69 Days Until Gameday (nice) – Day #25 Deuel County, Nebraska

We have 69 days (nice) until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026.
Yesterday we looked at Dawson County, Nebraska.


Deuel County, Nebraska

• Population ~1,850 (2025)
• License plate prefix #78
• Chappell is the county seat and the only city in the county.
• Deuel County is home to 3 residential communities: Chappell, Big Springs, and Barton.
• Established in 1889 and named for Harry Porter Deuel, an agent for the Union Pacific Railroad at the time and soon-to-be superintendent of the Burlington Station in Omaha.
• Big Springs was originally called Lone Tree after a large cottonwood tree that stood alone in the prairie and could be seen from the Pony Express and Oregon Trail. Big Springs platted in 1884 and named for the spring water near the track that was used by steam locomotives until 1950.
• In 1877, Big Springs was the location of a train robbery by Sam Bass and his posse. They robbed a Union Pacific train that was garying gold from San Francisco to the east coast. They got away with over $60,000 (worth just under $2 mil in 2025).
• Big Springs was the victim of a bank robbery in 1965 from a Kansas man that left 3 people murdered and 1 paralyzed. The bank robber is still serving a life sentence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Earl_Pope
• The Deuel County Courthouse was built in 1915 and is still in use today.
• Menter Farmstead was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Built in 1919, the homestead was one of the first to have a grain elevator and concrete block construction.
• The Phelps Hotel is also a registered Historic Place. Lt. Col. Dwight Eisenhower stayed at the Phelps Hotel in 1919. Train robber Sam Bass and bank robber Dwayne Earl Pope stayed at the Phelps Hotel before committing their crimes. It is the oldest hotel in Deuel County and the most important 19th century landmark in the county.

Former Huskers (years are letterman years)
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there have been 3 letterman football players from Deuel County, NE:

• Matt Behrends – NT 2002, Chappell, NE.
  • 6'1" 260lb Nose Tackle wearing #68
  • Played at Nebraska from 1998-2002. Lettered his senior year.
  • Former walk-on.
  • 2002 team finished the year 7-7, Nebraska's first non-winning season since 1961.
• Victor Clark – E 1942, Chappell, NE.
  • 6'4" 185lb End wearing #47.
  • With a depleted roster due to WWII, the 1942 Team finished the season at 3-7.
  • 1942 was Glenn Presnell's only season as head coach at Nebraska.
• Carroll Reese – T 1933-1934, Chappell, NE.

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

• Richard Cabela – Co-founder of Cabela’s. Born in Chappell. Created Cabela’s as a catalog business selling 12 hand tied flies for $1.
• Frank Cyr – Superintendent of schools in Chappell in the 1920’s. Father of U.S. School Bus Standards. In 1939, Cyr organized a conference funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and met with engineers from Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, DuPont, and more. It was here they decided yellow and black will be the standard for national school buses. Big advocate for rural education. UNL Alum.
• Leonard Steven Grasz – Current U.S. Circuit Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals. Born and raised in Chappell. UNL alum.

Deuel County Husker Spotlight
Carroll Reese

• Played at Nebraska from 1933-1934, lettering in both years.
• 6’ 180lbs Tackle who wore #41.
• 1933 season was Dana Bible’s 5th season at Nebraska; the team finished 8-1 and Big 6 Champions. The lone loss came to #4 Pitt, costing Nebraska its first national championship.
• 1934 season was Dana Bible’s 6th season at Nebraska; the team finished 6-3 and 2nd place in the Big 6 Conference, behind Kansas State.

GO BIG RED


Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/husk.../ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuel_County,_Nebraska
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_Nebraska#Deuel_County

Unfortunately, there just isn't a lot of information out there about the 3 letterman players from Deuel County.

Funny story, about 5 years ago my grandparents in Ogallala told me about the Big Springs bank robbery and murders. While I was visiting them I was going to meet a buddy of mine from the Marine Corps in Big Springs (had no idea there was literally NOTHING there lol) so we hung out at the travel center for a couple hours just catching up and shooting the shite When I told my grandmother we just hung out between the travel center, the parking lot, and our cars, she got this worried/concerned look and said "oh no you boys can't just be hanging around there with your out of state plates (South Carolina and Colorado). People get nervous around there with people from out of state staying too long." and then proceeded to give me the history lesson.

WC_'sker said:

Virginia Smith from Chappell represented Nebraska's third Congressional District in the US House from 1975 -1991. She was a UNL grad and the first woman elected to Congress from Nebraska.

I am really enjoying these county countdowns. Thank you, HuskerinCarolina!

Click to expand...

I almost added her and then didn’t because I saw she was born and raised in Iowa, then represented the 3rd district for a long time. But I couldn’t find much more on her background and with the 3rd district covering like 80% of the state, I omitted her. Found out from someone on RSS that she went to UNL and her husband was from Chappell, which is what brought her to the county. So I agree with you, she 100% belongs to the list.