most fans, while Sauer, Chamberlin and Francis are recognizable to many. Rarely, however, is anyone bold enough to answer Moore when the retired Lincoln school administrator asks his most unanswered tour question: Does anyone know who George Flippin is?

Moore says that question is greeted with universal silence with one notable exception. A few years ago, while leading a tour of Nebraska alums from Las Vegas, Gary Mouden stepped forward when Moore asked the question. "George Flippin was the first African-American athlete in Nebraska athletic history. And not only do I know who he is, I grew up in Stromsburg, and he delivered my dad when he was a baby."

Mouden didn't stop there. He had an anecdote to go with his answer. "I remember my dad telling me afunny story about George Flippin," Mouden said. "After George went to Chicago to earn his medical degree, he returned to Nebraska, set up his practice and established the first hospital in Stromsburg."

A Creative Answer to an Important Question

Years later, a young man in Stromsburg heard that Flippin played football when the Huskers were called the "Bugeaters".

"Did you play football at Nebraska?" the kid asked.

"Yes I did," Flippin answered.

"Were you any good?" the kid asked.

"Was I any good?" Flippin repeated. "Why, yes. In fact, one time, I was so good I beat the University of Missouri all by myself."

Flippin didn't explain how that happened, but Mike Babcock, author of The Nebraska Football Vault: The History of the Cornhuskers, knows why it happened. "In 1892, because of Flippin, Missouri refused