Dave Feit's Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 36 - Larry Wachholtz

Dave Feit is counting down the days until the start of the 2025 season by naming the best Husker to wear each uniform number, as well as one of his personal favorites at that number.

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Greatest Husker to wear 36: Larry Wachholtz, Safety, 1964-1966 Honorable Mention: Elmer Dohrmann, Theodore James, John Rhodes, Dana Stephenson Also worn by: Correll Buckhalter, Dan Burrow, Randy Butts, Chase Contreraz, Jeff Hill, Reid Karel, Barry Kitrell, Thomas Lawson, Mathew May, Fred Metheny, Scott Porter Also worn by: Correll Buckhalter, Dan Burrow, Randy Butts, Chase Contreraz, Jeff Hill, Reid Karel, Barry Kitrell, Thomas Lawson, Mathew May, Fred Metheny, Scott Porter Dave's Fave: Mathew May, Linebacker, 2007-2011; Elmer Dohrmann, End, 1935-1937 At the start of the 1964 season, rule changes allowed schools for play two-platoon football.

When coach Bob Devaney broke his team into offensive and defensive squads, he wanted a way to tell them apart.

As the legend goes, assistant coach Mike Corgan was sent out to a local sporting goods store to get some new practice jerseys.

The store owner had a bunch of black jerseys that werent selling.

Corgan - who walked the line between fiscally conservative and cheap - worked out a deal with the owner.

The new black jerseys were issued to the first-string defenders.

From these humble, bargain-hunting roots, the Nebraska Black Shirts* were born.

*For many years, the Nebraska defensive players who wore the first-string practice jerseys were almost exclusively referred to as the "Black Shirts" (two words).

"Blackshirts" (one word) entered the Husker lexicon in the 1970s, and has gone onto become the accepted spelling.

Without going too deep down a style-guide rabbit hole, I'm intentionally using the term "Black Shirts" in this chapter as an homage to the origins of the unit.

Everywhere else, I am using "Blackshirts." This is done mainly for consistency and convenience, even though it may not be technically accurate for the time period(s) being discussed.

During that first season, the black jerseys were returned at the end of practice.

Tomorrow, somebody else might be wearing the black jersey you wore today.

Even if the players on the 1964 team didn't fully appreciate it,* the standard was inherently set from the start: A black shirt is earned.

Every single day.

By differentiating the starters from the reserves (who originally wore grey jerseys), coaches hoped to motivate the lower units to achieve Black Shirt status.

*Looking back, players on the 1964 team were mixed on the impact of the black shirts.

"We had no idea then of the tradition that was beginning," said linebacker Mike Kennedy.

Teammate Larry Wachholtz was more blunt: "They carried absolutely no meaning to us." That said, the 1964 team was noticeably better on defense than it was the year before.

The Huskers finished No.

2 in the nation in total defense, allowing 45 fewer yards per game, dropped their points allowed from 10.7 to 7.5, and cut the passing yards allowed per game from 112.1 down to 66.5.

In 1965, the Black Shirts were the nation's eighth-best defense.

Larry Wachholtz, a safety on the 1964 team, was one of the first Black Shirts.

There have been 95 different Nebraska Cornhuskers who earned first-team All-America honors.

At 5-foot-8 and 163 pounds,* Wachholtz is the shortest and lightest of them all.

I believe Wachholtz is also the smallest Black Shirt ever - just two pounds lighter than the listed weight of cornerback Barron Miles in the mid-1990s.

*Remember the story of Frankie Solich taping weights to his body in an attempt to not be the lightest player on the 1964 Huskers? Larry Wachholtz was the guy he was trying to beat.

According to one version of the story (from a 1964 Sports Illustrated article ), Solich used eight pounds of weights that clanged as he weighed in at 161.

Wachholtz, "full of bananas and milkshakes," tipped the scales at 162.

But don't let his size fool you.

The North Platte native known as "Cactus" packed a lot of ability and punch into his small frame.

For starters, it really isnt fair to Larry Wachholtz to simply list him as a safety.

Yes, he was an outstanding defensive back, earning All-Big Eight honors twice and first-team All-American honors as a senior.

His seven interceptions as a senior ranked in the top 10 nationally.

But that is not all he did.

Not even close.

Wachholtz was an excellent punt returner, leading the Big Eight in return yards twice.

In 1965, his junior season, he missed out on the national lead by just seven yards.

And if that was not enough, Wachholtz also kicked PATs (36 of 39) and field goals (3 of 5).

In 1965, he played - and kicked - with an injured foot.

Here's what Bob Devaney had to say about him: "He's just not an outstanding defensive player.

He's so much more to us.

Larry is a great punt returner, a real team leader, and a tremendous placekicker.

He kicked six PATs against Kansas with a big toe the size of a baseball." Never missing an opportunity for a laugh, Devaney added, "We're afraid to let a doctor work on his toe for fear it'll hurt his kicking ability." Wachholtz left Nebraska holding multiple school records for punt returns, tackles and interceptions.

In 1982 he was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame.

Over the years - and with the continued successes of the defense - the Black Shirts mystique continued to grow both inside the program and externally.

Defensive coordinators recognized the importance of the tradition and fed into it.

In the 1980s, an Omaha T-shirt seller - inspired by a box of rat poison in his workshop - created a skull-and-crossbones logo incorporating a Nebraska helmet.

That logo became the symbol of the Blackshirts and inspired the " throw the bones " celebration after big plays.

Blackshirt practices and policies have changed over the years - and especially across different coaching staffs.

During the Tom Osborne era, defensive coordinator Charlie McBride would issue Blackshirts at the end of camp.

Before the bowl game, he would issue one to each of the seniors on defense - including the punter.

