To understand how good a center Doug Dumler was, you have to look who drafted the Nebraska center in the spring of 1973.

The New England Patriots, under new coach Chuck Fairbanks,  took Dumler ahead of Oklahoma All-American Tom Brahaney.

Note that Brahaney played for Fairbanks at Oklahoma.

“I took that as a compliment,” Dumler said. “I had an undistinguished NFL career for five years, but I do remember thinking that draft was pretty special.”

Dumler seemed a natural NFL pick. He was a three-year starter for the Huskers. He was an offensive line leader for the national champions in 1970 and 1971 and the high-powered offensive team of 1972.

Also, he never had as bad a day in team scrimmages against Rich Glover as Brahaney did against the Husker middle guard.

“We were a group of solid players who believed we could win,” Dumler said. “We were OK as an offensive line. But we played well together and had some pretty good offenses.” Dumler played the line with Daryl White, Mike Beran, Al Austin, tight end Jerry List,  Dick Rupert, Keith Wortman and Carl Johnson, among others.

He also honed his skills going against Glover, Larry Jacobson, Bill Janssen, Willie Harper, Monte Johnson, Bob Terrio and Dave Mason.

“It’s funny, there we are, a couple of us, Janssen, Joe Blahak and Bill Kosch, sitting around after we went 4-0 on the freshman team in 1968 and we agreed we’d be going after the national championship the next year,” said Dumler, now a lawyer in Fort Collins, Colo. “What did we know? We were freshmen. But we could see plenty of talent around the team.”

Sure enough, starting in 1969, after a 2-2 start, Nebraska rolled through 32 games without a loss.

Dumler, 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, didn’t play in 1969 because he had knee surgery. But in 1970, the former defensive end and former tight end, deemed too slow for either position, fell into the center spot. Doug Jamail sprained an ankle and Janssen broke an arm, and Dumler was thrown into the lineup to start against Wake Forest in the 1970 season opener.

Dumler had never really played center. He was a four-sport, defensive end-tight end standout at Walther Lutheran High in Melrose Park, Ill. He was not heavily recruited out of high school because he missed all but three games with in injury as a senior. Still, Dumler’s father, Marvin, taught with a friend at Concordia College who had just taken a job in Nebraska’s speech department. Dr. Herb Arkebauer was a football nut and told NU coach Bob Devaney they should recruit Dumler.

Dumler’s dad pieced together some highlights from three game films and Nebraska beat out several small colleges in northern Illinois for the recruit.

Dumler snapped the ball to Jerry Tagge for two years and to Dave Humm in 1972. “I thought I could hold my own against anybody until 1972, when we went against Oklahoma and the Selmon brothers and Rod Shoate. I never got a hand on him all day long.”

NU’s balanced offensive attack averaged about 220 yards passing and 220 yards rushing in Dumler’s three seasons.

“It was the I-formation, but it looked like what they’re doing today with the balance of running and passing,” he said. “Of course, we had Johnny Rodgers and Jeff Kinney.”

After Dumler joined the Patriots,  he started taking night classes at Suffolk Law School. “I remember Coach Fairbanks talking after a loss that we had too many outside distractions and he was looking right at me.”

Dumler was traded to Minnesota, where he backed up former Nebraska great Mick Tinglehoff for two seasons. He earned his law degree in 1979 and moved to Fort Collins in 1990 with his wife Cathy and two daughters, Abbie and Julie.

Abbie, a graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan, is married to a serviceman, who is in the process of moving back to the U.S. from Korea. Julie is a graduate of Northern Colorado and is the marketing director for the Arizona Sun Dogs minor-league hockey team.

“We’re a little scattered but we’re all Huskers to the core,” Dumler said. “I fly the big, red N flag every Saturday. I can’t wipe the grin off my face when Nebraska beats Colorado.

“I think Bill Callahan has made the right changes and I think he’s got that hard-work attitude to get the Huskers back to the top,” he said.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or at khambleton@journalstar.com.