Home
Grown Huskers
Reported by Brad
Penner, STATEWIDE Correspondent
At one point this season more than half the starters on Nebraska's national
championship team called Nebraska home. They're not all from Lincoln or Omaha,
either. Towns like Cozad or Henderson or maybe Brainard are towns that don't
rate a very big dot on the map, but they're all home to a Husker player or two.
Nebraska has a long tradition of players who come from small towns. We wondered
just what the connection might be between small town life and big time football
so we went to Hartington in northeast Nebraska to meet a young man who hopes
to become their hometown Husker.
[Crowd Cheering]...
Memorial Stadium on a Saturday afternoon. It's where the dream
began for Russ Hochstein.
[Russ Hochstein:] "My 13th birthday, I think, was the
first game I ever got to go to, and it just gives you goosebumps. You walk into
that stadium and there's that many people, thousands of people there. And everybody's
cheering. It's very exciting."
[Russ' Dad, Gayle:] "He actually looked at me and said,
gosh, dad, I hope some day I getta' play down here. It's kind of a dream come
true for him." Russ Hochstein stands 6 feet 4 inches tall. He weighs 250
pounds. And he's accepted a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska.
He's a big-time prospect who grew from small-town roots. Russ played high school
football for Hartington Cedar Catholic, a small school in a small town. His
ability as an offensive and defensive lineman stood out early on. He started
as a freshman.
[Terry Kathol, Russ' Coach:] "We kinda' thought he'd
be, you know, easily Division 2. And then as he progressed through the years,
possibly Division 1. So I think ever since he was, you know, a young kid, you
could kinda' see that in him."
Russ' coaches weren't the only ones to notice his potential.
[Russ:] "I had some stuff sent to me, some brochures
to the Nebraska camp and some other camps. And I got interested in them. When
I get into something, I like to make myself better."
Russ didn't get a lot of ink on the state's sports pages.
He wasn't a regular on TV highlight tapes. But he still managed to show his
talent to the Nebraska coaches. After two years at the Huskers' summer football
camp, he knew he had their attention. [Russ:] "Nebraska was the very first letters I got. And
I was really amazed, you know, 'Wow! I got a letter from Nebraska,' and it was
a big deal."
The recruiting stepped up this fall. Letters, phone calls,
and trips to Lincoln for games.
[Russ:] "You getta' stand on the sideline and wow, you
know. And then that call came that night. I would've loved to said yes right
then, but, it's a big decision. I had to think about it and stuff. Really I
didn't have to but... "
Look around Hartington and it isn't difficult to see why the
decision was so easy. Like a lot of places in Nebraska, this town belongs to
the Huskers.
[Russ:] "We're big Husker fans. I've always been a Husker
fan, you know, my whole family, our whole town."
[Gayle:] "Well, the Cornhuskers just got that spot in
everybody's heart."
Gayle Hochstein ought to know. He's not just the father of
the town's first Husker football recruit. He's also the mayor. Gayle proudly
displays his love of the Huskers at the family's concrete business. The huge
Herbie was a gift from his kids. A love for the Huskers isn't the only thing
the Hochstein's passed on to their kids. Gayle and his wife Barb built this
business from scratch, and their children pitched in, too.
[Kathol:] "He's been working at his dad's cement plant
ever since he was a little kid. And I think that's where it really comes from,
the work ethic that they've instilled in him."
[Russ while lifting weights:] "I'm not big as far as
college goes. I'm small, you know. And I have a long road ahead of me, a lot
of work to do."
[Kathol:] "He talked to me last week already about having
the weight room open for him in the morning before school so that he could lift
weights and then go to school and then go to basketball practice afterwards."
Russ
is a starter for the Cedar Catholic basketball team, and he's focused on helping
them get back to the state tournament. But sports aren't his only interest.
He's active in the school's Future Farmers of America chapter and competes in
ag contests. Then there's his artistic side.
[Russ, acting:] "I think it'll need a rewrite. I think
we should go over it together..."
Last year Russ won an acting award in the state one-act play
competition. This year his role is a bit of a stretch. He plays a football star.
"...But you don't mention me once in the article."
Some might think a small town would limit the opportunities
for kids. Russ thinks the opposite is true.
