THE NEBRASKA 100

Howard Debus hurled the discus past two national prep records, but said he never would have picked up the event on his own.

Nebraska track coach Pat Schulte approached the Lincoln High sophomore while he practiced at Memorial Stadium. Schulte handed Debus a discus and told him to "get to work." The rest was history.

Debus held the 1940 state meet record in the discus for 24 years. He won four gold medals at the same state meet (discus, shot, javelin and pole vault).

"I really didn't think about it much 'til later," Debus said. "I've never been one to get all excited about it. I just took it as it came along."

Debus also excelled in football. Legendary Lincoln High coach Ralph Beechner supposedly called Debus "the greatest all-around athlete I ever saw," after coaching the all-state halfback on Lincoln High teams that went 23-1-1 in three seasons.

Debus played football at Nebraska, but focused on track and won the discus and was second in the javelin at the 1943 NCAA outdoor meet.

A knee injury suffered while playing football in the Navy kept him from finishing his senior year.

Having grown up in the "Russian Bottoms," a working class immigrant neighborhood in Lincoln, Debus said sports gave him strength that he carried into his career with Western Electric and AT&T.

"If it hadn't been for athletics, I don't think I would have had the drive for success."

-- Doug Meigs