Requesting a history lesson

HuskerCuse said:
sCrUmptious! said:
I've been wondering, when did this "throwing bones" thing first show up within the Nebraska defense?

" :bonez "

There's got to be some sort of story behind this gesture.
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I could be wrong but I believe the blackshirts and cross-bones started when Johnny Depp sailed the Black Pearl into Memorial Stadium in 1921 and made all his prisoners wear black sashes denoting that they were his "bi#ches". In the following years, every time he would sail into town, the football players would "throw the bones" at the top of the stadium to warn all of Lincoln that "Johnny Depp is coming!".
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Yeah, I think I remember reading that somewhere before. ;)

 
TLS2 said:
Here is what I found about the origination of the 'Blackshirts':

The Husker defense is known by the nickname of the "Blackshirts." Depictions of the Blackshirts often include a skull and crossbones. This nickname originated in the early 1960s and continued as a reference to the black practice jerseys worn by first-string defensive players during practice. This tradition developed when Bob Devaney had Mike Corgan, one of his assistant coaches, find contrastive jerseys to offset the red jerseys worn by the offense in practice.[9] Further credit is given to George Kelly, Devaney's defensive line coach until 1968, who frequently referred to the top defensive unit by the name; eventually the rest of the coaching staff caught on, while the first mention of the Blackshirts in print was not until 1969.

I couldn't find anything about the 'throwing bones' gesture though. However, I'm leaning towards the Peters boys back in the 90's starting that gesture.
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There it is. The guy I was trying to think of was George Kelly.

 
newenglandhusker said:
Bleeding Husker Red said:
motorboatjonesNU said:
Dan_F_30 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but they got the blackshirts in 94?? maybe 93? I remember the Peter brothers doing it and Wistrom and Tomich, had to be that time frame.
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Yes, I remember seeing this right around '94, and for sure in '95. Not before '93, though.

The only other Blackshirt gesture I remember was DT Derrie Nelson "rolling the dice" after a sack and CB Allen Lyday spinning the football on the ground after a pick or break-up.
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No. The blackshirts were first given back in the 60's. I'd have to look up the coaches name, but Devaney sent one of his assistants to a local sporting good store in Lincoln because he wanted different color practice jerseys for the defense. If I'm not mistaken this happened in 1964.
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He's asking about throwing the bones, not when the Blackshirts were started.
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Somebody wanted to know about the blackshirts name. ..... Wouldnt have been in the quotebox if they didn't......

 
I was watching a video earlier this morning and noticed Tom throwing the bones to the defense. I wonder if it didn't start as a hand signal to the Defense for a type of scheme and it's just carried over from there.

 
pctopeka said:
who cares when it started? I would like to see these kids knock someone on their a$$, rather than showing off with some ridiculous gesture. I don't remember Rich Glover ever doing something to show off.
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I was actually wondering when it started since I hadn't noticed it until I went to the CU/NU game in 2004. It didn't seem like something that Osborne would have encouraged (at least, he probably wouldn't encourage using it as much as they do now), so my thinking was that this may have started around 2001 or 2002... in which case I was thinking "yeah... uh, you might want to get your players to stop doing that all the time."

Sounds like it was originated 10-15 years ago though, so my un-point is mooted. Move along people, nothing to see here...

 
newenglandhusker said:
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Yes it does. Those were the days.

Take a look at 2:08, and notice the utter destruction of the block thrown by the guy designated by the arrow.

That was a QB throwing that block, folks. Scott Frost, to be precise.

Back then even our Quarterbacks were tougher than most of our defense has shown this year. That's sad.

 
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Glendower said:
pctopeka said:
who cares when it started? I would like to see these kids knock someone on their a$$, rather than showing off with some ridiculous gesture. I don't remember Rich Glover ever doing something to show off.
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I'll bet you're a joy in a history class. ;)
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I love history, actually. If you really want to know, the defense started wearing towels with the skull and crossbones in the mid 80's. It's degenerated into the gesture.

 
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