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August 28, 2025 43 mins

Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium is one of the nation’s iconic college football venues. Its construction almost didn’t happen due to the severe economic challenges of the time. In this episode, we find out how a tribute to the state’s World War I veterans became a reality through the 1998 Nebraska History Magazine article, “Give Till it Hurts: Financing Memorial Stadium,” written by Michelle Fagan.

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(00:00):
The following episode features ahistoric article from the
Nebraska History magazine. This article may reflect the
language and attitudes of its time and while it offers
valuable insight into the past, may contend expressions or
viewpoints that are outdated or offensive by today's standards.
Any outdated terms do not reflect the current views or
perspectives of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Welcome to the Nebraska History podcast.
I'm your host, Chris Goforth. Each episode we explore articles

(00:21):
written and published in Nebraska History Magazine.
Nebraska's Memorial Stadium is one of the nation's iconic
college football venues. It's construction almost didn't
happen due to the severe economic challenges of the time.
On this episode, we find out howa tribute to the state's World
War One veterans became a reality through the 1998

(00:43):
Nebraska History Magazine article Give Till It Hurts
financing Memorial Stadium Written by Michelle Fagan People
say that on many Saturday afternoons in the fall, Memorial
Stadium on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln is
the third largest population center in the state, along with
the state Capitol. It is one of the most

(01:06):
recognizable buildings in Lincoln, and the two actually
have several things in common. Both structures are memorials to
the servicemen and women of World War One.
Hartley Burr Alexander, chair ofthe university's philosophy
department, chose the inscriptions for both the
stadium and the capital were major construction projects

(01:27):
requiring significant resources just when Nebraska was
experiencing a serious economic depression.
It is a tribute to Nebraskans persistence that they were
completed. Getting the stadium constructed,
however, took immense effort andinvolved serious financial risk.
The credit for seeing the project through goes to the

(01:48):
University of Nebraska Alumni Association, especially to
Harold Holtz, its executive secretary, and to all of the
subscribers willing or not. The stadium was built without
state funding and its construction depended on money
pledged and paid by university students, staff, alumni, and
well wishers. When the University of Nebraska

(02:10):
football team played its first game in November of 1890 against
the YMCA team in Omaha, the campus boasted only a grandstand
and bleachers. After the turn of the century,
sports enthusiasts, alumni, faculty, and students hoped for
something more impressive. In 1918, after the United States

(02:31):
had been at war with Germany forseveral months, the student
newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan encouraged its readers to call
for better sports facilities forquote this important part of
college education. End Quote.
Football coach EJ Stewart emphasized how much college
athletics helped prepare young men heading for the Army or Navy

(02:53):
training camps. The war, of course, slowed
building projects on campus, butwhen hostilities ended in
November 1918, work resumed on the social sciences and teachers
college buildings. The university's Board of
Regents strongly supported more construction and placed a new
gymnasium, observatory, museum and library at the top of the

(03:17):
list in the budget that it presented to the state
Legislature. The student newspaper backed the
budget request, noting that Nebraska taxpayers and
legislators spared no expense for housing and providing for
livestock. They should treat the students
equally by providing for their physical and mental development.
Naturally, it hurt to learn thatthe Iowa State Aggies had

(03:40):
refused to send their basketballteam to Lincoln to play in the
Cornhuskers Little Brick Barn, and this snub further fueled
arguments for better athletic facilities.
When the university celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1919, it
needed a new gymnasium and stadium, it wanted to honor its

(04:00):
servicemen, and it had an alumniorganization willing to be more
active. These goals and needs eventually
melded together with the formation of the Nebraska
Memorial Association. The university had 2300 stars in
its service flag representing alumni, students and faculty who

(04:20):
had joined the armed forces during World War One.
More than 100 had lost their lives.
General John Jay Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary
Force, was a former military science instructor at Nebraska
and had received a degree there.The goal became a permanent
memorial to remind Nebraskans ofthe sacrifice these individuals

(04:43):
had made for their country. In March 1919, the N Club
members proposed a memorial for Roscoe Dusty Rhodes, captain
elect of the 1918 football team,who had been killed in France.
They considered a new gymnasium,a playing field or a memorial
tablet. The Daily Nebraskan editor

(05:04):
thought that the gymnasium or field would be much more
worthwhile than a tablet. When the Board of Regents asked
official university architect Charles Hodgdon of Chicago to
submit sketches for a possible gymnasium, its construction
looked imminent, at least to thestudents.
Chancellor Samuel Avery asked Hodgdon to hold the plans to a

(05:25):
quote, reasonable size. As one of the athletic people,
Doctor Stewart is an inflationist of the first rank.
End Quote. Sentiment in favor of a
gymnasium or stadium hardened inthe university community.
In January 1920, a committee working on a memorial met with
alumni association officials to discuss a joint effort.

