Greg Sharpe achieves goal of calling Nebraska vs. UTEP

Aug. 31 had been circled for months for all Nebraska fans.

The return of football season with Nebraska’s season opener against UTEP.

But for Greg Sharpe, Nebraska’s beloved voice of the Huskers, he had not only circled game day on the calendar, but highlighted and underlined it, too.

His April cancer diagnosis wasn’t going to stop his return to the press box. Not if he could help it.

“It was a goal. I wanted to make it,” Sharpe told the Journal Star before Saturday’s kickoff. “I’ll tell you, two months ago, I didn’t think I could do it. The last few months have been better and I’m just blessed to be here. I’m excited. So many people have helped me along the way.”

A few months ago, his body was having a hard time with the chemo and radiation to treat the various tumors he has in his pancreas, liver, lung and shoulder. He didn’t call much baseball with Ben McLaughlin. He missed out on several Sports Nightly shows.

So Nebraska put in some contingency plans, reaching out to Sharpe’s circle of broadcast friends. In the event that Sharpe didn’t feel well enough to call a game, would they be willing to step in?

It’s a lot to ask. Asking people who are already busy with games of their own to prep for an additional game, and to do it for free?

But it’s Sharpe. Anything for Sharpe. Just say the word.

“The thought was, ‘How can we help keep Greg whole? If he can’t do these games, how can we help keep him whole?’” said Kevin Kugler, who served as Sharpe’s backup play-by-play announcer for the UTEP game.

“We kept coming back to, from an agricultural standpoint in this state, if somebody’s sick, others help out. They get the crop in. They get the crop out. And that was what we wanted to do in this instance. ‘We’ll be here if you need us because we know how important this is to you.’”

Sharpe added: “It means a lot that those guys are willing to prepare for a game that they probably aren’t going to call, or, I hope they don’t have to call and that I’m healthy enough to do it. It’s meant an awful lot.”

But on Saturday, Sharpe didn’t need Kugler.

Sharpe arrived Saturday with a smile on his face and a Big Ten Network crew shadowing him. He put on his headset and he was home — calling Dylan Raiola’s first game as Nebraska’s starting quarterback.

All week leading up to the game, it was as if Sharpe had “an extra spring in his step,” Nebraska’s associate athletic director for communications Keith Mann said. “Hopefully this is the first of 13 for him this year.”

With Sharpe on the call, all felt right in the world again.

“Raiola under center from the 5. Two to the near side. No wideouts. Split right. Raiola, long count. Motions Jaylen Lloyd. Gets it off to Dowdell. Right up the middle! Touchdown Nebraska!”

“Locklear claps the hands. They get the snap. Is it a safety?! He’s right near the goal line. No signal yet. The Husker defenders think they’ve got a safety as they hit him right at the goal line. The officials talking now. There it goes! Safety for Nebraska.”

“(Raiola) Gets the snap. Gets hit as he throws down the field looking for Neyor. Makes the catch! Inside the 15! To the 10! To the 5! Touchdown, Nebraska! Isaiah Neyor! Outfought the defensive back. Made the catch and then took it in for 6 points.”

“Trips to the near side. Snap back to Raiola. Steps, throws toward the end zone for Baaanks, goes up makes the catch! And it is a touchdown Nebraska! Jahmal Banks! Outleaped a couple of defenders and pulls it in there for 6 points!”

For sideline reporter Jessica Coody, being back on the broadcast with Sharpe was what she’d dreamed of for months.

“It was great and he was so normal,” Coody said. “Since the diagnosis, there’s been some ups and downs and some scary moments, so for him to be there and be completely normal Greg, you kinda forgot that everything was going on. He was just fantastic. We had fun. It was normal. He probably was so glad to be able to have that, to be able to do what he loves.”

The same sentiment held true for McLaughlin, who does the football pre and postgame radio shows in addition to play-by-play for baseball with Sharpe.

“Today he’s been celebrated by a lot of people,” McLaughlin said. “The BTN thing was released, which was great, but before all that were the lonely days in the hospital bed, hooked up to a chemo machine, wondering if this was even possible. There were some really dark days for him. Just a couple of months ago this seemed like a pipe dream.

“So for him to be here today, for him to come out the other side for a disease that, theoretically he shouldn’t have beaten this long already but he’s already beaten it to the point to be here and healthy enough to call a game — and not only this game, but the games beyond? To me, it’s just the culmination of his fight. To finally see him in his happy place today, this is the goal that we all wanted to see.”

The support Sharpe has received from across the state and across the country has made him emotional. All the cards. All the letters. All the photos. The oar from Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck. The induction into the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The emails. The love. The prayers. He feels it and appreciates it all.

“I don’t know if I could keep going,” Sharpe said. “So many people. Today, I got five or six emails from general fans that go, ‘You don’t know me, but I’m glad to hear you’re calling the game today. It just means a lot. The power of positive thinking, the power of prayer, I believe in that. That’s all added up to me being able to do this today.”

There’s a lesson in all of this.

Love your people. Support your people. Tell them you care. Show them you care. Do so unabashedly. Give people their flowers while they’re here to appreciate them. 

“It’s a great reminder for all of us that tomorrow is not promised,” Kugler said. “This goal of Aug. 31 for Greg was a real goal and a real motivating factor for him to continue to fight and continue to be where he wants to be.”

We love you, Greg. We support you. We care about you. We’re here for you.

We can’t wait to continue to hear the rest of your calls this season.