Dave Feit’s Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 76 – Jerry Minnick

A bright light in Nebraska’s dark ages, plus Huskers in unexpected places.

Counting down the greatest Nebraska football players by jersey number. / HuskerMax

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 76: Jerry Minnick, Tackle, 1950 – 1953

Honorable Mention: Brian Boerboom, Chris Spachman, Dave Walline

Also worn by: Gary Brichacek, Brenden Jaimes, Duane Mongerson, Duane Mongerson, Lydon Murtha, John Nelson, Brent Qvale, Joel Wilks, Bob Wolfe

Dave’s Fave: Billy Diekmann, Offensive Tackle, 1997 – 1999


At the end of the 1940 season, Nebraska went to its first bowl game. The Rose Bowl, granddaddy of them all. Even though the Cornhuskers lost to a very good Stanford team, optimism was high that the program – led by Biff Jones (who earned the rank of Major in the U.S. Army) – was headed for a national championship.

Yes, there was a war going on in Europe, but America was choosing to stay out of it. But on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States was now at war. 

World War II had deep and profound impacts all around the globe. It was the deadliest conflict in history. And since there is no good way to seamlessly transition from the death and destruction of war to something as trivial as college football, you’ll have to forgive me if we grind the gears shifting over to how World War II impacted the Nebraska Cornhuskers. I do not mean any disrespect toward those who served – or died – during the war.

WWII was rough on the program in many ways. NU’s coach, Maj. Lawrence McCeney "Biff" Jones, was ordered to active duty and left Nebraska shortly after war was declared. The Huskers would have four different head coaches in the next seven years. None of them lasted more than two seasons.

A scene from the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. / Dean Hensley/ Times-News / USA TODAY NETWORK

On the field, things were even worse. The University of Nebraska – unlike many other major universities – did not have an officer training program on campus. An 18-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, could go to Ohio State, complete his officer training and play football for the Buckeyes. An 18-year-old from Columbus, Nebraska, would enlist and be sent off to boot camp. 

As a result, the majority of Cornhusker teams in the 1940s consisted of players who were either not physically able to serve, or young, able-bodied young men who had not yet been drafted. From 1942 to 1945, Nebraska went 11-24 (.314). 

After the war, there is some hope. Bernie Masterson – a native son, former star player and successful coach – was hired. He was viewed as a savior for the program. Sadly, Masterson went 5-13 (.278) in two seasons. He holds the dubious honor of being the first Nebraska coach to have his contract bought out by unhappy boosters.

Bill Glassford took over in 1949. He was the first Husker coach to offer athletic scholarships to players. His winning percentage of .471 across seven seasons makes him the winningest coach between the 1940 Rose Bowl team and the arrival of Bob Devaney. The 1950 team went 6-2-1 and ended the season ranked No. 17. In the remainder of the decade, NU spent only two more weeks in the AP rankings. 

Jerry Minnick / Nebraska Athletics

Jerry Minnick, a freshman from Cambridge, Nebraska, was on the 1950 team but did not play. He began his career as a fullback but moved to tackle. 

Minnick started as a sophomore in 1951. Against Iowa State he caught a fumble in midair and ran it back for a touchdown, helping to ensure one of the two Husker victories in 1951. He earned first-team All-Big Seven recognition. 

1952 – Jerry Minnick’s junior campaign – was his finest season. He repeated as an All-Big Seven pick and was named a first-team All-American. Minnick was just the second Husker All-American since 1940. Nebraska would not have another All-American until 1963. The Huskers went 5-4-1.

Jerry Minnick leaps to assist on a tackle against Oregon in 1953. / Cornhusker Yearbook

In Minnick’s senior season (1953), he was a team captain and earned all-conference honors for the third time. Unfortunately, Minnick’s strong play was not enough. The 1953 Huskers finished 3-6-1. During Jerry Minnick’s playing career, they were 10-18-2 (.367).

Jerry Minnick was not on the team in 1954. He had graduated from NU. He turned down opportunities to play in the NFL and joined the Air Force to become a pilot. He would go onto fly reconnaissance missions in F4 Phantom jets. 

***

Billy Diekmann didn’t play a whole lot at Nebraska. In three seasons on the team, he never earned a single varsity letter.

But he’s not my favorite pick because of his football career.

As a senior at UNL, I had a class with Billy (who was a freshman at the time). This was far from the first time I had a football player in one of my classes.* There were some I recognized and probably dozens I never knew. Heck, I had a handful of classes with the Husker legend who will be honored at #20. 

*I believed in the old rule of thumb that the more football players in your class, the more likely you would be to get an A in the class. My semester in “History of Jazz” proved this to theory to be accurate.

The top of Billy Diekmann's bio. / 1998 Nebraska Football Media Guide

For the most part, I didn’t have a ton of interaction with the student-athletes in my classes. They tended to hang out with other athletes, and I had no desire to be an obnoxious fanboy bowing at the feet of the players I cheered for every Saturday.

So, Billy Diekmann was one of the first players I actually got to know. He was a nice, funny, down-to-earth small-town Nebraska kid.  The kind of guy who is easy to root for.  The kind of guy who makes up the majority of Nebraska rosters – even if he never becomes an All-American.

Do you want to know the class that we shared?  MUCO 243, currently known as Varsity Chorus. But in the first semester of 1997 it was called “Men’s Glee Club.”  You can joke all you want about singing in a glee club, but not too many people do it when there’s a 6-foot-3, 290-pound offensive lineman standing next to you.

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