(05:46):
The Daily Nebraskan fervently supported this idea on the
grounds that an athletic building would be the most
fitting thing, Quote. To build the physical and mental
life of young people. End Quote.
Enthusiasm ran high, and the Nebraska Memorial Association,
composed of alumni, although notofficially part of the alumni
association, was formed to beginfundraising in March 1920.

(06:11):
Guy Reed, a 1911 graduate, became chairman of the Nebraska
Memorial Association's executivecommittee, and Vincent Haskell,
class of 1912, was the executivesecretary.
The Nebraska Soldiers and Sailors Memorial was projected
to be an impressive complex withthe museum for public and
private collections of artifactsrelated to the various wars

(06:33):
Nebraskans had participated in. It included a stadium, a
gymnasium, and an assembly room for veterans gatherings.
Rooms were designated for the permanent headquarters of the
Grand Army of the Republic, the American Legion, the Spanish
American War veterans and other groups.
The focal point of the structurewould be a Rotunda with pictures

(06:54):
of battle scenes. Avery wanted a Plaza with small
parks scattered throughout in front of the memorial building,
and Regent John R Webster calledfor a Broad Street in front of
the gymnasium. The memorial was going to be a
monument to all Nebraskans who had served their country.
The new association wanted to raise $1 million to build a

(07:18):
combination gymnasium and stadium.
Members decided to begin the subscription campaign during the
week of May 17th, 1920. Supporters in Lincoln and Omaha
were expected to come up with $200,000 respectively.
The people all over Nebraska would give the rest.
The university community also hoped for state help.

(07:40):
Chancellor Avery believed A legislative appropriation would
have to supplement whatever money the fundraising brought
in. He did not think individual
subscribers would give all of the necessary funds.
Quote. But if we make a good showing,
the Legislature will supplement it.
End Quote. The campus fundraising began
officially on May 20th, 1920, when classes were dismissed for

(08:02):
two hours so students could attend a special convocation at
which Chancellor Avery Guy Reed and various professors spoke and
the band played. For several weeks before the
campaign on campus actually began, students had been urged
to give till it hurts. Organizers asked the students
with automobiles to help canvas Lincoln.

(08:25):
In early June 1920, the Lincoln and Omaha campaigns began.
The Lincoln press reports were upbeat when questioned about
memorials being planned elsewhere in the state.
Executive Secretary Haskell emphatically stated quote, not a
community has been approached but has been enthusiastic and
promised its quota in short time.

(08:45):
End Quote Campaign backers said public sentiment was on their
side and the $87,000 in subscriptions received from just
14 of the 25 districts proved it.
These expectations, however, were overly sanguine in the real
world, outside the newspaper stories, The fundraising Dr. was

(09:06):
in trouble, a faltering economy and resistance from certain
groups in Nebraska Hanford it Even as the Nebraska Memorial
Association was establishing committees in each county to
solicit subscriptions, Letters came in telling of hard times,
low crop and beef prices, and the animosity of some local

(09:27):
editors, American Legion chapters and bank managers.
In Schuyler, the local editor, RH Adams, opposed the idea of a
stadium, although he was dissuaded from writing a
negative editorial. The town had already raised
$5000 for its own monument in and around Valentine.

(09:47):
Quote. People have been through a long
hard winter. Last fall our cattlemen were
bumped hard on the market and owing to a dry summer the
farmers crops are short. End Quote In Albion, the banks
were discouraging quote, all kinds of collections and trading
to get people back to earth again.
End Quote Managers of the town'stwo oldest financial

(10:11):
institutions were, quote, fully against raising this money.
End Quote Some people like the idea of a stadium or a
gymnasium, but thought the statelegislature should fund it.
Some Nebraskans approved of the memorial, but they wanted one
closer to home. Takaima residents had raised

(10:31):
several $1000 to purchase a building for the American
Legion. And they quote, would rather
give that much more for something which would be local
and could be enjoyed by all rather than give a cent to be
placed in a memorial at Lincoln.End Quote.
In Nance County, quote, the American Legion is making a big
kick on the Nebraska Memorial Drive.

