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After a season of empty seasons and cardboard cutouts, hear from Husker fans eager to return to Memorial Stadium | Football








Husker fans celebrate a fourth-quarter touchdown against Michigan State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015.



AMBER BAESLER, Journal Star file photo




Parker Gabriel and Chris Basnett asked for questions on Twitter, and you delivered. 



The 2020 season was like no other for the Nebraska fan base.

The same Memorial Stadium that usually holds 90,000 screaming Husker fans on fall Saturdays was a shell of its former self. Cardboard cutouts did little to mask the hundreds of rows of empty bleachers, and some of the traditions that usually mark gameday took a one-year hiatus.

The fight song was piped in through speakers, red balloons were limited to a few dozen staff members and there were no Runza-hawking vendors, hot dog cannons or slices of Valentino’s pizza before 11 a.m. kickoffs.

After a year spent away from Memorial Stadium, Husker fans will finally be back this fall. Some of the Huskers’ most passionate supporters are now counting down the days until they can return to the Sea of Red.

Chris Nelson, 35, Ashland

It was just unfortunate timing for Chris Nelson.

After living in Denver for about 20 years, Nelson lost his job due to COVID-19 and packed his bags for Ashland to stay with a friend. He picked up work in Omaha, but with Memorial Stadium now 30 miles away instead of 500, Nelson had to go the whole season without attending a game. He hadn’t missed an entire season since he attended his first Husker game in 1994.

“I finally moved back out here and I couldn’t go to any games,” Nelson said. “I missed the smell of the combination of Runzas, hot dogs and Valentino’s pizza going into south stadium, and hearing the band enter the stadium underneath me.”



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