Dave Feit's Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 59

Dave Feit is counting down the days until the start of the 2025 season by naming the best Husker to wear each uniform number, as well as one of his personal favorites at that number. For more information about the series, click here. To see more entries, click here.

Greatest Husker to wear 59: Josh Heskew, Center, 1995 - 1998

Honorable Mention: none

Also worn by: Jeff Anderson, Ryon Bingham, Brett Byford, Wes Cody, Matt Finnin, Bob Grenfell, Henry Lutovsky, Felber Maasdam, Jim Wrightman, Allen Zikmund

Dave's Fave: Josh Heskew

Previously, we covered the amazing career of Aaron Taylor: the only Husker to be an All-American at two different positions. One of the reasons Taylor moved from center to guard was the development of Josh Heskew. Having studied under All-Americans Aaron Graham and Taylor, Heskew proved himself to be a worthy successor. The switch occurred during the practices before the 1997 Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.

A tough Oklahoman, Heskew helped anchor the offensive line for the 1997 national champions, averaging nearly 10 pancake blocks per game. He earned all-conference honors as a senior in 1998. A team captain in 1998, Heskew was elected to the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Ironically, Heskew came to Nebraska as a defensive player - and almost didn't come to Lincoln at all.

Josh Heskew came to Nebraska after being spurned by his home-state Oklahoma Sooners. | Nebraska Football Media Guide

In high school (Mustang, Okla.) he averaged two sacks per game. Heskew wanted to play for his beloved Oklahoma Sooners - young Josh once sported a Brian Bosworth haircut. But the Sooners told him he was too small to play for them. Oklahoma State had a scholarship available… only if their first choice didn't sign.

At an awards banquet in Oklahoma, Heskew's high school coach was chatting with legendary offensive line coach Milt Tenopir and brought up Heskew. His high school coach must have said the right thing. Tenopir called the following morning with a scholarship offer. Heskew went on to play in 47 games as a Husker, with 27 starts.

***

I forget how I learned that Tom Osborne was about to retire as Nebraska's head football coach.

Back in December of 1997, nobody had a cellphone… nobody I knew, at least. The internet was becoming more widely used,* but social media did not exist.

*I remember going into the college football chat rooms on AOL - via a dial-up modem - to argue with Michigan fans about why Nebraska should be the champions if they beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. Big Ten fans were insufferable about how strong their conference was.

I want to say I heard an announcement on the radio that Osborne was going to have a 3 p.m. press conference. This would have been before sports talk radio exploded in popularity. If there was a local show (other than "Sports Nightly") in Lincoln at that point, I was unaware of it. Maybe one of my friends called me.

I know it was a Wednesday. Dec. 10, 1997, to be exact. I was supposed to work at my part-time job (at Younker's in the Gateway Mall) that evening. I went into work early and watched it on the 19" TV in the breakroom as Tom Osborne stood in front of a throng of media and players to announce his retirement. It would be effective Jan. 3, the day after the Orange Bowl. I, like everybody watching, was stunned.

Tom Osborne and Jason Peter after the 1998 Orange Bowl — Tom Osborne gets a hug from Jason Peter after the Huskers routed Tennessee in the 1998 Orange Bowl, Osborne's final game. | Nebraska Athletics

Osborne, who was just 60 when he retired, seemed to be in relatively good health. He had heart bypass surgery in 1984, and spent the night in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat after the October 1997 game against Iowa State. That said, Osborne would run laps around the field most days. "I'm in reasonably good shape," he said during the press conference. "I have no major problems where I'm going to keel over in front of you... It's important to walk away while you can still walk."

Officially, Osborne wanted to spend more time with his wife, children and grandchildren. He regularly worked 13-hour days and missed countless milestones and events over the years. He was not interested in becoming a Bobby Bowden-esque figurehead coach. If he was in charge, he would be the one breaking down film, drawing up the game plans and calling plays. Osborne didn't know any other way.

Several years later, Osborne acknowledged another reason for his retirement. He wanted to honor the promise he had made in 1991 - and amended in January of 1997 - to hand the Nebraska program over to Frank Solich. Continuity was extremely important to Osborne. James Moeser, then UNL's chancellor, recalled Osborne saying, "I don't want someone else coming in here and jerking my kids around by the facemask."

Solich was officially announced as Nebraska's head coach the same day. It was the clear and obvious choice. Maybe it was my naïveté as a fan, but I never even considered the idea of Nebraska conducting an external search* for a head coach. Of course, Frank would follow Tom.

*Bill Byrne, Nebraska's athletic director at time, had to seek permission from the Office of Affirmative Action to hire Solich without conducting an outsider search - as was required by university policy.

Over the years, several names have been speculated on who Byrne might have hired if he had done his own search. It’s fun to consider those alternate universes, but the reality was that if Byrne did not honor Osborne's wishes and hire Solich one of two things would have happened: 1) Osborne would have kept on coaching, 2) Byrne would have been run out of town.

When Osborne announced his retirement, Josh Heskew was a junior starting center for the No. 2-ranked Cornhuskers. The team found out about Osborne's plans one hour before the press conference. During the event, many of them stood on chairs and tables with tears in their eyes.

To a man, they vowed two things: 1) they would move heaven and earth to ensure they sent Tom Osborne out with a victory in the Orange Bowl, 2) the team was confident in Frank Solich's ability to keep things going.

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