(10:53):
They are working for a building of their own and think that it
will injure their chances of putting it across if they push
the University drive at the sametime, End Quote.
Local businessmen are standing with the local boys.
The same was true in Hastings, where the American Legion Post
was, quote, unanimously adverse to any such campaign in this
county because they want to saveall the Thunder they have for

(11:17):
their own campaign. End Quote.
In Saline County, some believe the ex soldiers should be
consulted and people quote are inclined to question whether it
the stadium would be the most advisable memorial for the
soldiers out in the state. End Quote.
Local people had already collected $15,000 for a building

(11:37):
in Crete. Quote.
We hardly believe the sentiment either of the soldiers or
civilians is the back of the program you propose.
End Quote. In the face of such resistance,
the campaign ground to a halt. Perhaps the Nebraska Memorial
Association had not allowed itself enough time to get
organized. The reply of WW Dayton, the

(11:57):
chairman appointed in Saline County, suggested that neither
he nor his committee had learnedof the project until they were
informed that they were on the committee.
Some committee members may not have pressed for donations as
hard as they should have. Vincent Haskell, for example,
thought that donating quote should be a spontaneous

(12:18):
contribution from the people of the state, activated by a
patriotic motive. End Quote.
Given the lack of advanced planning and the completion from
other memorial projects, the goal of $1 million for the grand
complex was unrealistic. Originally, Chancellor Avery and
alumni and the Board of Regents hoped for some state funding.

(12:42):
The Regents requested $350,000 in the budget request to the
Legislature, A matching Some would be raised through
subscriptions. Governor Samuel Mckelvey and the
Legislature agreed to set aside $250,000 for the stadium and
gymnasium. General John J Pershing
applauded this news during his speech at the university's 1921

(13:05):
commencement. Telling Chancellor Avery to put
me down for my share, Sir. An agricultural depression hit
Nebraska in 1921 when wartime high prices, government price
guarantees, and foreign demand all disappeared.
The economic situation ultimately dominated and
overshadowed all else. By August 1921, when the

(13:28):
economic depression really beganto be felt, the governor ordered
Allstate agencies, including theuniversity, to set up a special
reserve fund with 10% of the state appropriation, which could
not be spent without the governor's approval.
Soon, Chancellor Avery gathered his faculty together to decide
what could be cut from the university's budget.

(13:51):
In October 1921, Harold Holt, the newly elected secretary of
the Alumni Association, decided to terminate the 1920 fund drive
and reorganize the county committees on campus.
The Innocents had already reported that the spring of 1921
was not a good time to be askingstudents for money.

(14:13):
Further damage to the fundraising prospects came when
the governor called a special session of the Legislature in
January of 1922, which, among other things, reduced the
university's appropriation by half.
The Legislature went one better and cut stadium funding from the
budget altogether. The university lost this money

(14:35):
in part because the state budgethad become a political issue.
Just when the school had a rapidly growing student body and
started asking for more money. Both Governor Mckelvey, a
Republican, and his successor, Democrat Charles Bryan, stood
for fiscal retrenchment. Given Nebraska's economic
situation, voters liked the sound of this.

(14:58):
Some of them had already been complaining that the university
was becoming too large and too expensive.
Disheartened at these developments were planners in
the university circles still carried on with the memorial
idea despite the bad economic situation and the lack of state
funds. On April 7th, 1922, the Board of
Regents turned over responsibility for stadium

(15:20):
funding to the Alumni Association.
The original Memorial Association transferred all its
books, a little over $14,000 in cash and more than $100,000 in
pledges, to the Alumni Association.
This would be the group's biggest project since it was
organized in 1874. This time, the Alumni

(15:42):
Association Executive Committee would directly oversee the
fundraising to enable the association to collect money.
The executive committee incorporated as a separate
nonprofit organization in March 1923, again using the name
Nebraska Memorial Association. The new memorial association
could buy and sell property, collect money, and sue.

