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Couple's ticket stubs featured on 300th sellout poster SEPTEMBER 23, 2009 7:20 PM • BY JEFF KORBELIK / LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR
When Nebraska celebrates its 300th football sellout Saturday, Willis and Fran Regier of Bellevue will be in section 30, row 20, seats 9 and 10. Afterward, 89-year-old Willis will return home and place his ticket stub in a shoebox. There's no rhyme or reason for it. It's just what the retired architect does with his tickets. 93, became season-ticket holders.
He's been doing it since 1950, when he and Fran,
Since then, the born-and-raised Nebraskans, who both graduated from the university, have missed only one game - a loss to Washington in 1991. But they had a good reason for that one: Their son's wedding was that day. "We made sure there were TVs at the reception," Willis said. Those are Willis' stubs on the poster commemorating Saturday's sellout. Those also were his on the poster recognizing the 200th sellout in 1994. The Regiers responded back then to a university mailer asking for fans who had been to all 200 sellouts, which began with a loss to Missouri in 1962 during Bob Devaney's first season as coach. "Our computer records didn't go back that far," Husker associate athletic director Chris Anderson said. "We trusted people to use the honor system. But with (the Regiers), they had proof." So when it came time to plan for the 300th celebration, Anderson thought of the Bellevue couple, die-hard fans who belong to the Touchdown Club and Tom and Nancy Osborne's TeamMates mentoring program. "I wondered if they were still going and if they still kept their tickets," Anderson said. "I called him up, and, sure enough, he did." The tickets are windows to many, many memories. The good ... * The Huskers snapping the Oklahoma curse in 1978 when Sooner running back Billy Sims fumbled at the goal line.
* Mike Rozier running wild - 285 yards to be exact - against Kansas on his way to a Heisman Trophy in 1983. * Eric Crouch catching - not throwing - a pass against Oklahoma for a touchdown in 2001 en route to his Heisman. The bad ... * The fourth-quarter touchdown catch by Oklahoma's Keith Jackson in a 20-17 loss to the Sooners in 1986. * The 27-12 loss in 1990 to Bill McCartney's Colorado Buffaloes. * The back-to-back losses to Oklahoma State and Texas A&M during the dismal 2007 season. And the ugly ... * A plow removing snow from the field during a blizzard in the Kansas State game in 1986. "I'm often asked what my favorite game is," Willis said. "I always say my favorite is the present game." On Saturday, it will be the Huskers' game against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Regiers will be there in their Husker attire in their usual seats. Fran admits she'll probably pay a little more attention to the big screen towering over North Stadium than the action on the field. That's only because the two fellows in front of her "are too tall, so I don't see very well." And when it's over, it'll be back to Bellevue and the shoebox. Until the next game. Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.