One of Nebraska’s greatest running backs. 
Happy 70th BD to Husker great Rick Berns
- Thread starter BetterRed1
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70? Doesn't seem possible - please tell me that's a typo.
I'd take him (in his prime) right now over any back that Nebraska has had the past five years. Hell, past ten years.
I think Berns is one of the top five running backs Nebraska has had. He was a stud when he was here. Just my humble opinion.
Berns and Burkhead are clearly the top RB's NU has ever gotten out of TX. Aaron Green might have been in the conversation if he had stuck around
I was at that game. Berns and Hipp were great. It was the greatest Nebraska game I ever attended. Deliriously happy parading down O street following the goal post! Ha
The Oklahoma Sooners, they’re heading for a fall…they’ll never catch Isaiah, the I back with the ball.
Cool fact nobody gives a chit about….but when I was going to school there, the owners of my apartment complex told me I rented the same apartment he had lived in.
Always stepped up in the biggest games. If I recall correctly, even in that gut-wrenching loss to Missouri in '78, he had a monster game.
I used to hate Oklahoma. I miss that rivalry game. I blame Oklahoma for ending it. Awesome memory, pennsy!
And cold as heck, too. I remember all the chaos after the game was over, my older brother and his friends headed right to the first bar we found, of course it was a topless bar, but they didn't even care that I was way too young to be there, the money and beer were flowing big time.
Keith Jackson said it best on the broadcast, it was "cold enough to make a brass monkey clank." And it was.
It was freezing! Which is probably why OU lost six fumbles out of ten that day. They could not handle the cold
Those hits Nebraska put on the OU backs were crazy hard, but Lott got careless on a few and was lucky to get some of them back. I still watch that game once a year, it was that good.
Tremendous story from that day:
As you recall, fans stormed the field and the goalposts came down. A group of friends was standing right under them when they fell. The cross bar hit one of them, who I'll just call Duke (because that's his name) square on the melon. Knocked him over and out cold instantly.
The poor medics -- they had to negotiate the stretcher through that crowd. They loaded up Duke and took him to the medical area, which at that time was a small room under the bleachers where the visiting fans now sit in the SW corner. Another friend, who I'll call Rick (cuz that's what his parents named him), followed the stretcher into that room. As the medics were tending to others, Duke started to stir. Rick rousted him, kinda woke him up and helped him to his feet. He was wobbly but Rick led him out of the area. Steadied him enough to walk him to the old Sandy's (caddy corner from where it is now), where everybody spent the rest of the day. The highlight was looking out the window and watching the goalpost make its way down 14th Street. Too bad Duke's concussion precluded him from recalling any of it but trust me, he had a great time.
Call BS if you want, but if you're from David City or Columbus, you know exactly who I'm talking about.
I knew Rick Berns pretty well. My birthday is the day before his. One year we went out and celebrated together. Fantastic guy. I last saw him about 20 years ago at a game in Texas. He played a couple of NFL seasons with the Raiders.
And yes, this 70 years old stuff is weird
He was a damn good RB. I would love to see NU have another back like him in the backfield. I wonder how he would do in today's game? I would think that Rick Berns, Aundra Franklin, Jarvis Redwine would still be great players.
I think they all would do well in today's game. Berns and Redwine were both 200 pounds or very close, Franklin was probably there as well. All three were hammers but also elusive.
Berns also had a 50 yard run against Colorado in 1976 that sealed that game for Nebraska.
I can remember thinking that my 20's and 30's were never going to end. But man, it is really just a blink of an eye.