(16:05):
The new Nebraska Memorial Association set lower, more
realistic goals. Instead of trying to raise $1
million, it aimed for $450,000. The gymnasium, stadium
combination with the museum, meeting rooms and the pictures
became just a stadium. The new association may have

(16:25):
hoped to get something similar to the first grand plans quote,
but after the bids were opened, it was reduced to a cold
practical question of adjusting the structure to the amount of
money available. End Quote.
During the transitional period from 1 Memorial Association to
another, the architect had also been changed.

(16:47):
Hodgdon of Chicago, was replacedby John Lattenser of Omaha and
Ellery Davis of Lincoln. The new architects were
Nebraskans and they had gone to the university, although
Lattenser did not receive his degree there.
Both men donated their professional services as their
contribution to the stadium project.

(17:07):
Harold Holtz, secretary of both the Alumni Association and the
new Nebraska Memorial Association, calculated that
those services would be worth between 15,000 and $18,000.
Holtz was a 1917 Nebraska graduate who had been active in
the Pershing Rifles and chosen for membership in the Innocence
Society, a group of senior men selected for their character and

(17:30):
leadership ability. During World War One.
He had trained as an aviator andserved on the Austrian front.
He would be a major force behindthe new stadium.
Dr. Holtz first found out who were the graduates and former
students in each county. He believed that the first
committee had not asked as many of the alumni as possible to

(17:52):
contribute, and he was not goingto make that mistake again.
As executive secretary of the Alumni Association, he proposed
a new, updated alumni directory and relaxed membership
requirements. Before this time, people who
attended but did not graduate from the university were not
eligible to belong to the association.

(18:13):
Now they could be members would be listed in the directory and
would definitely receive pledge requests.
Holtz appointed a chairman for each county and began sending
these people the names of current students, ex students
and graduates. Each county had a financial
quota determined by the number of resident graduates there.

(18:34):
The payment plan called for 20% down and 10% every six months.
Campaign workers were told to put on a confident front.
Act like the pledge would be a matter of course.
Holtz had a follow up system forcollecting pledges that would
not let procrastinators get away.
He wanted the whole campaign runlike a business venture.

(18:57):
He often told students and others that he would, quote keep
right on every delinquent account, End Quote, and that the
pledge was a plain business proposition that confronts us
all. Fremont, with a $2000 quota,
demonstrates how a county or town was organized.
The city campaign started off with a banquet at the Hotel

(19:18):
Pathfinder. Perhaps because the stadium
would be a War Memorial, the newspaper described the
organization in military terms. The chair had an able staff of
officers. JC Cook, the commander in chief
of the Dodge County squad, attended the banquet.
Fremont had been divided. Earl Lee was the general of

(19:39):
Division A, General Lee's army. His team elected captains and
lieutenants. Quote.
The alumni of Dodge County does not mean to be among those who
failed to contribute towards theprogress of its alma mater.
End Quote. Some chairman and campaign
workers wanted something in return for their laborers
football tickets. One of the campaign workers in

(20:00):
Nebraska City could not get tickets for the 1922 Notre Dame
game and she was furious. Like some other people, she sent
in the money for tickets, but her check was returned.
Quote. They are getting awful sore,
they say. Lincoln is playing the hog as
usual, taking all the tickets and leaving none for the rest of
the state. End Quote.

(20:21):
In Pender quote. Four of the boys here who are
enthusiastic football fans want to go to the game, and they
insist that they will not take part in the Stadium drive unless
they get some tickets. End Quote.
Donors also expected favorable treatment.
A Lincoln man who gave $100 quote will gladly accept
hereafter the privilege of making reservations ahead of the

(20:44):
general public. End Quote.
Owners of the Crete mills worried they would lose their
place on the list for advance ticket reservations because they
had paid their subscription. The financial problems in
opposition that plagued the funddrive in 1920 had not
disappeared by 1922 and could make the county chairman's jobs
difficult in Garden County, quote.

