of the great Thanksgiving game of 1971.