Nebraska is celebrating a milestone this weekend, one made possible by the countless hours Husker student-athletes put in on the field and in the classroom. The Nebraska Athletic Department surpassed 300 all-time CoSIDA Academic All-Americans during the 2012-13 academic year, enabling NU to become the first college or university in any division to produce 300 Academic All-Americans. To honor that achievement, Nebraska is welcoming back its best and brightest student-athletes for Saturday’s Husker game against Big Ten Legends rival Michigan State. An estimated 120 Husker Academic All-Americans will be honored at midfield after the Cornhusker Marching Band’s halftime performance.
A total of 223 Nebraska student-athletes have earned NU’s nation-leading total of 307 CoSIDA Academic All-America certificates. Björn Barrefors is the Huskers’ first and only four-time CoSIDA Academic All-American across all sports. The 2012 Big Ten decathlon champion was a third-team selection in 2010, then earned First-Team Academic All-America status in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Former Husker Mike Brown will be honored twice Saturday – in the first half as a First-Team All-America defensive back who last August was voted one of the Huskers’ Top Eight Blackshirts over the last 50 years; and secondly as a First-Team Academic All-American who will be recognized with the group at halftime. Mary Weatherholt is another accomplished scholar-athlete who will be individually introduced at Saturday’s game. Earlier this week, she was announced as a 2014 Top Ten Award Winner – the most prestigious award the NCAA presents on an annual basis. Nebraska leads the nation in Top Ten winners with 17. Stanford has 15 recipients of the award, which is based on academic achievement, athletic accomplishment and community service.
The Huskers’ 307 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all sports lead second place Notre Dame (231) and third place MIT (204), the only other schools to produce 200 Academic All-Americans. Penn State (182) and Stanford (176) complete the top five. Nebraska’s football team leads all programs nationally with 104 Academic All-Americans. On the women’s side, the NU volleyball program has captured more Academic All-America awards (37) than any other women’s team in the nation, while the Husker softball program (29) ranks second on that list. Nebraska also leads all NCAA women’s gymnastics programs with 14 Academic All-Americans. In addition, NU ranks among the nation’s top 10 schools in CoSIDA Academic All-Americans in baseball, women’s basketball and men’s and women’s track and field/cross country.
Four former Husker football players were chosen First-Team Academic All-Americans by an organization other than CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America. Don Fricke (1960), Pat Clare (1960), Jim Osberg (1965) and Tony Jeter (1965) are Academic All-Americans who are not included in Nebraska’s nation-leading 307 total because the NCAA uses CoSIDA as a single standard for all schools. Four Husker Academic All-Americans are deceased – Curt Hedberg (1978) and Jack Moore (1981), both basketball players, plus two-time Academic All-Americans Jake Young (football, 1988, ’89) and Alex Lamme (track and field, 1996, ’97).
Nebraska’s complete list of all-time Academic All-Americans is listed below by sport:
Football (104): Bob Oberlin (1952 and 1953), Jim Huge (1962), Dennis Claridge (1963), Marv Mueller (1966), Randy Reeves (1969), John Adkins (1970), Bill Kosch (1970 and 1971), Dave Walline (1970), Jeff Kinney (1971), Larry Jacobson (1971), Dick Rupert (1971), Frosty Anderson (1973), Ritch Bahe (1973), Rik Bonness (1975), Tom Heiser (1975), Vince Ferragamo (1976), Ted Harvey (1976 and 1977), Stan Waldemore (1977), Jim Pillen (1978), George Andrews (1978), Rod Horn (1979), Kelly Saalfeld (1979), Randy Schleusener (1979 and 1980), Jeff Finn (1980), Ric Lindquist (1980 and 1981), Dave Rimington (1981 and 1982), Randy Theiss (1981 and 1982), Kris Van Norman (1982), Bill Weber (1982), Scott Strasburger (1983 and 1984), Rob Stuckey (1983 and 1984), Mark Traynowicz (1984), Dale Klein (1986), Tom Welter (1986), Micah Heibel (1987), Jeff Jamrog (1987), Mark Blazek (1987 and 1988), Jake Young (1988 and 1989), John Nelson (1988), John Kroeker (1988), Pat Tyrance (1989 and 1990), Gerry Gdowski (1989), Jim Wanek (1990), David Edeal (1993), Pat Engelbert (1990 and 1991), Mike Stigge (1991 and 1992), Rob Zatechka (1992, 1993 and 1994), Ken Mehlin (1993), Terry Connealy (1993 and 1994), Trev Alberts (1993), Matt Shaw (1994), Aaron Graham (1994 and 1995), Steve Volin (1995), Steve Ott (1995), Brian Schuster (1995), Grant Wistrom (1996 and 1997), Jon Hesse (1996), Chad Kelsay (1997 and 1998), Jon Zatechka (1997), Scott Frost (1997), Joel Makovicka (1997 and 1998), Brian Shaw (1998 and 1999), Bill Lafleur (1998), Mike Brown (1999), Kyle Vanden Bosch (1999 and 2000), Tracey Wistrom (2001), Judd Davies (2003), Pat Ricketts (2003), Kellen Huston (2004), Chad Sievers (2004), Dane Todd (2005 and 2006), Kurt Mann (2005), Todd Peterson (2008), Tyler Wortman (2008), Austin Cassidy (2010 and 2011), Rex Burkhead (2011 and 2012) and Sean Fisher (2011 and 2012).