(21:06):
The beet sugar company and the railroads have skinned this
county of all its year's profits, End Quote.
In Broken Bow, a man, quote, stirred up such a rumpus in
regard to the new stadium, he has created a hard feeling all
over this county, End Quote. The area around Bridgeport was
quote hard hit by the financial depression, End Quote, and many

(21:27):
businessmen could not collect money owed them.
Quote every day or so somebody turns his stuff into the bank
and skips the county, leaving his creditors holding the sack.
End Quote. Mother Nature and bad roads kept
some county organizers and solicitors from getting a quick
start. The worker assigned to Cass

(21:48):
County was ready to go on as soon as the roads there dried.
In Cheyenne County, the weather made it impossible to get out
into the county immediately. Lincoln businessman greeted the
stadium drive with open arms. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce
worked as the soliciting agent for the Alumni Association to
meet its $150,000 quota. Many members had probably

(22:10):
attended the university and the proposal looked like a good
business opportunity. They were not unmindful that the
stadium would contribute quote, to the welfare of all the
interest in the city more than any other thing that has come
into our life. End Quote.
The citizens oversubscribed by $15,000.
Familiar corporate names appeared among the large donors,

(22:33):
including Woods Brothers for 5000 and Miller and Payne for
$10,000. The Omaha drive, on the other
hand, caused grave concern. In April 1922, the Regents and
several Omaha men meant to discuss a strategy.
Holtz often complained that the city's fundraisers were not

(22:54):
doing anything. In February 1923, he pressed the
organizers to get everything done before Creighton University
started its fund. Dr. Holtz reported to the Board
of Regents and Chancellor Avery that he had been, quote,
extremely disappointed in the campaign in Omaha.
We are informed, however, by Regent FW Judson that the

(23:15):
balance will be raised. But the delay in this matter has
been extremely embarrassing. End Quote In April, he urged
Judson to finish the Omaha drive.
Quote. The amount which we have been
expecting from Omaha is the amount which stands between
having the stands for our football season this fall or not
having them. End Quote.
Around the state, the drive did receive support, sometimes from

(23:39):
unexpected sources. Many counties and towns
subscribed their quota. Some even oversubscribed, like
Clay Center, where Chairman Charles Epperson Junior reported
that most of the donors were businessmen who had not gone to
the university. But this is a great football
town. Cy Sherman, the Lincoln sports

(24:00):
writer who named the football team the Cornhuskers, also
contributed. So did alumni like George
Flippen, a former football team member and the first African
American player, and Carlos Almanis, who had returned to his
native Latvia and had become thenation's Prime Minister.
A winning football game made onefan enthusiastic enough to

(24:21):
increase his total donation to $1000.
Quote. Because of the very good work
done by the team this day. End Quote.
Edwin Squires from near Broken Bow donated 2 pigs he was
raising the animals quote will doubtless be auctioned off at
the Syracuse game. End Quote.
Inmates belonging to the State Penitentiary Dramatic Club

(24:44):
staged a performance for the general public with the proceeds
going to the Stadium Fund. Quote.
Because of the kindness of the university to the penitentiary,
the inmates felt that they really owed this much.
End Quote. High schools and at least one
grade school donated money. Lincoln Schools, of course,
gave, but so did those in Beatrice, Aurora, North Platte,

(25:05):
Edgar, Wilbur and Pender on campus.
The Innocence Society had chargeof organizing the drive among
the students, but the alumni association also planned to get
pledges from faculty and staff. The faculty and staff were
encouraged to pledge a percentage of their salaries to
the Stadium fund. LF Seton, the operations

(25:26):
supervisor and purchasing agent,canvassed all the physical plant
employees. Pledge commitments followed
staff even though they had left the university, as one faculty
member who moved to the University of Arizona found out
in October of 1922. The innocents set about tapping
the student body by talking to the presidents of the

(25:48):
fraternities, the sororities, and honor societies like Mortar
Board or Silver Serpents. Student leaders strongly
encouraged each president to make a big sales pitch to the
members of his or her group and challenge them to reach their
quota before any others. The Campus Dr. organizers
counted on each student pledging$25, payable over 2 years for a

(26:12):
total of $90,000. Two 100 campaigners set out with
a goal to approach every student.
They worked in pairs and we're told that the results were what
counted. Canvassers also had to report on
the outcome of each contact. The Student Dr. netted $112,000

(26:32):
in subscriptions. The Nebraska Memorial
Association promised that home games would be played in the new
stadium in the fall of 1923, when enough pledges had been
subscribed, although not all hadbeen collected, the association
risked letting the contracts Parson Construction Company of
Omaha would build the stadium. The firm bid $548,849, which

(26:58):
was, quote, more than $100,000 above the amount now available.
End Quote Forcing the Memorial Association to eliminate some
features of the plan until more money could be raised.
Colonnades enclosing the North and South ends and a tower
section in the east stands were eliminated, but the seating
capacity of 30,000 was not reduced.

