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Two-Time Husker National Champion Matt Vrzal Dies

A walk-on from Grand Island who helped the Huskers go on to win multiple national titles before spending time as a local business owner and coach, Matt Vrzal died at the age of 51.
Kaleb Henry|
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Nebraska Cornhuskers

A Husker from a bygone era of collegiate athletics is gone.

Matt Vrzal, a member of two national champion teams in the 1990s, died on Thursday. He was 51 years old.

Vrzal walked on at Nebraska in 1992, redshirting that season. He would play in a few games during both of the next two seasons, including the 1994 national title campaign.

From left, Milt Tenopir, Matt Vrzal, Chris Dishman, Kory Mikos, Adam Treu, Dan Young.
From left, Milt Tenopir, Matt Vrzal, Chris Dishman, Kory Mikos, Adam Treu, Dan Young. | Nebraska Athletics

During the 1995 national championship run, Vrzal played in all 12 games. The backup to All-America center Aaron Graham, he helped the Huskers earn the nation’s top rankings in rushing (399.8 yards per game), scoring (52.4 points per game), and aided NU to a No. 2 final ranking in total offense (556.3 yards per game). Nebraska did not give up a sack in 1995, and the 52.4 point average was a school and Big Eight record.

In his senior year, he saw action in all but one game, playing behind Aaron Taylor and Josh Heskew. That team went 11-2, closing the year with a 41-21 win over No. 10 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

The two-time national champion also earned honors off the field while in Lincoln. Vrzal was on the Phillips 66 Academic Honor Roll in 1995. In 1996, he earned Big 12 Commissioner's Fall Semester Honor Roll and Honorable-Mention Academic All-Big 12.

In "No Place Like Nebraska: Anatomy of an Era Vol. 1," Vrzal told Paul Koch that one of the motivators for him and his teammates was the fans.

"For me, being a Nebraska kid and getting a chance to kind of know, just to maybe look at it instead of, 'Hey, we won. We won the game again.' I’d always talk to the guys from Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, wherever. I’d say, ‘Hey, look at the people, look at the fans…’

"I remember my parents and Wistrom’s parents tailgated together, and we’d walk over to the tailgate and I’d say, ‘Look at the people. Look what it’s done for these people. Look outside yourself and just think about it: This is Nebraska, this is important to the people. This is all we have. We don’t have pro teams, we don’t have major metropolises. We have this, and you guys are part of the reason this state has so much pride in itself.’

"At the end of the day, we hang our hat on a few things, and one is Nebraska football. And I think a lot of the Nebraska guys had the same mentality, just that sense of pride. 'We’re winning, people feel pretty good about themselves.'

"Sometimes you’d have 40,000 people at an away game, like at Kansas one time. Eighty percent of the people were Nebraska people. That was part of the reason we were able to win so many games, that pride factor it brought to the people."

A graduate of Grand Island, Vrzal, was a Lincoln Journal-Star Super-State and Omaha World-Herald all-state offensive guard as a senior. He also earned USA Today Honorable-Mention All-America honors.

Vrzal was academic all-state and graduate in the top 10 percent of his class.

After college, Vrzal saw success as an entrepreneur. At one point owning bars in Lincoln, he eventually made his way to Omaha, most recently owning Piezon's Pizzeria. He was also a former assistant football coach at Omaha Skutt Catholic School.

A regular with local talk shows, Vrazal could be heard on 1620 The Zone's "Gary & Matt" as well as the Hurrdat Sports production "Hurrdat Sports Live". The latter features Damon Benning as a host, who was also a Husker during the exact stretch of 1992-92 as Vrzal.

Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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