61 Days Until Gameday – Day #33 Furnas County, Nebraska

[HuskerInCarolina]

We have 61 days until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026.
Yesterday we looked at Frontier County, Nebraska.

https://www.on3.com/boards/threads/62-days-until-gameday-–-day-32-frontier-county-nebraska.8885587/

Furnas County, Nebraska

• Established in 1873 and named after Robert Furnas, 2nd Governor of Nebraska (1873-1875).
• The population is ~4,500 (2025) and has been steadily declining since 1920.
• License Plate prefix #38.
• Beaver City is the county seat, though Cambridge is the largest city in the county.
• Beaver City becoming the county seat came with a lot of political challenges. There were many settlers already in the areas of Beaver City and Arapahoe when the county was established. In 1873, when the first ballot for county seat was cast, Arapahoe was able to submit their election results to the Secretary of State’s office in Lincoln within the required time limit. Beaver City was delayed because of a blizzard and didn’t arrive until a day after the deadline. The Secretary of State ruled Beaver City’s election results invalid since they missed the deadline and a series of court orders and political fighting began between the two settlements. A 2nd vote was held 6 months later and Beaver City was declared the county seat, which prompted more legal challenges from Arapahoe. In 1881, the Nebraska Supreme Court declared Beaver City is the county seat and has remained so since.
• In June 1867, General George Custer and a regiment of 350 men spent a week travelling throughout Furnas County hunting for Native Americans.
• Wilsonville was originally named “Wild Turkey”.
• Oxford is split between Furnas and Harlan Counties.
• Holbrook was originally named “Burton’s Bend”.
• Cambridge was originally named “Pickletown”.

Former Huskers and Spotlights (years next to name are letterman years)
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there have been 8 letterman football players from Furnas County, NE.


Greg Fletcher – LB 1991, Oxford, NE.

• 6’1” 240 outside linebacker wearing #39.
• Played at Nebraska from 1989-1992, lettering in 1991.
• 4-year letterwinner and 2x All-State at Oxford HS.
• Played in 7 games making 11 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery and 1 QB hurry.

Walter Luther – HB 1938-1940, Cambridge, NE.

• 6’ 180lb halfback wearing #27.
• Played at Nebraska from 1937-1940, lettering from 1938-1940.
• Starred in the 1941 Rose Bowl against Stanford.
• Drafted in the 1941 NFL draft by the Cleveland Rams.
• Chose to serve in the U.S. Army and fought in WWII.
• He was killed in Italy in 1945 by sniper fire while leading a small team to scout and engage an enemy position. For his actions, he was awarded the Silver Star. The ceremony was held on the Nebraska campus.

Jerry Minnick – T 1951-1953, Cambridge, NE.

• 6’4” 220 tackle wearing #76.
• Began his career as a fullback, but moved to tackle during his freshman year.
• All-State fullback out of Cambridge HS.
• 1952 All-American, the last All-American for Head Coach Bill Glassford.
• 1953 Co-Captain
• Drafted in the 9th round of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.
• Declined the NFL to join the U.S. Air Force where he flew fighter jets before returning to the farm in Cambridge.
• Nebraska Football Hall of Fame

 

[HuskerInCarolina]

Ryan Ommert – WR 2003, Cambridge, NE.

• 5’10 195lb wide receiver wearing #8.
• Played at Nebraska from 1999-2003, lettering in 2003.

Jerry Petersen – G/T 1954-1956, Cambridge, NE.

• 6’2” 195lb guard and tackle wearing #63.
• Graduated from Cambridge HS at 16 years old.
• Played in the 1955 Orange Bowl and scored a TD against Ohio State via a blocked punt and return for TD.
• Married the cousin of Jerry Minnick.

Oren Beltzer – HB 1907-1909, Arapahoe, NE.

• 175lb End
• 1909 Team Captain in football, 1908 Team Captain in baseball.
• 3x letterman in football and baseball at UNL.
• Buck Beltzer Stadium was named in his honor, where the Husker baseball team played from 1940’s to 2001.

