"A Night with Nebraska"

Last night, the Nebraska Alumni Association was here in Phoenix and put on the first-ever event of it's kind! We're not sure if Phoenix was chosen because of the Fiesta Bowl & the National Championship location for next year (the President of the Fiesta Bowl was in attendance!) or because of the lovely February weather or what exactly. 

 No matter the reason though, we were excited to have a big Nebraska event in town!  Over 500 people were in attendance & Brian heard an alumni official saying that they had to turn away over 300 more!!  Clearly, lots of interest (which means hopefully they will do something like this again)!

The event was held at the Phoenician (one of the most "posh" resorts in town) and the first hour was for food, drinks, & mingling.  We happily filled our plates and bellies with Runzas & Val's (the owners of both even flew in from Nebraska to make sure that everything was baked correctly!) while we people watched. Matt Davison & Tommy Frazier were amongst the crowd, talking with people and of course, having to stop for many a photo.  

After dinner, we all headed into the large tent for the presentations.  This part was a little too long for Andrew (he did a pretty good job for a still two-year old, but did get a little restless & disruptive toward the end) and it was a little too long for this pregnant lady to sit in REALLY hard wooden chairs.  But, other than that, it was pretty cool! Aside from the speakers, there were certainly some "big-name" Nebraska people there with us:  Charlie McBride & his wife, some of the Devaney children, and former head coach, Bill Glassford, from the 50s (he is 96 years old!).

Matt Davison was the MC for the night (and was really funny!). He did a really nice job and it was really fun hearing the four of them (Matt, Tommy, the Chancellor, & TO) making jokes/poking fun at each other.  In fact, when Tom got up to speak, he gave Matt a hard time saying never has he known anyone else to make more from less (everyone was cracking up), in reference to Matt's claim to fame catch, better known to us Husker fans as the "Miracle in Mizzou".

Chancellor Perlman (better known to Brian & I as "the Harv") was first to speak and gave a presentation about all the upcoming changes to campus.  Crazy what their "vision" is for the next couple of decades.

Then, we heard from Nebraska's beloved Tom Osborne--he talked a bit about many of the sports there and some of the proposed changes/new building for athletics.  But, of course, everyone was really interested in football.  So, there was talk about the recruiting class & how he thinks we are in a really good position for next year.  Only time will tell, but the crowd certainly did get excited when the Fiesta Bowl next year was mentioned! :)  He certainly isn't a very animated guy, but did manage to make a few really funny jokes!

The last of the "BIG" speakers was Tommy Frazier-our beloved 90s quarterback who brought us back to back National Championships & "the Run"!  He had a presentation about going to Iraq with other former college football players & coaches and really focused on thanking those that are/have served in the military.

After the presentation, Matt & Tommy agreed to sign autographs for anyone who wanted. Some people were smart (like my parents) and brought flags, hats, old Sports Illustrated editions, etc.  However, I didn't think to grab anything like that before we left the house. So, we had them sign the only things we could think of-- Andrew's jersey & a paper from Andrew's "Cars" sketchpad! :)  Matt said he wanted his picture with Andrew since he had just signed his jersey, but unfortunately, Andrew wasn't too keen on the idea.  Oh well--it's a fun picture of Matt & Brian anyway.   

It was WAY too late for Andrew at that point, so we headed out and got a nice surprise goody bag on our way, complete with a jar of Val's pasta sauce! :)  YUM!  It was a fun night and we are definitely looking forward to other alumni events here in the future!