THE NEBRASKA 100

All the good ones have blemishes. The great ones understand that and will do anything to erase them.

Bob Boozer understood. That's why, for 15 straight offseasons -- four at Kansas State and 11 in the NBA -- he returned to Omaha and called his friend Johnny Nared.

For 15 years, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they found an empty gym and got down to business. No dunk contests or half-court shootouts. Just lots of grunt work and attention to detail.

Nared, a former standout at Omaha Central, was the perfect remedy for a hotshot basketball player who was performing in front of thousands of adoring fans.

"He was so quick and so strong,'' Boozer said. "Playing 1-on-1 against him really improved my quickness on the outside. And he was not easy to score on inside, either.''

Boozer averaged more than 19 points and 10 rebounds during his final three seasons at K-State and was the leading vote-getter on the Wildcats' 10-man Team of the Century.

He averaged 14.8 points and 8.1 rebounds over 11 NBA seasons with six teams, with season-high averages of 21.7 points and 14.8 rebounds.

Boozer joined Jack Parr and Ernie Barrett in February as the first three players in Kansas State history to have their jerseys retired.

Boozer died in 2012 due to a brain aneurysm.

-- Kevin White