We have 63 days until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026.
Yesterday we looked at Fillmore County, Nebraska.
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Franklin County, Nebraska
Former Huskers and Spotlights
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there have been 4 letterman football players from Franklin County, NE.
Wayne Karl Sindt – HB 1941, Naponee, NE.
Dick Prusia – C 1957, Franklin, NE.
Brad Smith – DE 1983-1985, Franklin, NE.
Derek Meyer – OL 2009, Campbell, NE.
Other Notable or Prominent People from/born in Franklin County:
David Janssen – Actor who was born in Naponee, NE. Moved to California as a toddler. Became good friends with Clint Eastwood when they both served together in the Army. Known for his roles in The Fugitive, Private Detective, O’Hara and more. He was known to smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Pierce Lyden – Actor who was born and raised in Hildreth, NE. UNL Alum. Known for his work as a stunt actor in western films and tv shows between 1933-1962, making appearances on The Cisco Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, The Lone Ranger, and more. A street in Naponee is named after him. He is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Heritage Foundation. Recipient of the Golden Boot Award, given to those who made significant contributions to Western films and television. Other recipients of the award include Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Randy Quaid, Peter Fonda, Chuck Norris, Tom Selleck, and many more. The award was discontinued in 2007 due to a decrease in production and popularity of Western films.
Barney Koch – Professional baseball player born in Campbell, NE. Koch played 33 games in 1 season for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, batting .219 and scoring 11 runs. Graduated from Franklin High School. After playing for the Dodgers, he went on to graduate from the University of Oregon and then coached high school basketball and baseball in Portland where his baseball team won 2 state titles in the 1950’s.
Frank “Kid” Wilson – Professional baseball player born in Bloomington, NE. Wilson played 2 seasons in the MLB for the Chicago White Sox, 1918 and 1927, appearing in 11 total games.
Frank Cyr – Born in Franklin, NE. 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.
Archie Mitchell – A minister and missionary born in Franklin, NE. He moved to Washington when he was a young adult and attended Simpson Bible College in Seattle. In 1945, Mitchell witnessed his pregnant wife and 5 Sunday school children being killed when a Fu-Go balloon bomb detonated in the mountains of Southern Oregon while they were there for a hike and picnic. The Fu-Go balloon bomb was a 33-foot diameter hydrogen balloon that carried 77 pounds of explosives. Japan released 9,300 of these balloons from Honshu during WWII into the jet streams. 300 of them made it into the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The 6 victims were the only deaths by enemy actions in the contiguous United States during WWII. In 1962, on a missions trip to Vietnam, Mitchell and 2 other missionaries were taken hostage by the Vietcong and never seen again.
Clarence Mitchell – Professional baseball player born in Franklin, NE. Played in the MLB from 1911-1932, where he was 1 of 17 pitchers allowed to throw the spitball after it was made illegal in 1920. Of those 17, Mitchell was the last one to remain in the league throwing the spitball. He is the only player in MLB history who has hit into an unassisted triple play in the World Series. Finished his career with a 125-139 record, 4.12 ERA and 543 strikeouts. Known as a good batting pitcher, he finished his career batting .252 with 7 HRs, 133 RBIs, and scoring 138 runs.
GO BIG RED
Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/husk.../ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_County,_Nebraska#Communities
https://franklincountyne.gov/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56660862/wayne-k-sindt
Yesterday we looked at Fillmore County, Nebraska.
64 Days Until Gameday – Day #30 Fillmore County, Nebraska - Forums
We have 64 days until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026. Yesterday we looked at Dundy County, Nebraska. https://www.on3.com/boards/threads/65-days-until-gameday-%E2%80%93-day-29-dundy-county-nebraska.8883152/ Fillmore County, Nebraska...
Franklin County, Nebraska
- Formed in 1867 and officially established in 1871.
- The county is named after Benjamin Franklin.
- Population ~2,800 (2025) and has steadily decreased since 1910 when at its peak was over 10,000 residents.
- Bloomington and Hildreth are the only places in the county that have experienced a population growth in the 21st century.
- License plate prefix #50.
- Approximately 576 square miles
- Settlement of the county started in 1869 after the Cheyenne were defeated and pushed out of the area during the Army’s Republican River Expedition in June-July 1869.
- The Republican River flows through the southern part of the county.
- Franklin is the county seat and the only city in the county.
- The village of Bloomington was originally named Waterloo.
- Bloomington was the county seat from 1872 to 1920 when voters in the county decided to move the county seat back to Franklin.
- Macon, NE was named after Macon, GA, which is home to Mercer University that upset #3 seed Duke in the first round of the 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
- Naponee was named after (but spelt differently) Napanee, Ontario. It was the hometown of a Canadian who fought in the U.S. Civil War and then bought land along the Republican River after the war.