Orlando Bentley – QB 1908-1909, Arapahoe, NE.

• Shared the starting duties at Nebraska playing alongside his high school teammate, Oren Beltzer.
• Born in 1882.

James Mathers – HB 1937, Arapahoe, NE.

• 5’10” 165lb halfback wearing #12.
• 4-year letterman out of Arapahoe High School.
• 1936 State Champion long jumper (23’ 4”) and record holder until the 70’s.
• 1936 State Champion 220m sprint.
• Mathers played at UNL from 1936-1937, lettering in 1937 and transferred to Peru State and played from 1936-1941.
• 1931 team finished 6-1-2 and ranked #11 in Biff Jones’ first season as head coach.
• Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame member.

Other Notable or Prominent People from/born in Furnas County:


Alvin Lee Marts – Born in Wilsonville, NE. Served in the U.S. Navy during WWII aboard the USS Yorktown, which was sunk during the Battle of Midway on 7 June 1942. Marts survived the sinking and was transferred to the USS New Orleans. In the Battle of Tassafaronga, the USS New Orleans was hit by a torpedo at the port bow exploding two magazines and blew off the forward part of the ship. Marts was assigned to the forward area of the ship and was gravely injured by the blast and fire. Despite his injuries, he carried an injured officer to the battle dressing station where he ended up collapsing and dying shortly after. For his actions, he was awarded the Navy Cross. The USS Marts was commissioned in 1943 and named in his honor. After the war ended, the USS Marts was decommissioned (20 March 1945) and transferred to the Brazilian Navy.


Ron Hansen – Born in Oxford, NE, and moved to California as a child. Hansen was a shortstop in the MLB for 15 seasons from 1958-1972, playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, New York Yankees, and Kansas City Royals. He was a 2x All-Star and the 1960 AL Rookie of the Year. He was the 7th rookie in MLB history to start an All-Star game. He finished his career batting .234/.351/.672 with 1,007 hits, 106 HRs, 501 RBIs, 446 runs.

Arno Cammerer – Born and raised in Arapahoe, NE. He was the 3rd director of the National Park Service from 1933-1940 appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Under his leadership, the National Park Service tripled the number of areas served and increased visitations from 2million to 16million. Mount Cammerer in the Smoky Mountains (TN) is named in his honor.

Jeff Kinney- Hall of Fame halfback for the Huskers was born in Oxford, NE but was raised and went to high school in McCook. His spotlight will be featured in Red Willow County.

Edwin Perkins – Inventor of Kool-Aid. Born in Iowa, but move to Hendley, NE when he was 4. His father owned the general store in Hendley where Perkins first worked with Jell-O, which was one of the inspirations for Kool-Aid.

GO BIG RED

Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/husk.../ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furnas_County,_Nebraska
https://furnascounty.ne.gov/

 

[Antwill]

Jeff Kinney was a running back. Scored the game winning TD in the "Game of the Century" versus OU.

Eugene "Hoppy" McCue of Arapahoe was the first World Herald Athlete of the Year.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Beaver City is what we called my room in the frat house back in college. Wink.

 

[Anon1752115983]

Jeff Kinney was a running back. Scored the game winning TD in the "Game of the Century" versus OU.

Eugene "Hoppy" McCue of Arapahoe was the first World Herald Athlete of the Year.

There was a long-time and successful boys basketball coach at Aurora HS who came out of Wilsonville, where he was a prolific scorer in his own school days. Won a state title in '76. Help me out

 

[GBR01]

Bill Holliday

There was a long-time and successful boys basketball coach at Aurora HS who came out of Wilsonville, where he was a prolific scorer in his own school days. Won a state title in '76. Help me out

i

 

[HuskerInCarolina]

Jeff Kinney was a running back. Scored the game winning TD in the "Game of the Century" versus OU.

Eugene "Hoppy" McCue of Arapahoe was the first World Herald Athlete of the Year.

big typo there. my bad.