Jay B. Sloan and James Corley
Daily Nebraskan
From his first year on campus, Tom Osborne has made academics a major priority in Nebraska athletics.
In 1962, under the direction of legendary football coach Bob Devaney, NU's current athletic director was asked to oversee a "rowdy" group of football players and help them pass their classes, marking the beginning of an era that held academics as a key priority.
Osborne worked with the athlete study table, which was initially set up to "rescue students from drowning," he said. He expanded the program to include all athletes and hired more tutors.
"It became the thing to do to get a degree," Osborne said. "The expectation was to graduate."
Out of nearly 1,400 NCAA-recognized institutions, Nebraska boasts 263 academic All-Americans, the most in the country and 61 more than second-place Notre Dame.
Nebraska has also produced 16 NCAA Top Eight Award winners, three more than second-place Stanford.
"The Top Eight award is the Heisman of athletic academics," said Dennis Leblanc, NU's associate athletic director for academics.
Out of all senior student-athletes, the NCAA chooses the eight who have performed at an elite level in both their sport and the classroom.
Of Nebraska's 16 Top Eight winners, nine were from football, more than any other sports program. Nebraska had two winners each year in 1981, 1990 and 1991.
From 1989 to 1995, Nebraska had at least one Top Eight award winner every year.
At Nebraska, 94 percent of athletes who have exhausted their eligibility end up graduating, far above the NCAA average of 64 percent.
"We have created a culture of tradition-rich academics," Leblanc said, adding that Nebraska has been able to be such a leader and pioneer in athletic academic performance because of programs like the department's Life Skills program.
"Life Skills provides a semester-by-semester plan for life after sports," said Keith Zimmer, NU's director of Life Skills.
The program educates athletes on situations and conflicts they may encounter as a student-athlete at Nebraska and emphasizes community involvement, leadership and good decision-making.
When they get to Nebraska, athletes sit down with Life Skills directors to set goals for graduation and for a career after they're finished competing.
"We try to make sure athletes' experiences at Nebraska are channeled toward those goals," Osborne said.
Leblanc said visiting recruits receive a good understanding of the importance of academics when they see the Hewit Academic Center under the western portion of Memorial Stadium.
The Hewit Center was funded by a payout Nebraska received for appearing in the first-ever Kickoff Classic against the defending national champion Penn State in 1983.
Osborne said the Huskers would only appear in the extra game if the $600,000 payout would go toward building an athletic academic center, which became the Hewit Academic Center.
Inside the center stands the Hall of Distinction, a tribute to Nebraska student-athletes dedicated in 2004. The hall is lined with pillars engraved with the names of 5,303 athletes who lettered in their respective sports and completed graduation.
From Bob Oberlin, Nebraska's first academic all-American in 1952, to Sarah Pavan, Nebraska's most recent, all 263 academic all-Americans have portraits displayed on the halls between the pillars.
With many examples of academic success alongside athletics, Nebraska's current student-athletes are set up for success. The rich tradition of academics in athletics at Nebraska will certainly live on.
"We feel we have failed (athletes) if they leave without a degree," Osborne said.
JAYbSLOAN@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM, JAMESCORLEY@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
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