It was a week and a half before the Florida Atlantic game, but Voges, a 75-year-old photographer, was recovering from a ruptured appendix.

Similar things had nearly kept him from making it to Memorial Stadium on other Saturdays — he threw his back out a few days before one game, but shouldered his photo gear and headed for the sideline anyway.

“I was in pain, but I made it,” he said. He made it to this year's season-opener, too. It was his 316th straight home game.

Voges has been a photographer for 50 years. He started working with the University of Nebraska's photo production unit and worked his first home game in 1960. He can't remember which.

“I have no idea, I'd have to look it up,” he said.

But if there's an old, famous photograph of something related to Husker football, there's a decent chance Voges had something to do with it.

There's the aerial shot of Memorial Stadium during the celebration of the 100th consecutive sellout. Bob Devaney, clad in his letterman's jacket, propped on one knee. Eric Crouch catching a touchdown pass from Mike Stuntz against Oklahoma.

Johnny Rodgers was the easiest athlete to photograph, Voges said.

“He would always make the Heisman-type cut,” he said. “And during a game, he'd always give me the nod of whether he was going to receive the pass or not.”

Voges retired from his official duties in 1999, after 40 years of shots. He's never been to a bowl game, he said, but will continue taking pictures from the Memorial Stadium sidelines until he can't do it anymore.

“It's just fun. and when it quits being fun, I'll just quit doing it,” he said. “The only place to be on a Saturday is standing there on the sidelines.”

— Juan Perez Jr.