Nebraska icon talks integrity at Offutt

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Rachelle Blake
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  For many Nebraskans, retired Cornhuskers coach and former Nebraska representative Tom Osborne is both a man and a legend. From his 255 wins and three national championship to being inducted in to the College Football Hall of Fame three years prior to being eligible, Osborne has become a household name.

Osborne explained what guided him to success to a packed hangar of Offutt personnel in the Bennie Davis Maintenance Facility Jan. 5.

The crowd was a sea of camo and Cornhusker red and although the attendees were in the hundreds, the silence was deafening - a stark contrast from the Coach's usual packed stadium.

The key to living an uncompromised life, Osborne said, is integrity - which to him means telling the truth and keeping promises.

"If I thought a player had integrity, it was critical because I knew I could trust them," Osborne said. "You can't have a great football team, you can't have a great military organization, you can't have a great business and you can't have a great marriage if there is not trust. If there is integrity, there will be trust."

Osborne's love of athletics grew in part as an attempt to grow closer to his father, who fought in World War II immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

"I was sitting in my living room on Sunday, as the news came over the radio," he remembered. "My dad's reaction is what really registered with me.  He jumped out of his chair and said, 'I am going to get into this thing.'"

And he did. His father was gone for half a decade fighting overseas, leaving behind his wife and two children.

"I was the only one in my class without a dad," Osborne. "It was devastating. When he came back, I didn't really know him."

But it didn't take him long to discover his father enjoyed athletics, so Osborne decided that was his way in. Whatever sports were in season, he played them: football in the fall, basketball in the winter, track in the spring and baseball in the summer

He didn't stop there. Years later he followed in his father's footsteps again by serving in the Army Reserves.

Throughout his life, he stood by the integrity he learned from his father and through athletics, using it to guide him in his spiritual journey.

"His life reflects a true passion for resiliency and integrity," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Elena Lawmaster, the flight chief standards and evaluations with the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron. "It was an honor to hear him speak and the world is better place because of people like him. You could tell he was reaching his audience in a way that everyday briefings don't. I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to hear him speak to take advantage of it, because he has decades of life experiences that have truly impacted his life and those around him."

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob Tilton, command chief executive with the 55th Wing, agreed.

"Tom Osborne was really inspiring," he said. "The fact that he's had so much success and managed to stay humble after all of it shows what kind of person he is."

Osborne was invited to speak by the 55th Wing Chaplain Corps.