What would a football team be without fans? Read on to learn more about some of Nebraska's earliest fans and their contributions to Nebraska's enduring football spirit.

On Cornhusker football game days Nebraska fans around the world tune in to broadcasts, throw parties and pack Memorial Stadium to witness their beloved team's every move. When full, the stadium which seats 72,000, has been called the "third largest city" in sparsely populated Nebraska. The title is a testament to the state's fanatically faithful football followers. People from the far reaches of Western Nebraska and beyond, regularly make the pilgrimage to Lincoln to support the Cornhuskers.

Perhaps at the root of Nebraska's football success are its homegrown loyalties. Nebraska's team rosters since the beginning have been representative of the hardy people who settled the area. Czech, Polish, German, Irish and African-American players have lined up shoulder to shoulder on the gridiron while their relatives, neighbors and friends have formed the crowds that cheer them on.

Those cheering crowds that have become part of the rich tradition of Cornhusker football weren't always so big, but what they lacked in size then made up with enthusiasm and loyalty. Fewer than 50 students accompanied the 1890 Nebraska team to Omaha for its first game. Only a decade later football games were attracting crowds of thousands. Nebraska's fans proved their unwavering loyalty again and again. They traveled en masse via railroad to cheer at away games and laid out nearly a half million dollars of their own funds to build a beautiful stadium during the 1920's. By the 1940 run for the Rose Bowl, 35 thousand fans were regularly packing Memorial Stadium while thousands more tuned in on radios around the country to cheer on their team.

Notable fans have included populist orator and Nebraska native William Jennings Bryan, author Willa Cather, General John J. Pershing and Harvard Law School Dean, Roscoe Pound. Yet it has largely been the efforts and desires of everyday fans, who have made the greatest impact on Nebraska football.