82 Days Until Gameday - #12 Butler County, Nebraska

We have 82 days until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026.
Yesterday we looked at Burt County, Nebraska.


Butler County, Nebraska

• Population ~8,500 (2025)
• License Plate prefix #25
• David City is the county seat and the largest city in the county.
• Established in 1856 and organized in 1868.
• Named after William Butler, a Congressman from Kentucky and an Army Major General during the Mexican-American War. He was offered the job of Governor of the Nebraska Territory in 1854 by President Pierce, but declined.
• Butler County is approximately 591 square miles.
• Surprise, NE got its name from a man who built a gristmill on the Big Blue River. He was surprised to find so much waterpower was available so close to the river’s headwaters that he named his mill “Surprise”. When the area around the mill started developing in 1883 and 1884, they organized as a town and named it after the mill.

Former Huskers (years are letterman years)
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there have been 17 letterman football players from Butler County, NE:

• Ray Prochaska – E 1938-1940, Ulysses, NE.
• George Prochaska – G 1950-1952, Ulysses, NE.
• Paul Dobson – HB 1916-1919, Ulysses, NE.
• Dennis Korinek – HB 1952-1954, Ulysses, NE.
• Alvin Grubaugh – G 1942, Rising City, NE.
• Marvin Grubaugh – T 1942, Rising City, NE.
• Jeff Makovicka – FB 1992-1995, Brainard, NE.
• Joel Makovicka – FB 1995-1995, Brainard, NE.
• Everett Kreizinger – FB 1930-1931, Bellwood, NE.
• Brian Pokorny – CB 1983-1985, Bellwood, NE.
• Earl Abbott – G 1913-1915, David City, NE.
• Mike Heins – S 1991-1993, David City, NE.
• John Kirby – G 1961-1963, David City, NE.
• Bob Martin – DE 1973-1975, David City, NE.
• Mark Moravec – FB 1980-1982, David City, NE.
• Hugo Otopalik – HB 1915-1917, David City, NE.
• James Taylor – C 1946, David City, NE.

Other Notable or Prominent People from/born in Butler County

• Chester Aldrich – 16th Governor of Nebraska. Nebraska Supreme Court Justice.
• Cliff Hillegass – Founder of CliffNotes.
• Walter Judd – Served 20 years in Congress. Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• Ernest Kouma – Medal of Honor Recipient. Served in the US Army in WWII and Korean War. Received the MOH for actions in Second Battle of Naktong Bulge in South Korea. His MOH citation was the inspiration for the movie Fury. (https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/ernest-r-kouma)
• Adolph “Ad” Liska – Former MLB Pitcher who played 5 years in the MLB (1929-1933) and 14 years in the Pacific Coast League. In the MLB, he compiled a 17-18 record with a 3.87 ERA and 104 strikeouts.
• Lyle Talbot – Actor in the 1930’s to 1960’s, appeared in over 175 productions.
• Mike Ekeler – Former Nebraska Special Teams Coordinator, current college football coach.
• Ruth Etting – Singer during the 1920’s and 1930’s who had over 60 hit recordings. Known as “America’s sweetheart of song”. Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• J.C. Hall – Founder of Hallmark Cards.
• Dale Nichols – Rural landscape artist.

Butler County Husker Spotlight
Paul Dobson

• From Ulysses, NE.
• Played for Nebraska from 1916 to 1919.
• Was one of the few and rare freshmen to play during that era, thanks to WWI and Spanish Flu Pandemic.
• Considered Nebraska’s best player of the 1918 season.
• 1917 1st Team All-Missouri Valley halfback
• 1919 Team Captain
• Had missed most of the 1918 season due to enlistment in the US Navy to serve in WWI.
• Holds the school record for most punts in a game (18, vs Notre Dame in 1918).

GO BIG RED

Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/husk.../ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://butlercountyne.gov/
https://www.butlernemuseum.com/gallery
https://nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/sn96080312/1918-11-26/ed-1/seq-1.pdf
https://www.huskermax.com/game/1918-notre-dame-football/
https://libarchives.unl.edu/project/playing-through-a-pandemic/

Ernest Kouma – Medal of Honor Citation:

M/Sgt. Kouma, a tank commander in Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. His unit was engaged in supporting infantry elements on the Naktong River front. Near midnight on 31 August, a hostile force estimated at 500 crossed the river and launched a fierce attack against the infantry positions, inflicting heavy casualties. A withdrawal was ordered and his armored unit was given the mission of covering the movement until a secondary position could be established. The enemy assault overran two tanks, destroyed one, and forced another to withdraw. Suddenly M/Sgt. Kouma discovered that his tank was the only obstacle in the path of the hostile onslaught. Holding his ground, he gave fire orders to his crew and remained in position throughout the night, fighting off repeated enemy attacks. During one fierce assault, the enemy surrounded his tank and he leaped from the armored turret, exposing himself to a hail of hostile fire, manned the .50 caliber machine gun mounted on the rear deck, and delivered point-blank fire into the fanatical foe. His machine gun emptied, he fired his pistol and threw grenades to keep the enemy from his tank. After more than nine hours of constant combat and close-in fighting, he withdrew his vehicle to friendly lines. During the withdrawal through eight miles of hostile territory, M/Sgt. Kouma continued to inflict casualties upon the enemy and exhausted his ammunition in destroying three hostile machine-gun positions. During this action, M/Sgt. Kouma killed an estimated 250 enemy soldiers. His magnificent stand allowed the infantry sufficient time to reestablish defensive positions. Rejoining his company, although suffering intensely from his wounds, he attempted to resupply his tank and return to the battle area. While being evacuated for medical treatment, his courage was again displayed when he requested to return to the front. M/Sgt. Kouma's superb leadership, heroism, and intense devotion to duty reflect the highest credit on himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.



BADASS!!!

Poster FKA schuele said:

Love these reports, and this is a great one. But I have to give some extra space to Bob Martin, who was a terrific athlete and gathered a lot of postseason honors as a Husker defensive end. Also had a few good years as an NFL LB.

I was only in elementary school when Martin played FB and BB for David City, but I remember him being quite a standout.

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Anon1752115983 said:

The Grubaugh twins, Marvin and Alvin, joined many others in the WWII era by transferring to play elsewhere. NU did not land any of the military training programs that were placed on college campuses in those days, so most players ended up leaving (it's a big reason why the NU teams, which had been nationally strong since the 1890s, sucked until Devaney came along). The Grubaughs ended up at Northwestern and lettered there. Marvin's son Rick, now a real estate mogul in Columbus, has some old film of his father competing for Northwestern. Alvin's son, Gregg, was a starter on the Kearney State basketball teams of the late 70s that came within one game of winning a national championship. Really good shooter.

Ray Prohaska was an NFL coach for many years. Dennis Korinek came out of a 6-man program to be a star at NU. He's still alive and often returns to Lincoln from his Florida home for games. Bob Martin, he of the nasty Fu Manchu, now looks like a 70-some year-old grandfather because, well, that's what he is. Great guy who never misses a game. The Martins and Ekelers are kin.

One name to perhaps add to the "other notables" list: Roman Hruska, 24 years in Congress, was born in David City. The family moved to Omaha when he was 13. First generation American whose last name means "Pear" in Czech. I once worked for him. He had a photo of the house he grew up in in David City prominently hung on his DC office wall.

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Thank you both for doing that! There are quite a few Huskers from Buffalo County that have good stories, success, accolades, and more. I was really impressed and a single spotlight doesn’t do this county justice, especially for how small it is.