Monday, April 1, 2019

Jerry Bush and Jimmy Kubacki

Today's Omaha World Herald carried a story on Nebraska Basketball telling of “Bush's team avenged big loss to Wilt, KU.” It refers to Kansas beating Nebraska in Allen Fieldhouse 102-46 on February 8, 1958 and Nebraska hosting Kansas with Wilt Chamberlain on February 22. The subheadline in The World-Herald on Feb. 22 read: “No contest expected following KU 102-46 win on Lawrence Court. Nebraska played a “slow-down game” with no “shot clock in those days” and it was 41-41 with about 6 minutes left when Nebraska Captain Gary Reimers left the game with leg cramps. Kubacki, in street clothes on the bench with an injured knee lobbied to go in but Bush said no. Kubacki argued back that he was 21 and could make that decision so Bush said “fine”. He entered the game with 2:46 left. Nebraska continued to stall and KU grew tight as time wound down. Kubacki cut to the free-throw line off a pick with two seconds left, caught a pass and threw up a shot. “The ball went high over Wilt and came down in the basket. The place went nuts. My vision of the story as recorded in my 1958-1962, 5-year diary is: “Tim, Elaine and I went to Lincoln and saw Nebr. beat K.U. 43-41. 8,000 thousand people there and the game was televised, it was a big upset.” I remember it very well. Great Win for Nebraska and Jerry Bush.

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