| A LIFETIME IN FOOTBALL | | | | Arbor, 25-13 giving Devaney his first big win. Nine |
| Kent McCloughan worked in a Broken Bow, | | | | wins and only a 16-7 Homecoming loss to Missouri |
| Nebraska grocery store and listened to Husker | | | | and a 34-6 loss to Oklahoma ruined the Devaney |
| games on the radio when he was a boy. That | | | | era debut. Their reward proved to be another |
| would be the last job he held that didn't have | | | | permanent Husker mark. This Husker team is the |
| anything to do with football. | | | | only Husker team to ever play a football game in |
| Today, this legend of the early Devaney years | | | | Yankee Stadium. The Huskers beat Miami in the |
| works for the Oakland Raiders organization and | | | | Gotham Bowl in a close one, 36-34. |
| pushes the Raiders shopping cart through the halls | | | | "It was so cold the ground was frozen," |
| of college football looking for just the right match | | | | McCloughan recalled. "My cleats didn't work so I |
| of talent and attitude to make silver and black | | | | got Coach Corgan to give me his tennis shoes." |
| history. | | | | Even in freezing cold, Husker fever was catching |
| "I spend a lot of time on the road," he said during | | | | on. 1963 was one of those ever-so-close almost |
| an interview from his Colorado home. "Most of | | | | National Championship years for the Huskers. |
| my job involves talking. I talk to trainers, and | | | | They would go 10-1 and McCloughan remembers |
| coaches, and other players and try to find out | | | | the loss. |
| how much a guy loves football and how tough he | | | | "We didn't pay well against Air Force," he said. |
| is." He also spends lots of time looking at film so | | | | "Late in the game, they got behind us on a pass |
| on NFL draft day, he can answer a question in | | | | and we didn't catch up. We did beat Oklahoma |
| seconds and help the Raiders make just the right | | | | which was good." The 17-13 loss to Air Force |
| picks that may someday get them back to the | | | | would keep the Huskers out of any title hopes |
| Super Bowl. | | | | but put them in the Orange Bowl and a win |
| That's one Nebraska record McCloughan will | | | | against Auburn, 13-7. |
| always hold. He was the first former Husker to | | | | Nebraska was starting to get some attention by |
| ever play in a Super Bowl. | | | | both pollsters and fans. The packed sellout record |
| Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers with Bart | | | | started in 1962 grew more impressive with the |
| Starr calling signals beat the Raiders 33-14 in | | | | completion of the South stadium in 1964. By the |
| Super Bowl II. McCloughan started that game as a | | | | fourth game of the season, Nebraska was rated |
| cornerback. There is no Super Bowl Championship | | | | 8th in the country and moving up each week. By |
| ring shortage in the McCloughan home, however. | | | | the last game, Nebraska was rated 4th. Oklahoma |
| "I have three of them," he said. | | | | waited patiently for the chance to get revenge |
| The Raiders organization got McCloughan not | | | | and got it in Norman, 17-7. Nebraska lost the |
| through the draft, but via a telephone call from a | | | | Cotton Bowl to Arkansas, 10-7. |
| Nebraska trainer. | | | | McCloughan received All Big 8 Conference honors |
| "I was drafted in the 3rd round by Washington | | | | and All Big 8 Conference Academic honors. He |
| and in the 11th by Houston," McCloughan explained. | | | | was also inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall |
| "Washington had two all-pros where I would likely | | | | of Fame in 1993. But, unlike so many, his football |
| play and Houston never called back. That's when I | | | | days have never ended. |
| called George Sullivan and he called Al Davis." | | | | "I enjoy traveling around to the different |
| The Raiders traded for McCloughan and it has | | | | universities," he said. On a recent trip to Norman, |
| been a football love affair ever since. One of his | | | | Oklahoma he noticed something in their trophy |
| sons works with him and is also a scout. He has | | | | room. "There was a picture of Bud Wilkinson |
| two other boys, one is a scout for Seattle and | | | | shaking hands with Nebraska's Bobby Reynolds. |
| the other is a homebuilder in Colorado. His wife is | | | | What an athlete he was. He could run sideways |
| his Broken Bow high school sweetheart. | | | | as well as up and down the field." |
| The talented Broken Bow running back had the | | | | McCloughan, along with the backfield of "Thunder" |
| attention of most of the schools in the Big 8 | | | | Thornton, Bobby Hohn, and Dennis Claridge |
| including interesting offers from Colorado, Kansas, | | | | brought a lot of excitement to Lincoln, too. They |
| and Northwestern. But Nebraska won. The Bill | | | | set the bar high enough that both coaches and |
| Jennings group had the ball rolling with a couple of | | | | fans could see a National Championship just on |
| noticeable upsets of Oklahoma and Bob Devaney | | | | the other side. |
| was on the way to Lincoln. | | | | "I was a spoiled kid coming out of Broken Bow |
| McCloughan spent his freshman year in the | | | | but soon learned how to work hard to gain what |
| Jennings era and came out firing under Devaney | | | | I got. We got killed on the scout team but I |
| as a sophomore. He scored his first of eighteen | | | | learned if you are going to succeed, you have to |
| career touchdowns during the 1962 South Dakota | | | | work hard. Coaches like Jim Ross made a man |
| opener, a 53-0 rout. | | | | out of me." |
| "I am proud I was one of those guys," he said. | | | | And players like Kent McCloughan got the Big Red |
| "We got the ball rolling." Indeed they did. In the | | | | fever going. |
| second game, Nebraska dropped Michigan in Ann | | | | |