45. Bobby Reynolds
Football / Grand Island / 1931-1985
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Grand Island High and Nebraska Cornhuskers
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Tackle Charles Toogood of North Platte was a two-time All-Big Seven selection and a third-round draft pick of the Rams. He played seven years in the NFL as an offensive lineman.
Best moment as an athlete: A wild 33-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 led to a 40-34 victory over Missouri in 1950. It has been estimated he covered as many as 100 yards, reversing his field three times and retreating nearly 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage. But Reynolds thought a touchdown catch he made earlier in the same game was a better play.
Bobby Reynolds earned the nickname "Mr. Touchdown," while crossing the goal line 22 times and adding enough extra points to score 157 points in his marvelous, All-America season as a Nebraska sophomore in 1950. He finished second in the country with 1,342 yards rushing in just nine games, had eight straight 100-yard rushing games, and finished fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy.
But separated shoulders, a lime burn in an eye and a pulled muscle curtailed his final two seasons as a Husker. A broken leg suffered while playing baseball -- many thought that was Reynolds' best sport -- derailed his chances of starting a professional career after being a seventh-round draft pick by the Rams in 1952.
"The guy was a fine athlete, and if it hadn't been for the injuries, he might be immortal," said Don Bryant, Nebraska's long-time sports information director.
Reynolds rushed for just 854 yards in his final two seasons at NU, but still ranks 18th on the school's all-time list with 2,196. Lawrence Phillips is the only NU sophomore to rush for more yards than Reynolds.
Not so much fast as he was shifty, Reynolds specialized in making tacklers miss. Like Dave Millican and Missouri on that famous 33-yard touchdown run. "We watched films of the game and the coaches showed us at least 12 clear-cut chances to tackle him on that play and we missed every time," Millican said years later. "Three of those misses were mine."
Reynolds lived in Lincoln and was a partner in an insurance company. He was a terrific golf, tennis and racquetball player. He had heart surgery, a mild stroke and had a hip replaced in the final three years of his life. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1985, eight months after being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
-- Rob White
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Grand Island High and Nebraska Cornhuskers
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Tackle Charles Toogood of North Platte was a two-time All-Big Seven selection and a third-round draft pick of the Rams. He played seven years in the NFL as an offensive lineman.
Best moment as an athlete: A wild 33-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 led to a 40-34 victory over Missouri in 1950. It has been estimated he covered as many as 100 yards, reversing his field three times and retreating nearly 30 yards behind the line of scrimmage. But Reynolds thought a touchdown catch he made earlier in the same game was a better play.
