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Don't be surprised if you see a familiar face at the game today.
A familiar grin. A familiar gut. A familiar pair of overalls.
After 36 years of abuse — and a few years of near abandonment — Herbie Husker is back in a big way.
And we're not talking about that dark-haired guy on the sidelines, the one with the tight jeans who looks like he's into the P90X fitness program.
No, we're talking old-school Herbie — who, for many fans, is still the real Herbie. Blond hair. Jelly Belly body. Corncob in pocket.
Old-school Herbie's tough-guy mug can be seen on so many T-shirts, hats and, well, mugs this season that you'd think he was still the Husker mascot.
“The old Herbie — the cute Herbie, nice and chubby with the football under his arm — that's the one everybody wants,” says Scott Strunc, owner of Husker Hounds in Omaha and purveyor of all things Nebraska.
Husker Hounds started stocking old-school Herbie T-shirts last football season. The shirts were so popular on gameday weekends that Strunc couldn't keep them in stock. He ended up putting out tubs of still-wrapped shirts as soon as he got them, so that fans could serve themselves.
“Anything we get with Herbie on it, I order,” Strunc said. “We've got at least four times as much this year, compared to last year. ... And the fall stuff isn't even out yet.”
Herbie's popularity is part of a larger trend in sports apparel. Throwback jerseys, retro warm-ups, “If we get it, we sell it,” said Terrie Brownson, manager of the Big Red Shop in Lincoln. “Anything vintage is popular.”
Manufacturers such as Adidas are putting the old Herbie on all sorts of retro-cool gear.
Which is kind of ironic. Because big fan gear companies, including Adidas, were part of the reason the university almost sidelined Herbie for good in the '90s.
Back in August of 1995, NU Athletic Director Bill Byrne announced Herbie's forced retirement. “We've worked and worked with Herbie,” Byrne said at the time. “No matter what we do, he doesn't seem to be very appealing to our fans.”
Some fans called Herbie “fat” and “ugly” and “a national embarrassment.” They said he promoted negative stereotypes and made Nebraskans look like a bunch of hicks.
But Herbie had been the official Husker mascot since 1974. The image we're all most familiar with — the one people are still most likely to paint on their garages — was created by a Texas artist for the 1973 Cotton Bowl.
When Byrne made his announcement, Lil' Red, an inflatable mascot, was already bouncing around as a possible successor, but a lot of fans had grown up with Herbie, and they weren't ready to say goodbye.
The save-Herbie uproar was so great that Byrne surrendered — literally, he said, “I surrender” — and Herbie was back on the field that September in 1995.
But he never quite made it back onto Husker merchandise. That same year, brands like Nike, Starter and Adidas told the athletic department that they didn't want anything to do with Herbie.
Having just won a national championship and about to win another, Nebraska was popular with sports fans across the country. And Nebraska gear sold well, as long as it didn't have Herbie on it.
So Husker gear in the '90s shifted to the red “N” with “Huskers” in black script. “That went like wildfire,” Strunc said. Manufacturers loved the N, he said, because it was only two colors. “Herbie is a lot more expensive because it's a seven-color design.”
The beleagured mascot kept a low profile until 2003, when a leaner, dark-haired Herbie made his debut.
That Herbie remains the university's official mascot, said Michael Stephens, assistant athletic director of marketing and licensing. But NU is perfectly happy with old Herbie's success.
Manufacturers have to apply for a special license — a college vault license — to use that Herbie or any defunct NU logo. The vault license, Stephens said, covers any logos that are “outdated, but still have value to fans.”
Vault designs have taken off in the last 18 months, he said, though he couldn't comment specifically on Herbie's numbers. The university tries to ensure that vault items look and feel retro, so that people don't get confused about which logo is current.
“I don't think it hurts the new Herbie,” Stephens said of all the old-school Herbie merchandise on the shelves. “I don't think it hurts his image.”
But that image — the cool guy with the red polo shirt, casual Friday Herbie — doesn't sell T-shirts, Strunc of Husker Hounds said.
For a lot of fans — including a few hundred people who have started old-school Herbie fan pages online — the new Herbie just doesn't have the same personality.
“He's like Gold's Gym Herbie,” said Omaha fan Michael Golwitzer. “He's tough, he's buff. He's got freaking veins on his arms.”
That's all good, Golwitzer said, but you don't identify with him like you do with old Herbie. Golwitzer uses old-school Herbie for his Facebook avatar. “He reminds me of an old farmer guy from Nebraska. ... That's who we are.”
People seem to like classic Herbie, Strunc said, because of all his imperfections. Because he's chubby and stumpy and kind of weird looking. Because he's a real character.
“Herbie's the beer-drinking guy at the end of the bar who's going to buy a round,” he said. “Maybe Herbie wasn't P.C. ... but maybe that's why people like him.”
Contact the writer:
444-1149, rainbow.rowell@owh.com
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