Chapter 8: What happened after 1983?

Mark Behning played three years in the NFL. After the conclusion of his football career, he returned to his hometown of Denton, Texas and worked as a teacher and a coach. Behning followed that up with a stint as a senior project manager with Golden Sands General Contractors in Dallas.

Dave Burke’s first job after graduating from Nebraska was at the downtown branch of the National Bank of Commerce in Lincoln. Coach Osborne was a regular customer and he liked to joke with Burke that he was wearing a jacket and tie, and was gainfully employed. Burke has worked for Merck for the last twenty seven years in the St. Louis, Missouri area.

Bret Clark played four years in the USFL and NFL but his promising career was tragically cut short after suffering a serious left knee injury. Subsequently, he wrote a book about his football career titled: “Movin’ On: My Life in the NFL.” Clark has worked for the Omaha Public Power district during the last seventeen years helping to provide power to thousands of people.

Mark Daum is a Dix, Nebraska wheat producer and is a former board member of the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association.

Boyd Epley served from 1969 to 2004 as Nebraska’s head strength coach for football. He then worked as an associate athletic director at Nebraska before retiring in 2006.

Todd Frain played two years in the NFL before he suffered a career ending knee injury. In 2022, he was named to the KMA Sports Hall of Fame.

Irving Fryar had one of the greatest professional careers of any Husker. He played seventeen years in the NFL and played in the Pro Bowl five times. Fryar wrote a book about his football playing days titled: “Sunday Is My Day.” Fryar is currently the pastor at the New Jerusalem in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

Turner Gill played two seasons in the Canadian Football League and three years in the minor league baseball systems of Cleveland and Detroit. After he finished his playing days, Gill had a distinguished coaching career. He worked at Nebraska as the quarterbacks coach between 1992 and 2003, and coached wide receivers in 2004. The former Husker star quarterback coached Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost and Eric Crouch during his stint in Lincoln.

Gill received his first head coaching job when he took over the Buffalo Bulls of the Mid-American Conference in 2006. During his four seasons there, he led the Bulls to their first conference title and bowl game in program history. He left Buffalo to take head coaching jobs at Kansas and then Liberty University. Gill retired from coaching at Liberty in 2018 to spend more time with his wife after she was diagnosed with a heart condition.

Harry Grimminger has served as the assistant principal at Millard West High School since 1999.

Mike Keeler works as the senior manager at the Nebraska Rural Electric Association in Lincoln.

Mike Knox was invited to play in the Japan Bowl after his senior year in 1985 and played one year in the NFL. Knox and his sons have owned Legend Pool and Spa in Omaha for the previous twenty five years.

Charlie McBride retired as defensive coordinator at the conclusion of the 1999 season. He is a frequent guest on the Lincoln sports radio stations where he discusses all things Nebraska football.

Mike McCashland is running the family insurance firm in Lincoln founded by his father.

Tom Morrow has practiced law in the Nebraska courts since 1988, specializing in civil litigation and insurance defense.

Tom Osborne was admitted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December 1998. The National Football Foundation waived its usual three-year waiting period so that he could be inducted into its Hall of Fame as early as possible. He is one of only four coaches in history to have the mandatory three-year waiting period waived.

He went on to represent Nebraska Congressional District Three in the U.S. House of Representatives between 2001–2006.

Osborne rescued a Nebraska Athletic Department in crisis when he was appointed Athletic Director in 2007. He served in that position for five years until 2012.

Tom and Nancy Osborne founded The Team Mates program in 1991. This unique program recruit adults to act as mentors to school age children to provide support to the children with the objective of seeing them graduate from high school and pursue formal studies after high school graduation. Osborne remains active in this program.

Osborne is still involved in the football program and acts as a mentor and advisor for Matt Rhule and the Nebraska football coaching staff. In 2023, Osborne drew up a play that resulted in a crucial touchdown in a 17–9 victory over Northwestern.

Scott Raridon graduated with a MBA at Notre Dame and initially worked as a graduate assistant for head coach Lou Holtz. He later worked as the strength and conditioning coach at Notre Dame and Wisconsin. Raridon left coaching to go into business where he has sold medical devices and invested in banking, real estate and mining.

Tom Rathman earned the starting fullback position in 1985 in which he had one of the greatest seasons ever at Nebraska for a fullback. He averaged 7.5 yards per carry and had a penchant for long runs. On Tom Rathman Day at Memorial Stadium, he scored on an eighty four yard touchdown run against Colorado.

Rathman was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round in 1986 and went on to have an outstanding professional career as a player and a coach. While he was a player at San Francisco, he won two Super Bowls with former Husker Roger Craig. Rathman and Craig both wore Husker stickers on their helmets during the games, including the Super Bowl. “We tried to help Nebraska. We got Nebraska some free publicity during the Super Bowl. The ads during the game cost a fortune. We wanted to help Nebraska in every way,” Rathman told the author.

After nine years playing the fullback position, Rathman retired from playing to go into coaching. “After nine years, my body was hurting. The NFL game was tougher then. It was brutal,” he said.

Rathman worked for twenty two years as an assistant coach in the NFL for San Francisco, Oakland, Detroit and Indianapolis. He retired from coaching in 2021 and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area where he enjoys spending time with his family.

