Boyd Epley, godfather of collegiate strength training
Coach Devaney hired me on September 15th, 1969. We didn’t go to a bowl game in ‘67 or ‘68, but in ‘69 we had good success and won 9 games and went to the Sun Bowl. We beat Georgia, got some momentum and then won the national championship the next year.
And Coach Osborne said, “Alright, Boyd, we need to go in and see the boss.” And I go, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ”We need to go in and see Bob Devaney and get permission to do all of this.” So we go around the corner into Bob Devaney’s office there in the Coliseum, located up on the second floor -that office is now John Cook’s office- there was a big seal, the Nebraska State Seal on the wall above Devaney’s desk, and Devaney’s at his desk and he’s sitting there in his red, leather chair. I remember it like yesterday, I remember where I stood and where Osborne stood, and where Devaney was sitting, and Coach Osborne explained to Devaney, the athletic director and head coach, who I was.
Bob said, ”I’ve seen Boyd when he’s in the weightroom. You’re a pole vaulter, right?” I said I was. He said Tom told him that I was helping the injured players get stronger and that Tom thought it would be a good idea if the entire team lifted weights and if I’d be willing to help teach them. And Bob says, “Why would you want to do that?” So I was faced with the prospect of having to defend my program, and I’d never had to do that before. So here I was trying to explain to him that it would make the players stronger and faster, and it would help them win more games, and he said, “Well, if Tom thinks this is important, we’ll give it a try.” And then he looked me right in the eye and pointed at me and says, “But if anybody gets slower, you’re fired.” But I wasn’t really hired yet! (laughs) I was still an athlete, but it was during that time period that I had injured my back. And I don’t know if it was Devaney or the trainers or what, but they kind of told me I couldn’t pole vault anymore because Devaney wanted me to be the strength coach. And magically I started getting paid $2 an hour to watch the weightroom instead of having my scholarship. They saw to it that I got paid for supervising instead of being on scholarship and being on pole vault, they said it was too great of a risk.
Then after the first year Coach Devaney called me in and said, “You’re the best value we have in this department,” and he gave me a raise that made me feel pretty good. Of course I was making two dollars an hour, so it didn’t have to be much. (laughs)
