Huskers: Six decades of tickets, programs and memories
Bill Davison has only missed a handful of home football games since the 1960s.
Bill Davison has only missed a handful of home football games since the 1960s.
Bill Davison has only missed a handful of home football games since the 1960s.
Thousands of football fans have attended games during Nebraska football's 377 consecutive home game sell-out streak. And Bill Davison has been there for all but a handful.
He's collected programs, ticket stubs, and memories with his family tucked away in his home. It all started in the '60s.
"My dad took me to three games when I was 7 years old," Bill said. "And then in '63, my dad got season tickets. So from then on, we were season ticket holders."
He has collected newspaper clippings ever since, along with game programs since the days of coach Bob Devaney.
It may just be paper, it's a lifetime of memories.
"I have a lot of tickets," Bill said. "A lot of parents wouldn't include [their] kid."
"I was sitting on the 40-yard-line in the stadium and I thought, 'everybody sits here!'"
Six decades later, under the mural in his living room, he represents what football means to Nebraska.
"I missed two [games] when I moved to Illinois, one in '87 when I was living in Colorado, and one in 2003 for my son's wedding, which I did under protest."
It's a commitment to the game, through the ups and downs and memories good and odd only Husker fans would understand.
"In the '63 Oklahoma game after Kennedy got killed," Bill said. "We're playing Oklahoma for the championship and we hadn't won a championship in a million years. People were happy, but not excited. It was weird. And the other one was after 9/11. They were very strange."
Things may be strange on the now, but the love never dies because the sell-out streak continues.
"It has to come from somewhere and [my dad] would take us to the game and not go."
For Bill, it's all thanks to dad.
Because what's more important to Nebraskans than football?
"People stay home to watch it on TV ... but there's nothing like being in the stadium."