THE NEBRASKA 100

Carol Frost's answer tells you everything you need to know about women and sports in Nebraska before the 1970s.

All of the living athletes listed in this Top 100 project were asked to name the best athlete from Nebraska they played with or against. Frost was stumped.

"I honestly can't come up with any from my era," Frost said. "There just weren't any women really competing within the state."

When Frost, the former Carol Moseke, was a freshman at the University of Nebraska, women weren't allowed to use the school's track and field facilities. But even though she didn't get much support in her home state, Frost still distinguished herself as one of the best female athletes in the country.

A four-time national AAU discus champion, she won a gold medal at the 1967 Pan Am Games. The first woman from Nebraska to make the U.S. Olympic team, she competed in the 1968 Mexico City Games.

Frost went on to coach women's track and cross country at NU from 1977 through 1980. She also spent several years coaching high school football with her husband, Larry, a wingback at NU in the late 1960s. The couple coached standout sons, Steve and Scott, at Wood River, Neb.

Oddly enough, Carol Frost said the people who seemed to have the most trouble with her coaching football were other women. "I guess some of them thought I shouldn't do it," she said. "I don't really know why they thought that, but I didn't care."

Said Larry Frost: "I knew what a technician Carol was. She's so patient, and kids really understand and relate to her. Hiring her was the smartest thing I ever did as a head coach."

Carol Frost still competes, winning her age group in the discus and the shot put this summer at the Cornhusker State Games.

-- Chad Purcell