15 18 20 23 DEVOUR
GO BABY
LOVE IT
GAME ON
Stay at the Scarlet Hotel on campus.
Engineers craft kid mobiles for youth.
Library cupola gets a facelift.
Video game teaches prairie protections.
FALL
FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS
Drumroll, Please BIG BERTHA RESTORED TO ITS GLORY DAYS
T Members of the Cornhusker Marching Band walk with the five-foot-tall drum down R Street during the 2021 homecoming parade.
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he drumbeats of campus life are just a little bigger these days at Dear Old Nebraska U. Through a collaboration between the Nebraska Alumni Association and Cornhusker Marching Band, the university’s five-foot-tall bass drum (known colloquially as a “Big Bertha” drum) has been refurbished and returned to service on campus. “The drum was well-used through the years and, while it still looked great, it had fallen into a state of disrepair,” said Andy Washburn, associate executive director of operations for the alumni association. “Over the years, it had become a part of the alumni center’s collection. When plans for the university’s 150th celebration came together, we decided it was the perfect time to repair the drum and return it to campus in all its glory.” Used primarily as a decorative piece in parades and at campus events, the instrument has a rich 89-year history that includes the “World’s Biggest Drum” of Purdue University and a disappearing act in 1941. “It all started in when (Chancellor) John K. Selleck went on an East Coast/Ohio Valley tour,” Washburn said. “He saw these big drums at Purdue and Northwestern and wanted one for Nebraska.” In 1932, the drum (along with two glockenspiels and a half-dozen specialized horns) was purchased and first used during a home basketball game against Creighton University. It was used consistently at
craig chandler
BY TROY FEDDERSON (’95)
N E B R A S K A Q U A R T E R LY
