58. Dan Brand
Wrestling, Football, Track & Field, Basketball / Lincoln/Bellevue / Born: 1935
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Lincoln Northeast High, Bellevue High, Nebraska Cornhuskers and U.S. Olympic team
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Jim Raschke of Omaha North, who placed third in the Greco-Roman world wrestling meet in 1963. He went on to fame as the fictitious German pro wrestler Baron Von Raschke.
Best moment as an athlete: Winning the bronze medal in wrestling at the 1964 Olympics
The path Dan Brand followed in becoming an Olympic medalist in wrestling is about as unlikely as you can imagine.
He competed in football, basketball and track at Bellevue High, but never was all-conference in any sport.
He made the Nebraska freshman team in basketball, but after being cut from the varsity as a sophomore, the 6-foot-5 Brand signed up for the intramural wrestling tournament.
He won the first tournament he entered.
"I beat the kid who was supposed to be Nebraska's heavyweight," Brand said.
Brand went on to place fifth in the 1960 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 1964 Olympics. He also won a bronze medal in the 1962 world meet.
He struggled in his early days as a wrestler, finishing 3-15 as a sophomore heavyweight at NU. He improved to .500 as a junior before placing fourth as a senior in his only NCAA meet in 1958.
Bill Smith, a 1952 Olympic gold medalist, took over as NU's coach for Brand's senior year. "There is not one chance I would have made the Olympics without Bill," Brand said. "He taught me everything."
In the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Brand dropped a controversial bout to 1960 gold medalist Hasan Gungor of Turkey in the semifinals.
"Dan got ripped off," Smith said. "He won on the scoreboard when the match ended, but one of the judges decided he had the score wrong. He got a raw deal."
Brand, 69, a retired engineer living in Oakland, Calif., learned he had cancer last spring and had his right kidney removed.
"It looks like they got everything," he said. "I feel fine now."
-- Craig Sesker
QUICK FACTS:
Played for: Lincoln Northeast High, Bellevue High, Nebraska Cornhuskers and U.S. Olympic team
Best athlete from Nebraska played with or against: Jim Raschke of Omaha North, who placed third in the Greco-Roman world wrestling meet in 1963. He went on to fame as the fictitious German pro wrestler Baron Von Raschke.
Best moment as an athlete: Winning the bronze medal in wrestling at the 1964 Olympics