Bo Pelini would often have 15 or more Blackshirts at a time, due to the different defensive packages he used.

Pelini and others were known to pull the Blackshirts from the team after especially poor performances.

The process for handing them out has evolved a lot as well.

Some staffs liked to simply hang the Blackshirt in a player's locker.

Others handed them out in a ceremonial fashion.

Many teams have had former Blackshirt players come back and speak about the meaning and responsibility of wearing a Blackshirt, passing the legacy and meaning down to the next generation of defenders.

Many of Nebraska's greatest defenders have said that the most impactful moment of their Nebraska career was when they got their first Blackshirt.

To a player who has earned one, it is a symbol of his hard work, dedication and sacrifice.

Since its humble beginnings, a Black Shirt represents the best of the best, which is why it is often a prized possession long after a career has ended.

Former linebacker Jay Foreman has a provision in his will that he be buried with his Blackshirt.

It means that much.

Mark "Bo" Pelini was the breakout star of Frank Solich's revamped staff in 2003.

The relatively unknown defensive coordinator was blunt, unwavering and, most importantly, successful.

The 2003 defense was vastly improved over 2002, which helped Nebraska rebound from 7-7 to 9-3.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to impress athletic director Steve Pederson,* who fired Solich after a win at Colorado.

*It is worth pointing out that the 2003 Blackshirts allowed just 7.8 points per game in their 10 wins.

But I'm guessing Pederson focused more on the 36.7 points per game allowed in Nebraska's losses to Missouri, Texas and Kansas State.

Pelini was named the interim head coach for the bowl game.

There was fan momentum to keep him as the full-time head coach - especially as Pederson's search floundered and Pelini's team beat Michigan State 17-3 in the Alamo Bowl.

But Pederson had his eyes on a bigger prize - even if it meant waiting in vain for...

Houston Nutt? The 2007 season was not nearly as memorable in Lincoln.

The wheels fell off of Callahan's team, as the Huskers lost six of their last seven games, including a dreadful 45-14 loss to Oklahoma State on homecoming in front of the 1997 championship team.

That game got Pederson fired, and replaced on an interim basis by Tom Osborne.

Callahan was let go after a 65-51 loss to Colorado.* *Random note: The two teams combined for 116 points, the highest total score since a 117-0 win over Kearney State in 1911.

Each of Nebraska basketballs next four games against Colorado failed to surpass 116 total points.

Tasked with restoring the glory of his once-proud program, AD Osborne reportedly had Pelini and former Husker quarterback Turner Gill as his two finalists.

It had to be an agonizing choice.

Gill was one of Osborne's finest players before becoming his quarterbacks coach for six seasons (half of Gill's coaching tenure in Lincoln).

Osborne was a groomsman in Gill's wedding.

Gill was two years into a dramatic turnaround at the University of Buffalo, one of the worst programs in the FBS.

Gill was the MAC Coach of the Year in 2007 and would likely restore the style of offense that Osborne and fans favored.

On the other hand, there was Pelini.

He spent the 2004 season at Oklahoma before becoming LSU's defensive coordinator.

When the Tigers and star defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey won the 2007 national championship, Pelini became one of the hot coaching candidates in the country, with a lot of vocal supporters.

In the end, Osborne felt Nebraska's defense was in need of more improvement than the offense.

As Osborne said in 2016: "I took a chance on Bo Pelini." Gill would lead Buffalo to its first MAC championship in 2008 and was hired by Kansas in 2010.

Gill lasted just two seasons in Lawrence, going 5-19 before finishing his coaching career at Liberty during the school's transition to the FBS.

Pelini was hired to fix Nebraska's defense, and that's what he did.

In 2007, the defense was 113th in the country.

A year later, it improved to 55th.

In 2009, Pelini's Blackshirts were seventh.

Bo's defenses featured a mix of legitimate NFL prospects, talented recruits and walk-on players.

Mathew May was one of those walk-ons.

From Imperial, Neb., he joined the program during Callahan's final season and worked his way onto the field.

First as a special teams dynamo, then as a backup to Will Compton and Lavonte David, and finally as one of the most reliable players on the field.

It didn't matter that May never started any of the 49 games he appeared in.

He was an embodiment of the hustle and heart Pelini preached on defense.

I'd like to recognize another famous 36: Elmer Dohrmann.

The Staplehurst, Neb., native was an all-conference end for the Huskers in 1937.

But Dohrmann's claim to fame within Husker athletics is associated with a different number: 11.

In his time at the University of Nebraska, Dohrmann won 11 varsity letters in four different sports.

As a sophomore and junior, he lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track.

In his senior year (1938-1939), Dohrmann "only" lettered in football, baseball, and basketball.

I wish I knew why Elmer didn't go out for track in his senior season.

He had previously won a Big Six title in the 60-yard high hurdles, so he clearly had the talent.

Maybe he had conflicts with his responsibilities as senior class president.

Maybe he was getting ready for the NFL draft (Dohrmann was a sixth-round pick by Washington).

Although highly unlikely, I guess it is possible he simply had a case of "senior-itis" and just wanted to take it easy.

I know that's what I wanted to do as a senior.

Sports Illustrated used to name a " Silver All-America " team.

It was a unique concept: SI would look at the college football seniors from 25 years ago, and pick out 25 players who had gone on to great success after athletics.

In 1962, the year Elmer Dohrmann made the Silver All-America team, he was joined by Supreme Court Justice Byron (Whizzer) White of Colorado, doctors, executives and war heroes.

Dohrmann was then the "Director of Personnel of the Data Processing Division" at IBM - an appropriately lengthy title for the man with the most letters in the history of Nebraska athletics.

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