This list focuses on those small-town kids across Nebraska who made it to the big show, the NFL. They all grew up playing football on high school fields on the edge of town, surrounded by rows of corn.Â
Pro Football Hall of Fame tackle Link Lyman was born in Table Rock but attended high school in Kansas. Like Lyman, NFL players of note Adam Carriker, Jeromey Clary, Brian Holloway, Dan Carpenter, and Doug Betters were born in Nebraska but moved out of state before attending high school.
Nebraska Football Hall of Fame inductees Pat Fischer, Arnie Oehlrich, Charley Brock, Cory Schlesinger, Jeff Kinney, John Kirby, Zach Wiegert, Tom Rathman, Russ Hochstein, Mick Tingelhoff, Verne Lewellen, Ed Husmann, Ed Weir, Steve Hokuf, Maury Damkroger and Jay Novacek were standouts in their own right and all attended high school in a small town -- just not small enough for this list.
Dick Frahm who was born in Liberty (pop. 75) and Michael Higgins, who was born in Pickrell (199) were born in small towns but played high school football at Beatrice. Jeff Kinney was born in Oxford but played high school football at McCook High School.
Several names popped up as having been born in Nebraska but no record of what high school they attended, so they too were left off of this list. One such name is Emil Dobry who was born in Morse Bluff on Aug. 10, 1897. He attended college at Montana and later played in one NFL game in 1928 for the Frankford Yellow Jackets, coached by Nebraska native Ed Weir. Others are: Roddy Lamb (Garrison), Spider Johnson (Albo), Dutch Webber (Oxford), and Les Lane (Walthill). If you have information on these or other players who played high school football in a town of 1,000 or less, contact us at newsroom@fremonttribune.com.
