55 Days Until Gameday – Day #39 Greeley County, Nebraska

We have 55 days until our first game of the 2026-2027 football season against the Ohio Bobcats on 9/5/2026.
Yesterday we looked at Grant County, Nebraska.

https://www.on3.com/boards/threads/56-days-until-gameday-–-day-38-grant-county-nebraska.8891556/

Greeley County, Nebraska

• Established in 1871 and named after Horace Greeley, the founder and editor of the New York Tribune, as well as a congressman who lost the 1872 presidential election to Ulysses S. Grant. It was Horace Greeley who promoted western expansion and settlement with the phrase “Go West, young man.” which made its way in the all-time classic song I Should Have Been A Cowboy by Toby Keith (RIP).
• The population is ~2,150 and has been consistently declining since 1920.
• The county is approximately 571 square miles.
• 96% of the county land is committed to producing corn, soybean, and raising livestock.
• License plate prefix #62.
• The count seat is Greeley Center, also known as Greeley. However, the largest village is Spalding.
• The Cedar River and North Loup River flow through the county. The Cedar River offers scenic canoeing and great fishing.
• The Greeley Irish Festival is held in the middle of September since 2007. Each year, the festival is kicked off with the Family Clan Parade where family sponsors carry their Clan flag with their family crest in the parade.
• Many Irish immigrants settled in Greeley County, which led to the names of some of the ghost towns like O’Connor, Belfast, Brayton, and the villages of Spalding and Greeley.
• O’Connor was once a consideration for county seat when it was a populated place in the late 1800’s but all that remains today is a closed down Catholic church.
• Horace, NE was an established town from 1890-1943, but all that remains today is a couple building foundations and a schoolhouse that is almost 100 years old. It became a ghost town due to a small initial population combined with the hardships of the Great Depression, compounded by the town being away from the railroad.
• Wolbach extends into Howard County, however, the village limits do not. Wolbach lies predominately in Greeley County.
• Spalding was originally named Halifax when established by the Irish in 1875, but changed to Spalding in 1881 in honor of Catholic bishop John Spalding.
• The Happy Jack Peak and Chalk Mine is located near Scotia and it is the only chalk mine you can tour in the entire country.

Former Huskers and Spotlights (years are letterman years)
According to University of Nebraska-Lincoln records, there has been 1 letterman football players from Greeley County, NE.



Steve Kriewald – FB 2001-2004, Scotia, NE.

• 5’10” 245lb fullback wearing #45.
• 1997 state runner up and 3x All-State out of North Loup-Scotia High School.
• High School All-American and Class D2 player of the year.
• Set schools records with 313 yards rushing in a game and 577 career tackles.
• Played at Nebraska from 2000-2004, lettering from 2001-2004.
• Owns the Class D State Meet record in shot put at 63’ 1.25”, set in 2000.
• A reserve fullback his first 3 years, he was the starter in 2004 under Bill Callahan.
• Finished his career with 3 carries for 54 yards, and 5 catches for 48 yards and 3 TDs.
• 3x Academic All-American.
• Nebraska Eight Man Football Hall of Fame member.

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

Tompall & the Glaser Brothers – Music trio during the 1950’s-early 1980’s. Three brothers from Spalding, NE. Their 1981 hit Lovin’ Her Was Easier made it to #2 on the U.S. Country Top 100 Billboard. They started a publishing company in 1962 and signed song-writer Joh Hartford who would later write Gentle on My Mind which has been recorded by over 300 artists and performed live over 6 million times.

Gene Cronin – born in Spalding but raised in California. Cronin played college football at University of the Pacific in the mid 1950’s. Selected by the Detroit Lions in the 7th round of the 1956 NFL draft. He was one of the first starters in Dallas Cowboys history at outside linebacker. Known as an Iron Man, Cronin only missed 1 game in his 7 year career in the NFL.

Frank Phillips – Born in Scotia, Phillips became the co-founder of Phillips Petroleum Company, also known as the gas station Phillips 66.


GO BIG RED


Resources:
https://storage.googleapis.com/huskers-com-prod/2023/08/01/ZD6pyAK8hFocPYXCFPaVccH8170tcm1uOYyc7u0R.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeley_County,_Nebraska

Greeley County – Nebraska

greeleycounty.ne.gov

https://greeleyirishfestival.com/

Poster FKA schuele said:

Jerry Mlinar was a walk-on from Greeley who QBed the scout team for a few years in the early 1980s, but he must not have ever lettered.

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I am not finding that name on the letterman’s roster. Wish they had a public “member of the program” roster. Guys like Jerry deserve to be spotlighted too. Thank you for mentioning him.

Poster FKA schuele said:

Mlinar had a pretty big arm and as I recall he had quite a few offers from NAIA and DII schools. But being a Husker held a lot more appeal back then.

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Yes it did. I love reading some of these old interviews of guys talking about their offers to the smaller schools in the region but they would rather walk on at Nebraska and contribute to a great program and challenge themselves.

K Rod said:

The Nordhues boys should be mentioned. Very good wrestlers, all of them.

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Thank you for mentioning them. High school and collegiate wrestler myself so I appreciate all wrestling shoutouts. With that though, I know next to nothing about Nebraska high school wrestling. So thank you for mentioning them!