(27:20):
Roberts Construction of Lincoln received the grading contract.
All excess dirt would be sold tothe Lincoln School Board.
The construction schedule calledfor Parsons to finish the
concrete and steel work on the West grandstand 120 days after
starting and on the east grandstand within 130 days.
The wooden seats would be installed 30 days after the

(27:43):
stands were finished. The company kept to its schedule
and must have had a university students in the workforce.
Holtz was gratified quote to know that a great deal of the
actual work on the stadium was done by students who were
working their way through school.
End Quote On April 26th, 1923, at the stadium groundbreaking,

(28:04):
Chancellor Avery turned the first earth ceremoniously with a
plow and team quote, throwing the reins over his shoulder in
true dirt farmer fashion and quote.
In June, the Cornerstone Lane was the highlight of the second
Cornhusker roundup of the alumni.
Even though the weather did not cooperate, LW Parwick of Lincoln

(28:25):
donated the cornerstone. A severe wind marred the
ceremonies by blowing down the frame, holding the service flag
back of the speakers, causing much commotion.
The flag fell on the key speakerby AN Arnold, an 1897 graduate
of the university's engineering college, on numerous occasions.

(28:45):
Holt stated that none of the students had been coerced into
pledging, but the peer pressure must have been tremendous.
A former fraternity president recalled, quote, the exuberance
of fraternity spirit when our fraternity, the same as the
others, was endeavoring to make the biggest possible
subscription to the stadium. End Quote.

(29:05):
He subscribed for several members and was left to pay the
entire pledge. During the 1922 campaign.
One student said that he could not afford $25.00, but he could
give 5. When he received his receipt, he
discovered that he was credited with a $25 pledge and still owed
$20. Alvin Kemper complained that she

(29:29):
felt intimidated into signing a pledge quote by a group of men
who gathered after one of the class periods.
End Quote. A friend of hers who did not
pledge was thrown into the YMCA swimming pool.
Some students might have felt hounded for subscriptions, but
in some cases the memorial association did not have an easy

(29:49):
time collecting the money pledged.
Holtz warned that student checksare very hazardous to hold.
They had to be cashed right away.
Students, like faculty and staff, presumed that if they
left the university they were not obliged to continue paying.
Some parents of university students refused to make good on

(30:09):
their children's obligations forsuch quote foolish things as
stadiums. End Quote.
One complained that quote you went after our boys and girls to
get them to sign up for that oldthing in the 1st place.
You know better than to go to the parents, for if you had,
there would not be any stadium. End Quote.
A man in Newman Grove wrote thathis son did not have the money

(30:32):
and the father refused to pay the debt.
Holtz and the alumni associationhad good reason to press hard
for payment. As he told the California alumni
group, the association quote hadvirtually mortgaged our souls in
order to keep faith with those who have already subscribed.
End Quote. Everything had been pledged to

(30:53):
the contract. Holtz explained to the father of
one delinquent student that the stadium drive had netted
$350,000 in subscriptions and only $100,000 in cash to start
building. The Nebraska Memorial
Association used the unpaid $350,000 and the mortgage of the

(31:15):
future stadium as security on a $300,000 loan since many
financial institutions were reluctant to lend on such
ephemeral collateral. George Holmes of the First Trust
Company of Lincoln and a member of the Memorial Association
worked out alone by persuading 6associated trust companies to
come aboard. Holmes arranged A5 year bond

(31:37):
issue. The university's Athletic
Association bound itself to pay $20,000 a year, and the Board of
Regents pledged quote that they would secure additional funds if
necessary. End Quote At that time, some 750
students on campus were delinquent in paying their
pledges, and another payment on the bonds would have to be made.

(31:59):
In April of 1924, the total of unpaid subscriptions had reached
$30,000. Holtz told one of the
complainers. Quote, this is not an item to be
sneezed at. End Quote.
Holtz and the Memorial Association tracked down
procrastinating subscribers witha vengeance, sometimes years
after the stadium was already inuse.

(32:20):
He said that the operation wouldbe handled in a very business
like manner. And he meant it.
In 1928, five years after the Dr. began, the association sued
25 delinquent subscribers. The writer of an insufficient
fund, a check was told, quote, if you don't pay, we will turn

(32:40):
it over to our County Attorney for prosecution.
And, quote, Holtz probably got tired of harassing people for
money, and he admitted that getting the stadium built
sometimes seemed like a hopelessproposition.
Quote. Yet I am not willing to give up
the ghost. And I think that in time we will
collect a lot of this money thatdoes not look at all promising.

