Greatest Husker to wear 74: Bob Newton, Offensive Tackle, 1969 – 1970
When we look back on Bob Devaney’s tenure, we see the bowl game in Year 1. The start of the sellout streak. Big Eight titles in four of his first five seasons. The national championships in 1970 and 1971. The waves of all-time great players.
We tend to overlook – or forget – the 1967 and 1968 seasons. Back-to-back years finishing 6-4, third place in the conference and no bowl game. Husker fans – not always the most patient of people – were circulating petitions for Devaney to be fired.
Heading into the 1969 season, let’s just say Bob Devaney was open to new ideas.
Meanwhile, Nebraska’s record-setting pole vaulter had a back injury. The team wouldn’t let him jump anymore. But they worked out an arrangement to allow him to keep his scholarship for his senior year: he would supervise the university’s tiny weight room in the Schulte Field House. A few football players – often recovering from injury – would trickle into the weight room from time to time and worked with our retired pole vaulter. They seemed to be getting back to practice quicker than their peers. Others who had been working out on the side seemed faster than they did the year before.
That weight room supervisor – a college student named Boyd Epley – received a phone call from assistant coach Tom Osborne. Come to my office. Epley assumed he was in trouble. But he went to talk to Nebraska’s newly promoted offensive coordinator.
Osborne had noticed that the injured players working out with Epley were coming back faster and stronger. Osborne asked if Epley could do that for the entire team. Epley knew he could, but he also knew his small 416-square-foot space wouldn’t hold the whole team. Osborne said, “How about we knock that wall down?” Epley said that would work, but they’d need more equipment than the sparse setup they had. Osborne said, “Well, can you help us with that?” Epley offered to bring a list of desired equipment the next day.
As promised, Epley brought a one-page list of equipment. Osborne, without reading it, handed it to his secretary and said, “Order this.” Epley then said, “Coach, I forgot the second page.” Osborne smiled, took the second page of equipment and said “All right, Boyd, we need to see Bob Devaney and get permission to do all of this.”
In Devaney’s office, Epley was put on the spot to defend why thought the football team should be lifting weights. Remember – this was an era where almost nobody lifted. The prevailing wisdom of the late 1960s was lifting weights might make you strong, but muscle-bound players would be slow and stiff. Less Iron Man and more Wizard of Oz Tin Man. Epley knew the conventional wisdom was wrong.
Satisfied with Epley’s response, Devaney said, “Well, if Tom thinks this is important, we’ll give it a try.” Devaney then pointed squarely at Epley and said, “But if anybody gets slower, you’re fired.”
And with that, the first full-time strength coach in college football history – the man who eventually would be named the “Godfather of Strength and Conditioning” – was hired.
The initial results came quickly. The 1969 team – having started working out and using Osborne’s I-formation offense – went 9-2 and tied for first place in the Big Eight. NU beat Oklahoma 44-14. The year before, the Huskers lost 47-0.
It’s easy to look back 55+ years later and think “Boyd came in, they started to lift, and the rest is history.” But it wasn’t that simple. It took time to overcome the “lifting makes you slower” mentality. Getting participation and buy-in from the full roster was hard. And the guy in charge was essentially the same age as the players he was leading.
To boost participation, regularity and personal accountability, Epley convinced the university to make strength training a class. This allowed players to earn credit for working out. Taking attendance and handing out grades helped establish the routine of lifting. Epley figured out early on that tapping into the competitive nature of athletes was important. Players wanted to the be the best at … everything. Regular testing – with records posted in the weight room – gave motivated athletes something to shoot for. The program – a mix of Olympic lifts, power lifting and some body building elements - became known as “Husker Power.”
Bob Newton, a 6-foot-4, 248-pound offensive tackle, didn’t need to be talked into strength training. He had previously lifted at his junior college in California. But he unintentionally helped Epley go from peer to coach. Newton, nicknamed “Big Fig,” had a bad habit of spitting during his workouts. Epley asked him not to do it in the weight room. When Newton spit on the floor a few days later, Epley kicked him out for two weeks. Even though Epley was just two years older (and considerably smaller) than Newton, standing up to him got the message across to the team: Boyd meant business.
Great teams have great offensive lines, and the 1970 national champions were no exception. Newton played next to guard Dick Rupert, and they teamed to help the Huskers accumulate over 400 yards of total offense per game. All they had to do was create a hole and the offensive talent (Johnny Rodgers, Jeff Kinney, Joe Orduna, Jerry Tagge and others) would do the rest.
The Big Eight used to award a “Lineman of the Week” honor, which Newton won a record four times during the 1970 season. Those performances helped him become a unanimous All-Big Eight pick as well as a first-team All-American, the first of the Husker Power era.
As players saw the gains of their peers, and how those translated to wins and individual success on the field, Husker Power started to (figuratively and literally) gain speed. Boyd Epley continued to gain knowledge, refine his approach and innovate.
Nebraska won 356 games during the 35 years of Epley’s tenure as head strength coach. After retiring in 2006, he has served in numerous other roles across the athletic department.
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Over the years, Nebraska has found several difference-making players in the junior college (or JUCO) ranks. Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier leads the list, but there are numerous other All-Americans (like Bob Newton), all-conference players and other contributors.
There are many reasons players might end up at a JUCO out of high school. Often, they lacked the academic requirements needed to get into college. Graduating from a two-year junior college could be a pathway to major college football. Other JUCO players were underrecruited, developed later, or were injured during their senior season. They used their JUCO time to improve as players and increase their stock.
From a coaching standpoint, junior college players served many purposes. Coaches would often mine the junior colleges looking for starters or depth to supplement the talent in a position group, replace an injured player, or get a starter if the developmental pipeline was thin. Nebraska’s usage of junior college players has ebbed and flowed depending on the coach and the landscape of college football at the time. Nebraska took a fair amount of JUCO players before Prop 48 was introduced. When the Big 12 voted to limit the number of partial and non-qualifiers a school could take, JUCO use rose. Some coaches and/or administrations (such as when Mike Riley was head coach) shied away from junior college players. Today, the transfer portal fills a lot of the same needs that JUCOs once did.
