Aurora is a town of around 4,500 people, located among farmlands some 20 miles east of Grand Island and 75 miles west of Lincoln, the state capital. But that’s not Aurora’s only claim to fame because according to reliable meteorological sources, the largest hailstone ever recorded in the U.S. landed in Aurora on June 22, 2003: a seven-inch (17.8-centimeter) wide chunk of ice almost as large as a soccer ball.
But that’s not all I learned during the past couple of days. Today I met the very laidback Barber Ed, 
who has a shop in the town’s charming and picturesque main square and who while cutting my hair was able to regale me with a couple of personal memories of the Big Red football program. It seems that Ed’s wife’s cousin was “Cowboy Ray” Petsch, who was the quarterback of the first Nebraska team to play in the Rose Bowl. In fact this was the first time that Nebraska had ever played in a postseason game, and apparently the occasion was so momentous that classes were cancelled as celebrations spilled out across the campus after the announcement was made. Nebraska had been undefeated throughout the 1940 season except for a 7-13 loss to the number one team Minnesota in the opening game. As a result the Huskers were invited to the program's first ever postseason game to play the number two team Stanford in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 1941. Although the boys from Nebraska put up a good fight, they eventually lost 13-21 in front of a crowd of 92,000 spectators.
My wife also has a personal connection to Aurora, since this is where she spent a couple of months in the late 1980s as part of a training program and even had her picture in the local paper. Naturally I was very interested to find the photo and associated article, and so I went to the Plainsman Museum to research the newspaper archives from the period in question. But after a couple of fruitless hours punctuated by texts back and forth to my wife to try to narrow down the dates of her stay in Aurora, I had to give up the quest. However I did learn through several advertisements about a contest that was popular at that time among young ladies, namely the contest for the title of Pork Queen. Sponsored by the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, the contest was open to girls aged 16 to 20 whose families worked in the pork-raising industry. The winner would be crowned at a gala event and also be featured in Pork Talk magazine.
During this whole search the staff at the Plainsman Museum were extremely helpful and even offered to research further on my behalf after I got back to Texas so long as I could give them more precise dates. When I mentioned in passing the name of the man who had been my wife’s mentor in Aurora, they informed me that Dr. Wilcox was still in practice. This was an unexpected stroke of good fortune, and I really wanted to meet this kind man of whom my wife had always spoken so highly. You will have to read my book for more details, but suffice it for now to say that I drove over to his office and found that Dr. Wilcox was everything my wife had said, and even more than that he’s a Big Red fan! (Although of course it could be argued that he is such a nice guy because he’s a Big Red fan!)
Last night I met a couple who exemplified the link between Nebraskans and their football team, as well as the uncomplicated directness of personality that I find so refreshing in today’s hectic world. The husband is originally from Columbus, NE but he now lives in Colorado with his wife. Our paths crossed while we were all having dinner while watching the NFL game with one eye and the baseball playoffs with the other. The pair were on the road because the man’s grandmother had passed away in Columbus during the last few days and they were heading to her funeral. But like all good Nebraskans, Grandma was a Huskers fan and she had maintained season tickets ever since 1960. Continuing in the same spirit, the couple was planning to go to Saturday’s game to honor her memory. I am well aware that this whole concept of honoring a loved one’s memory through the vehicle of a football game may seem strange to some, but my wife and I did the same thing after her father passed away a few years ago. In this case the Huskers were playing in Washington and there were about a dozen of us who sat in a bar in Omaha enjoying ourselves while looking completely out of place in our formal dark attire as we watched the boys win one for the Gipper. I hope that the couple I met last night will be similarly consoled tomorrow.
Thank you Aurora for welcoming this Australian. Go Orangemen!