KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 6:00 pm
Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears caught the football world by surprise when he returned a missed field goal 108 yards for a touchdown against the New York Giants earlier this year.
But it was Bob Thornton who set the trend for returning missed field goals when he returned a kick some 40 yards to help Nebraska beat Texas in the 1974 Cotton Bowl.
Thornton said, “I still hold the record for the longest field-goal return in Cotton Bowl history … it took me 45 seconds to go 45 yards.” (barrump, bump).
Thornton had one of his best games as a collegian in the cold on Jan. 1, 1974, in Dallas for NU’s first bowl game under Tom Osborne.
The junior college transfer from Harbor City, Calif., intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and returned the field goal to set up a touchdown as Nebraska clobbered Texas 19-3 before a crowd that included 20,000 Husker fans among the fans wearing burnt orange and the new (not-yet-named) Herbie Husker mascot.
The two teams struggled to a 3-3 halftime tie but Nebraska rolled away in the last two quarters.
Texas coach Darrell Royal said of Thornton’s pick early in the second half: “If I had to pick a turning point, it would have been that interception right after the half. We had a chance to take the lead but after that happened we never could get close.”
The Nebraska offense picked up under walk-on quarterback Steve Runty, who replaced David Humm in the third quarter.
Tony Davis ran wild through the Longhorn defense and the NU defense, led by Thornton, John Dutton, John Bell, Tom Ruud, Bob Nelson, Steve Manstedt and John Starkebaum, shut down Texas and highly-touted back Roosevelt Leaks.
“We were really well prepared (by defensive coaches Monte Kiffin and Warren Powers),” Thornton said. “We rolled the whole secondary to the weak side and slanted the line to the strong side to put everybody in a gap and it worked well against the wishbone.
“On the interception, I was locked up with the tight end and they ran the halfback out on a arc angle and I just happened to be there when the ball came,” he said.
Later in the third quarter, Thornton returned the missed field goal to the NU 41-yard line and the Huskers scored in eight plays.
Bell recovered a fumble to set up a Davis touchdown run just two minutes later.
Nebraska’s secondary of Thornton, Zaven Yaralian, Mark Heydorff and Randy Borg, were strong against the run all game. But they were known as the leaders of the best pass defense in the NCAA that year.
“We were three juco guys from California and Borg was from Alliance,” Thornton said.
“We learned about Tom Osborne as head coach that year and he learned some about us,” said Thornton, who also started in 1972 for Bob Devaney’s last season as head coach.
Thornton went on to coach at Army and Western Illinois before he returned to Nebraska as the secondary coach in 1981. He left coaching in 1985 for a job as a broker and eventually a financial planner in Lincoln.
“I loved Lincoln, and my wife Kathy and I thought it would be a good place to raise kids,” Thornton said. “But to see the kids grow up, I had to get out of coaching.”
Thornton’s children have done well. Amanda, a former track standout at Lincoln East, will be married in February. She recently received her Ph.D. in criminal justice from Indiana, and Aaron, who played baseball and football at East, has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Emory University.
“We’ve grown comfortable in Lincoln, too,” said Thornton, who said he arrived on the NU campus with a rain coat as his heaviest protection from the weather. “We just used a lot of layers back then. And it did seem like there was a lot more snow and cold. At least that’s what my kids say I always say.”
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or at khambleton@journalstar.com.