(33:02):
Now, End Quote. The pledge of a Lincoln real
estate firm was pursued through the courts.
The Memorial Association sued Christian and Herman Company for
the $250 and one in Municipal Court.
Quote. But getting a judgement against
these parties did not seem to have any effect on them.
End Quote. The next step was to try to

(33:23):
impound Charles Herman's Cadillac coupe and George
Christian's Packard. Christian escaped by claiming
that the car belonged to his wife.
Next, the lawyers garnished Christian's bank account.
The businessman and his attorneytried to argue that his money
was exempt property, but apparently the Memorial
Association was finally able to collect the pledge.

(33:47):
Even the law firm that handled these matters for the Memorial
Association had qualms about, quote, various attorneys who
have not paid their pledges. We are dealing with these men
day in and day out and probably will for a number of years to
come, and to gain their enmity would simply not be using our
best judgement. End Quote.
Why not turn these bills over, quote, to some young attorney

(34:09):
who can sue these gentlemen without embarrassment?
End Quote. Some pledges proved impossible
to collect. The Geekus Brothers restaurant
went into bankruptcy before the company had completely paid its
subscription. Another Lincoln subscriber,
Katsutaro Ito, owner of the YMCAcafeteria, quote, is supposed to
have gone back to Japan. End Quote.

(34:31):
And it was impossible to trace him.
A few pledges were forgiven, butthe circumstances were usually
extreme. Dean CB Engberg, for example,
forwarded a letter from the mother of one student with a
delinquent subscription with hisrequest that it be cancelled.
Engberg knew the family. The father had recently died,

(34:51):
the mother and son were both working, and the father, quote,
by the way, had disinherited himin favor of the University of
Nebraska. End Quote.
Most requests for a cancellationof a subscription were denied
when the Enterprise planning Mill of Lincoln suffered a fire
and dropped its pledge, Holtz noted sarcastically Quote that

(35:11):
fire was as valuable to the Enterprise mill as the post war
inflation in Germany was to the German government.
I cannot quite see where in the Enterprise Planning mill is
justified in canceling their obligation.
They still exist as a corporation and we should
collect. End Quote.
After starting the drive in Nebraska, Holtz turned his

(35:32):
attention to the alumni who had moved elsewhere as he assigned
quotas to various alumni groups.Sioux City, IA, was to raise
$940, alumni in Alabama $30 and those in California $5700.
In February 1923, Holtz hoped a trip back East would drum up
enthusiasm and 12 to $15,000. During a meeting of the alumni

(35:57):
group in Detroit, the organizer planned to tune in a Nebraska
football game on radio. Quote.
Though we may have some difficulty because of local
interference. End Quote.
Hearing the game would help put the listeners in a mood to
donate. The Nebraska track team attended
a meet in Southern California with a double mission to win and

(36:19):
to talk to the California alumni.
Quote. These boys must feel the most
royal welcome. End Quote Holtz urged the
California Cornhuskers. Quote.
They will tell you of the most magnificent new stadium.
End Quote Harry Miner, the campaign organizer in
California, gave his drive a Hollywood touch by showing the

(36:40):
film of the 1922 Nebraska Notre Dame football game.
A Nebraska victory, by the way, to all the alumni groups in the
state and in Washington, Oregon and Utah.
He asked Holtz to send slides ofcampus buildings and quote
characters connected with the university, such as Avery, and
quote to evoke memories and openwallets.