[Russ:] "I like to take part in a lot of things. You
know, I think it's neat to be in all these other activities. It's kinda' stupid
to go through high school and not be a part of things. You might look back on
it someday and regret it."
It may sound like a cliche, but if you want to know why top
football players keep coming from small towns, give a little credit to the lifestyle.
[Brad Penner:] "Is there anything that you guys think
might have helped contribute to Russ's success because of this community?"
[Barb Hochstein:] "One thing about a small town when you're playing sports,
everybody's behind you. I think that means a lot to kids. You go down to the
state tournament, you get a taste of it. You see your whole town empty out.
And if they have any desire at all to do good, they're doing it they know not
just for themselves but for their parents and the whole town."
[Kathol:] "In a small community like this, you're compelled
to work hard because you have the attention of not only your family, but also
the people in the community. They're gonna' see how you grow throughout the
year. People follow the athletics of the school very closely."
[Russ:] "A lot of people have given me support. You wouldn't
get where you are without that support. You need people to push you."
Gayle Hochstein says his son is a product of his community
-- little league coaches and teachers and friends. The Hochstein's share the
credit for Russ's success. Hartington shares the pride.
[Barb:] "Just tonight I'm walking out of the store and
somebody congratulates us again. I mean, it was just -- the outpouring when
he was offered the scholarship and it became public was just unreal. The other
day at the shop a little second grader -- first grader brought a picture in
of a football player he had colored and it said, good luck, Russ. And Russ has
said a lot of the kids stop him and say hi, Russ."
[Russ:] "We have a big influence and a big impact on
what they do, I think. And you kinda' have to be responsible and act mature
about things."
'Role model' is a tough label to hang on a high school senior,
but in small towns it's pretty common for little kids to look up to the local
stars. It's something Russ takes seriously.
[Russ:] "I could go out and do something wrong, break
a law, and get caught for it. In a small community, they'll hear that, too,
and that'll ruin that. You don't really want to do that because then what do
they have to look forward to, or what do they have to look up to then?"
The people who know Russ best say all the attention hasn't
changed him. He's still the same kid he was before the Huskers came calling.
[Kathol:] "I was really happy for Russ. He's a good kid
and he works hard and there's not a kid that I've known that's probably deserved
something like this more than he has."
[Russ:} "My season's over. I'm kind of sad, man. I'm
gonna' miss it -- high school ball, it's fun.
[Brad Penner:] "Now it's on to bigger things?"
[Russ:] "You betcha', on to bigger and better things."
Next fall Russ Hochstein will leave Hartington behind, but
he'll take along the lessons he's learned. He might need them.
"It's a big dream. It's a dream for a Nebraska kid to
have that. And, you know, I've dreamed of it forever. Since I watched my first
game, you know, wow, wouldn't that be great to play for the Big Red."
Reporting for Statewide, I'm Brad Penner.
Captioning by Nebraska
Captioning Center, Lincoln, Nebraska .
STATEWIDE is funded in part by the Shoemaker Family Foundation of Cambridge,
Nebraska building bridges of understanding between rural and urban Nebraska
through its support of STATEWIDE news programming.
Russ Hochstein stands 6 feet 4 inches tall. He weighs 250
pounds. And he's accepted a football scholarship to the University of Nebraska.
He's a big-time prospect who grew from small-town roots. Russ played high school
football for Hartington Cedar Catholic, a small school in a small town. His
ability as an offensive and defensive lineman stood out early on. He started
as a freshman. 
[Russ:] "Nebraska was the very first letters I got. And
I was really amazed, you know, 'Wow! I got a letter from Nebraska,' and it was
a big deal."
Russ
is a starter for the Cedar Catholic basketball team, and he's focused on helping
them get back to the state tournament. But sports aren't his only interest.
He's active in the school's Future Farmers of America chapter and competes in
ag contests. Then there's his artistic side. 
[Barb Hochstein:] "One thing about a small town when you're playing sports,
everybody's behind you. I think that means a lot to kids. You go down to the
state tournament, you get a taste of it. You see your whole town empty out.
And if they have any desire at all to do good, they're doing it they know not
just for themselves but for their parents and the whole town." 