Mike Rozier played two years in the USFL and seven years in the NFL before a foot injury forced him to retire. After he left football, Rozier founded and heads up the Michael T. Rozier Cancer Foundation which provides financial assistance to cancer patients and their families receiving care. Rozier resides in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey but he frequently visits Nebraska because he loves the fans. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Mark Schellen played two years of professional football before returning to his home town of Waterloo, Nebraska to start a business. Schellen has been running a fitness and strength training business for over thirty years.

Ricky Simmons had a promising professional football career that was ruined by an addiction to crack cocaine. He played two years in the USFL and signed a contract with the Atlanta Falcons in 1986. After a week at the Atlanta training camp, Simmons left the team due to his drug addiction. ”I retired from football to be a full-time drug addict,” Simmons said.

Simmons became a repeat drug offender and in 2008 he was incarcerated at the state prison in Tecumseh, Nebraska. One day, he received a letter from the Nebraska Athletic Department. It came as a surprise to him because he never received mail. Simmons opened the letter and read it.

“Dear Ricky,

I know your parents believed in you, I believe in you, so upon your release, if there is anything I can do to help you, feel free to contact me.”

Tom Osborne.

Immediately after reading the letter, Simmons dropped to his knees in prayer and gave his life to Jesus Christ. “As if the pain was lifted, I experienced an explosion of forgiveness! Redemption! Better yet, an explosion of redemption took place right there in my cell! I knew God had forgiven me, instantly,” Simmons wrote.

He committed himself to becoming clean and sober and developed a plan to become a drug and alcohol counselor and a motivational speaker. After he was released from prison, Simmons began to meet with Osborne on a weekly basis. “He changed my life with that letter and he changed my life by being a man of his word. Literally, he took me in as a son and held me accountable in my daily fight to rid myself of the demons that once consumed me,” Simmons later wrote about his coach.

Simmons achieved his goals and is currently a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Lincoln. The former Husker is also a motivational speaker, telling his story at youth organizations, churches, treatment centers, prisons and high schools.

“Most people want to avoid the trainwreck prior to it. I use the trainwreck to educate adults and youth on how to avoid it. If you put me in front of one thousand five hundred kids in a gym, I hope I can prevent at least one trainwreck. I hope the kids think about my experience and make a good decision. I’m not trying to fix — I’m in prevention,” Simmons explained.

The former Husker receiver wrote a book about his experiences, titled: “The Explosion of Redemption: Trying to Win the Game of Personal Forgiveness in Life.” In addition, Simmons hosts a one hour weekly talk show on one of Lincoln’s sports talk radio stations. “My radio show is about being positive. I want to focus on things that don’t get attention — people doing positive things,” Simmons told the author.

Simmons is a dynamic individual who has a very positive philosophy: “I’m very humble. I’m very honored to be a part of that team. I live by the code of everyday that you are blessed, it is truly another day in paradise.”

Jeff Smith played four years in the NFL. After the completion of his playing days, he was worked as a Court Services Officer in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas.

Frank Solich succeeded Osborne as head coach at Nebraska and compiled an excellent 58–19 record in six seasons in Lincoln. His termination by Steve Pederson in 2003 was one of the biggest blunders in college football history.

Solich went on to be the head coach at Ohio University, where he turned around a moribund program. At Ohio, he had a record of 115–82, took the team to eleven bowl games and won four division titles in sixteen seasons. Solich was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2024.

Scott Strasburger became acquainted with team doctor Pat Clare during his time at Nebraska. Clare was a distinguished orthopedic surgeon who allowed Strasburger to observe his surgeries and encouraged him to go into medicine. He is a board certified orthopedic surgeon who has specialized in sports medicine. Strasburger has been practicing medicine in the Lincoln area for over twenty years.

Robert Stuckey earned a MBA degree at Harvard Business School after he graduated from Nebraska. He has been a real estate investor since he graduated from Harvard. Stuckey is currently a Managing Director and the head of Carlyle’s U.S. real estate funds.

Craig Sundberg’s father came to Lincoln in 1958 and worked for Mass Mutual in the insurance business. Sundberg followed in his father’s footsteps and currently works for Mass Mutual in Lincoln.

Shane Swanson had a brief stint in professional football in 1987 during the NFL players strike. He played three games for Denver where he broke Rick Upchurch’s total offense record for one game and was released the next day. “That’s why they call the NFL not for long,” Swanson observed.

Swanson returned to the rodeo circuit in 1997, and did that with his father for several years.

He later worked for for America West Airlines in a management position. “Dave Burke called me one day and helped me get into the pharmaceutical industry. I’ve been in the pharmaceutical industry since 2002,” Swanson said.

Dean Steinkuhler played in the NFL for the Houston Oilers between 1984–1991. He is currently retired and resides in the Lincoln area. He used to own several car washes in Syracuse, Nebraska.

Mike Tranmer is currently the senior vice president and general manager of AGC Biologics in Seattle.He is researching drugs that could potentially cure cancer. Tranmer and his wife split time between Seattle and Lincoln.

Mark Traynowicz is now retired after a career as an engineer with the Nebraska Department of Roads.

In Memoriam

Monte Engebritson

Neil Harris

Nate Mason

John Sherlock

Milt Tenopir

Requiescat in Pace