Baseball (18): Adrian Fiala (1970), Gene Stohs (1970 and 1972), Steve Achelpohl (1972), Steve Oakley (1980), Todd Oakes (1983), Mark Kister (1985), Matt Schuldt (1998), Erik Mumm (1999), Jeff Leise (2001, 2002 and 2003), John Cole (2001) Shane Komine (2002), Aaron Marsden (2003), Daniel Bruce (2005), Brandon Buckman (2006), D.J. Belfonte (2010) and Casey Hauptman (2011)
Men’s Basketball (7): Chuck Jura (1972), Curt Hedberg (1978), Jack Moore (1981), John Matzke (1984) and Beau Reid (1989 and 1991).
Men’s Gymnastics (14): Tom Schlesinger (1986 and 1988), Patrick Kirksey (1990), Mark Warburton (1990), Sumner Darling (1992, 1993 and 1994), Rick Kieffer (1995), Jason Christie (1996), Ted Harris (1997), Jim Koziol (1999), Marshall Nelson (2000), Ryan Sneed (2003) and Stephen Tetrault (2007 and 2008).
Men’s Swimming & Diving (4): Justin Switzer (1993 and 1994), Michael Windisch (2000) and Jon Hahn (2001).
Men’s Tennis (1): Steve Jung (1989).
Men’s Track & Field/Cross Country (23): James Blackledge (1988), Brady Bonsall (1995 and 1996), Alex Lamme (1996 and 1997), Kyle Wyatt (2002), Dana Carne (2004), Danny Hill (2004), Aaron Plas (2006), Nate Probasco (2006 and 2007), Issar Yazhbin (2007), Nicholas Gordon (2010 and 2011), Bjorn Barrefors (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013), Nate Polacek (2011 and 2012), Adam Dailey (2011), Tyler Hitchler (2011) and Brett Grieb (2012).
Rifle (3): Rachel Spiry (2001 and 2002) and Ryann McGough (2011).
Soccer (4): Shannon Tanaka (2001), Meghan Anderson (2001), Shay Powell (2009) and Morgan Marlborough (2010).
Softball (29): Denise Day (1984 and 1985), Denice Feldhaus (1984), Shelby Mertins (1984), Lori Richins (1985, 1986 and 1987), Margie Ogrodowicz (1987 and 1988), Ruth Chatwin (1987), Lori Sippel (1988), Janelle Frese (1989), Jill Rishel (1990), Ann Halsne (1991 and 1992), Denise McMillan (1992, 1993 and 1994), Karla Knicely (1996), Jenny Smith (1998), Jamie Fuente (2001), Kim Ogee (2002), Lizzy Rock (2006), KoKo Tacha (2006), Molly Hill (2008 and 2009), Robin Mackin (2010), Ashley Hagemann (2011) and Nikki Haget (2011).
Volleyball (37): Karen Dahlgren (1984, 1985 and 1986), Virginia Stahr (1987, 1988 and 1989), Kathi DeBoer (1987), Lori Endicott (1988), Janet Kruse (1989, 1990 and 1991), Carla Baker (1989), Becky Bolli (1990), Allison Weston (1994 and 1995), Christy Johnson (1995), Lisa Reitsma (1996), Megan Korver (1998), Nancy Metcalf (1999 and 2001), Laura Pilakowski (2000, 2001 and 2002), Greichaly Cepero (2001), Amber Holmquist (2002), Anna Schrad (2003), Christina Houghtelling (2005 and 2007), Sarah Pavan (2005, 2006 and 2007), Tracy Stalls (2007), Kori Cooper (2008 and 2009), Amanda Gates (2008), Jordan Larson (2008), and Gina Mancuso (2012).
Women’s Basketball (8): Kelli Benson (1984), Cathy Owen (1984), Terri Parriott (1985), Stephanie Bolli (1986 and 1988) and Karen Jennings (1991, 1992 and 1993).
Women’s Golf (1): Heidi Wall (1996).
Women’s Gymnastics (14): Mary Ocel (1988), Jane Clemons (1990), Nicole Duval (1993, 1994 and 1995), Joy Taylor (1995 and 1996), Kim DeHaan (1996), Bree Dority-O’Callaghan (2001), Jen French (2002 and 2003), Libby Landgraf (2004), Richelle Simpson (2005) and Emily Wong (2013).
Women’s Swimming & Diving (2): Courtney Jensen (2000) and Kaitlin Arntz (2010).
Women’s Tennis (3): Rachel Collins (1992) and Imke Reimers (2007 and 2008).
Women’s Track & Field/Cross Country (26): Nicole Ali (1985 and 1986), Lynne Frey (1990), Kathy Travis Miiller (1996), Nicola Martial (1996), Janet Blomstedt (1997), Jill Myatt (1997), Cassandra Morelock (2000), Stella Klassen (2000), Jenna Lucas (2002), Kate Livesey (2002), Melissa Price (2002), Cheryl Harmon (2003), Ann Gaffigan (2004), Tia DeSoto (2004), Ashley Selig (2006 and 2007), Jenny Green (2006 and 2007), Kim Shubert (2007 and 2008), Natalie Willer (2010 and 2011), Ashley Miller (2011), Mara Griva (2013) and Morgan Wilken (2013).
Wrestling (8): Ryan Tobin (1996 and 1998), Matt Murray (2004 and 2005), Tucker Lane (2011 and 2012) and Josh Ihnen (2012 and 2013).