(37:02):
By the fall of 1923, Holtz and the alumni association knew
another round of fundraising would be necessary.
He contacted all of the county chairman to see how a second
drive would fare in Tecumseh Up.The feeling was not good,
responded JB Douglas. Quote.
Right now money matters are morestringent than they have been

(37:23):
for some time. End Quote.
And public opinion there favoredhaving Lincoln completed quote,
since outside trade brought to Lincoln would be doubled and
troubled the credit accruing to Lincoln businessmen only.
End Quote. Walter Raish of Central City
suggested November would be the best time when quote.
The most enthusiasm for anythingof this kind can be aroused

(37:47):
during the active football season.
End Quote Homecoming and the dedication of the stadium would
be the high points, but after the season, quote the enthusiasm
immediately begins to subside and quote, The October 1923
fundraising campaign on campus coincided with the dedication of
the stadium and caught all of the incoming freshmen who were

(38:09):
told that they would get more use out of the stadium than any
of the upperclassmen who had already pledged.
On the evening of November 5th, pairs of Innocence and Mortar
boards, members of the upper class honoraries, visited each
fraternity, sorority, and dormitory to secure pledges from
the freshman. The next day, all the freshmen

(38:31):
were strongly encouraged to attend a rally in the Armory
where they would get another chance to pledge to check
attendance and catch any absentees.
The organizers may have asked each freshman to sign a card and
hand it in as he left. Subscribers got to wear green
ribbons with their graduation year on it around campus.

(38:52):
Junior and senior organizations planned to round U all the
delinquent freshman subscribers at the end of the week.
Freshman in the ROTC program could transfer their uniform
deposits to the stadium fund instead of reclaiming them.
Quote Your refund is payable May23rd through the 28th.
You have not missed this ten spot for the last nine months.

(39:13):
Why not put it to good use and relieve yourself of an urgent
obligation? End Quote Holtz suggested having
a student canvasser posted wherethe uniforms were turned in.
A person with some salesmanship ability would be best.
Nebraska played its first game in the new stadium on October
13th, 1923 against the University of Oklahoma.

(39:35):
Even though the east and West grandstands were not quite
complete. Parsons Construction Company
officials notified the Nebraska Memorial Association that it,
and not the company, would be responsible for any injuries to
the spectators. The contractors also warned the
association to have his architects check the structure

(39:56):
quote, to determine any possibledanger of falling timber form
work or debris and to determine what parts of the structure at
this time have developed the strength necessary to avoid
collapse. And quote, guards should be
posted on the ramps leading to the balconies to keep people
out. Fortunately, the game was played

(40:16):
without any mishaps. Memorial Stadium was dedicated
on October 20th at the Homecoming game with the
University of Kansas. Before the game began, a parade
of students and alumni gathered at 12th and P streets, wound
through downtown Lincoln to 16thSt. then marched back to the

(40:36):
stadium. The financing and construction
of Memorial Stadium had not beenwithout risk, but the Alumni
Association had kept its promisethat the team would play there
in 1923. The stadium cost $482,938.82.
By eliminating some features, the Memorial Association have

(40:59):
been able to trim nearly $66,000from the Parson Construction
Company bid of 548,849, bringingthe total much closer to the
group's original goal of $450,000.
Memorial Stadium never included all of the features that the
first War Memorial plans called for, such as the museum.

(41:22):
Harold Holtz reported that the stadium would be finished quote
only so far as the money available allows, and quote the
Oval ends and the colonnades would not be started until they
could be paid for. With agriculture in the state
already depressed when the GreatDepression began, the necessary
funds never materialized. The circular precast concrete

(41:46):
medallions of the official sealsof the Missouri Valley
Conference schools were completed around the exterior
walls. The Alumni Association contacted
Gutsum Borglum about making bronze memorial tablets to flank
the east entrance, but they apparently were never finished
or installed. In August 1927, First Trust

(42:06):
turned the mortgages over to theMemorial Association, and Holtz
was able to announce in 1928 that all contracted debts had
been paid. Characteristically, he also
stated, quote, let no one gain the impression from the fact
that the stadium is paid for that all unpaid obligations will
be cancelled. End Quote.

(42:29):
The Memorial Association finallyclosed its books in 1940.
It was not until 1972, when in addition to the South grandstand
was constructed, that the Oval Stadium was complete.
The Nebraska Memorial Association, the Alumni
Association and their supportershad taken a serious financial
risk, but their efforts were rewarded.

(42:51):
They gave the university and itsstudents a usable stadium in
1923 that, with numerous later editions and improvements,
continues to serve the university's nationally
recognized football program. Thank you for listening to the
Nebraska History Podcast. To learn more about Nebraska
History Magazine, to listen to more podcasts, or to support our

(43:13):
podcast by becoming a member of the Nebraska State Historical
Society, go to history.nebraska.gov/podcast.
And don't forget to subscribe tothe podcast and get notified
when we release new episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
Until next time, I'm Chris Goforth.
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