While the Nebraska’s men’s basketball team was making significant improvement on the court during the 2022-23 season, the Huskers also made a significant impact in the Lincoln community this year.
During this year’s A Night at the Lied last month, the team was honored as one of two men’s programs at Nebraska to have every member make the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team. All 17 Huskers met the criteria for the award, which includes six community outreach events during the year.
“I’m really proud of this year’s group for being so committed to getting out in the community,” Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “They went above and beyond throughout the course of the year, not only with programming but doing it on their own time. With all of the commitments with academics, practices, games and crazy schedules which are a part of being a student-athlete, they would still find a way to go out and have an impact, especially with kids in the community. I would get letters from people talking about the positive impact our player had, whether it was speaking to a class or just talking with them at the mall and taking a picture.”
For Hoiberg, it was one of several points of pride for the Huskers off the court in 2022-23. In addition to the life skills awards, NU posted a 3.29 GPA in the fall, while the 2023-24 Huskers had a cumulative GPA of 3.24 heading into the spring semester. Nebraska was a finalist for the Herman Trophy GPA Award, given to the Husker men’s program with the highest Team GPA over the previous two semesters. In addition, NU placed a school-record six players on the Academic All-Big Ten team.
Walker helped organize a basketball clinic for nearly 40 Special Olympics athletes over the summer as well as participating in nearly all of NU’s team group outreach efforts. The only one Walker missed was when he was with the Big Ten Conference on its inaugural Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery. That event centered on a pilgrimage to the center of the civil right movement.
Among Griesel’s many outreach projects during his year on campus, he coordinated a blood drive with the American Red Cross which raised nearly 80 units of blood for the Lincoln community. Griesel, who remembered Foltz’s tragic passing from a car accident before his senior year, represented the student-athletes on stage and talked about the legacy that Foltz left for Husker student athletes.
“You look a guy like Sam Griesel, who was a big part of that for our team because he grew up in Lincoln and remembered what impact Husker athletes made on him growing up or Derrick Walker, who sets up a camp for Special Olympics and the entire team shows up to help,” Hoiberg said. “You could tell from day one last year that this group was going to build that culture because of the time they spent together and the unselfishness of the group. They would come back and just say how special it was and how rewarding it was to get out there and make a difference. I think that all carried over at the end of the day to being on the floor and getting through tough times because you are going through it together.”
“As student-athletes, the spotlight is always on us no matter if we like it or not,” Griesel said. “It’s our responsibility to use that spotlight to bring joy and happiness into a world full of darkness. I realized that sometimes that is easier said than done. But it is truly amazing what lending a helping hand can do to someone’s life. It’s hard to truly grasp the impact that being a Nebraska athlete can have on this community. We don’t always recognize who is watching us but speaking from experience. Being a kid that basically worshipped Husker athletes growing up, there are a lot of kids watching. We are given a platform to do amazing things in this world. When you simplify your life to doing the next right thing, and serving others in the community, that platform that may feel overwhelming at times will turn into a legacy that will be remembered for a long, long time.”
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