LINCOLN, Neb.—Ndamukong Suh, who considers himself a student of Nebraska football history, got a lesson in 1960s Cornhusker fashion.
Suh and teammate Roy Helu Jr. on Friday modeled the pants, helmets and jerseys of the 1962 Huskers. That team holds a special place in the annals of Nebraska football because it was the first one coached by Bob Devaney.
The seventh game in 1962—a 16-7 loss to Missouri—started Nebraska’s ongoing NCAA-record sellout streak, which will hit 300 when Louisiana-Lafayette visits Sept. 26.
The Huskers will wear the throwback uniforms that night to commemorate the milestone. The full uniforms will then be distributed to the highest bidders in an online auction that started Friday.
Suh, the Big 12’s preseason defensive player of the year, said his Nebraska football knowledge probably dates to the early 1980s.
“I’ve tried to learn a little more,” Suh said, “like the different names of the greats in front of me.”
He said he appreciates what the ’62 Huskers meant. That team went 9-2 for the first of 40 straight winning seasons.
Mike Corgan, the running backs coach at the time, was the uniform designer.
“Mike was a straight-forward, no-nonsense guy, so there wasn’t going to be a lot of flourish to the uniforms,” said athletic director Tom Osborne, a 1962 graduate assistant who began his Hall-of-Fame coaching career in 1973.
“He liked script numbers and plain, generic helmets. The players weren’t thrilled, but we won a lot of games in those uniforms.”
The pants are white, and the jerseys are red with distinctive white numbers. The helmets are white with black numbers on the side—the red block “N” didn’t come until 1970.
“It’s going to be fun to see,” said Dennis Claridge, the quarterback in 1962. “I’ve had some people tell me they just loved those uniforms. The first time I saw them, I thought they looked a little weird with the curlycues. I kind of started to like them as time went on.”
Current coach Bo Pelini said he had seen pictures of the old uniforms and didn’t feel one way or another about them.
“They’re fine,” he said, “as long as we play well in them.”
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