- The 15th Governor of Nebraska, Ashton Shallenberger, was in the middle of giving a speech in Franklin on February 22, 1938 when he collapsed and died.
Former Huskers and Spotlights
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there have been 4 letterman football players from Franklin County, NE.
Wayne Karl Sindt – HB 1941, Naponee, NE.
- 5’11” 170lb halfback, lettering in Biff Jones’ final season at Nebraska.
- The team would finish 4-5.
- Played at Nebraska from 1940-1941, lettering in 1941.
- Left after his sophomore year to join the Army in 1942 and served in the14th Infantry, 71st Division.
- 1st Lt. Sindt was killed in action in France, leaving behind a wife and son. He was 23 years old.
- He is buried in Lorraine American Cemetery in Lorraine, France.
Dick Prusia – C 1957, Franklin, NE.
- 6’ 185lb center wearing #52 by way of Franklin HS.
- Played at Nebraska from 1954-1957, lettering in 1957.
- In 4 years at Nebraska, Prusia would play for 3 head coaches.
Brad Smith – DE 1983-1985, Franklin, NE.
- 6’3” 230lb defensive end out of Franklin HS.
- Played at Nebraska from 1981-1985 wearing #81.
- Back up to Scott Strasburger his sophomore and junior year.
- Started 8 games as a senior and had an interception.
- Big Eight Champions in 1983 and 1984.
Derek Meyer – OL 2009, Campbell, NE.
- 6’5” 315lb offensive lineman out of Silver Lake HS in Roseland where he was a 3x All-State football player.
- He wore #63.
- Began his career at Kansas State and then transferred to Nebraska after his sophomore season.
- Under the rules at the time, Meyer sat out the 2008 season and lettered in his only season at Nebraska.
- 2008 Offensive Scout Team Co-MVP.
- Primarily backed up Keith Williams and Ricky Henry at guard most of 2009 and played on the PAT and FG unit.
- Played in 14 games at Nebraska, starting 3.
Other Notable or Prominent People from/born in Franklin County:
David Janssen – Actor who was born in Naponee, NE. Moved to California as a toddler. Became good friends with Clint Eastwood when they both served together in the Army. Known for his roles in The Fugitive, Private Detective, O’Hara and more. He was known to smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Pierce Lyden – Actor who was born and raised in Hildreth, NE. UNL Alum. Known for his work as a stunt actor in western films and tv shows between 1933-1962, making appearances on The Cisco Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, The Lone Ranger, and more. A street in Naponee is named after him. He is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Heritage Foundation. Recipient of the Golden Boot Award, given to those who made significant contributions to Western films and television. Other recipients of the award include Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Randy Quaid, Peter Fonda, Chuck Norris, Tom Selleck, and many more. The award was discontinued in 2007 due to a decrease in production and popularity of Western films.
Barney Koch – Professional baseball player born in Campbell, NE. Koch played 33 games in 1 season for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, batting .219 and scoring 11 runs. Graduated from Franklin High School. After playing for the Dodgers, he went on to graduate from the University of Oregon and then coached high school basketball and baseball in Portland where his baseball team won 2 state titles in the 1950’s.
Frank “Kid” Wilson – Professional baseball player born in Bloomington, NE. Wilson played 2 seasons in the MLB for the Chicago White Sox, 1918 and 1927, appearing in 11 total games.
Frank Cyr – Born in Franklin, NE. 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.
Archie Mitchell – A minister and missionary born in Franklin, NE. He moved to Washington when he was a young adult and attended Simpson Bible College in Seattle. In 1945, Mitchell witnessed his pregnant wife and 5 Sunday school children being killed when a Fu-Go balloon bomb detonated in the mountains of Southern Oregon while they were there for a hike and picnic. The Fu-Go balloon bomb was a 33-foot diameter hydrogen balloon that carried 77 pounds of explosives. Japan released 9,300 of these balloons from Honshu during WWII into the jet streams. 300 of them made it into the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The 6 victims were the only deaths by enemy actions in the contiguous United States during WWII. In 1962, on a missions trip to Vietnam, Mitchell and 2 other missionaries were taken hostage by the Vietcong and never seen again.
Clarence Mitchell – Professional baseball player born in Franklin, NE. Played in the MLB from 1911-1932, where he was 1 of 17 pitchers allowed to throw the spitball after it was made illegal in 1920. Of those 17, Mitchell was the last one to remain in the league throwing the spitball. He is the only player in MLB history who has hit into an unassisted triple play in the World Series. Finished his career with a 125-139 record, 4.12 ERA and 543 strikeouts. Known as a good batting pitcher, he finished his career batting .252 with 7 HRs, 133 RBIs, and scoring 138 runs.
GO BIG RED
Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/husk.../ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_County,_Nebraska#Communities
https://franklincountyne.gov/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56660862/wayne-k-sindt
