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Johnny Rodgers

Johnny Rodgers is running late. The Nebraska football legend had to tape a TV commercial that he forgot about. He's behind but he's got a little time for an interview. Then he's off to another engagement. Always running somewhere. Just like when he was playing. Only that was almost 40 years ago. Rodgers is still in high demand and still keeps a high profile despite all that changes around him in Husker land. People still want to talk about awards he won, punts he returned and plays he made in the 1970s -- and Rodgers abides.

"I think it would get tiring if you were talking about negative things,'' Rodgers said. "But people are bringing up positive thoughts and good things about the program, and in a positive mood. It's great memories. It's not something to be tired of, but something to be appreciated.'' Rodgers pauses, then adds: "I'll never run away from the past.''

As much as anybody to wear the scarlet and cream, Rodgers' fame has endured. People still want a piece of him. Sign here. Pose for this picture. The 1972 Heisman Trophy winner has met a good number of people in failing health whose wish was just to shake his hand. "If I can do it, I'll do it,'' Rodgers said. "Because that's my responsibility and something I'm proud to be responsible for. I do the things I think are important and valuable and give back, and it just seems to multiply.'' Rodgers will admit it has also paid off to play along. That goes back to still being recognizable.

There are appearance fees for autograph signings and Rodgers has learned to market himself in other ways. He has done enough television and radio that he can handle just about anything without much trouble. "I've gotten good at it,'' Rodgers said, laughing. "You do them enough, you get good at them. Something that might take somebody 20 takes I can maybe knock it out in two.''

No matter what he says, though, it's never as effortless as Rodgers made it look when he was playing. Never as comfortable as it felt when the uniform and helmet were on and all he had to do was get the football and run with it. At the risk of overstating his style, it sometimes seemed a cross between poetry and magic. Some still consider him one of the greatest return specialists in college football history.

"As great as that team was, take Johnny Rodgers out of there on kickoff and punt returns and it probably wouldn't have gone 13-0,'' former NU head coach Tom Osborne said of the 1971 season. Nebraskans almost didn't get to see it. Rodgers wanted to go to Southern Cal coming out of Omaha Tech. He also was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers as a talented center fielder and shortstop. "Nebraska wasn't that prominent of a football school at that time,'' Rodgers said. "They had won very few Big Eight championships, let alone national championships. At the time, I knew if I went to USC that I'd go to the pros. My dream was to go to USC and play baseball and football together.'' The Trojans' interest was lukewarm. Nebraska lobbied hard to get him to stay. Rodgers did and the combination of Bob Devaney as head coach and Osborne as offensive coordinator put him to good use. Rodgers was listed as a wingback, but lined up at I-back, split end and flanker, and returned both punts and kickoffs. Rodgers said Osborne was ahead of his time in figuring out how to utilize the 5-foot-10, 170-pounder.

Rodgers also played baseball until, before his junior year, Devaney said they would promote him for the Heisman if he concentrated solely on football. The Huskers won their second straight national championship that season and Rodgers claimed his Heisman the next.

Rodgers still holds school records for career receptions (143), touchdown catches (25), punt return yards (1,515) and punt returns for TDs (seven). He played four seasons in the Canadian Football League, including an MVP year, before hamstring and knee problems halted any chance of making an impact in the NFL. "I would have liked to do better, but I did well enough that I'm appreciative of the things I did accomplish,'' he said. "To play seven years is really a blessing.''

If there were a regret, Rodgers said it might have been not pursuing a pro baseball career. "Sometimes I think baseball was my better sport,'' he said. "I was a switch hitter, I would drag-bunt down the first-base line, run down everything in center field, steal bases. I wouldn't have had the injuries. I could have had a long career there.'' Football gave him plenty, though.

The punt return in the 1971 "Game of the Century'' at Oklahoma is still replayed over and over. Rodgers escaped the "Heisman jinx'' by scoring four TDs and throwing for another in the Orange Bowl blitzing of Notre Dame after the 1972 season. He still recalls a series of punt returns against Colorado where there were "moves where I surprised myself.'' His recollections are still pretty good of things that happened long ago. Rodgers just wishes he had saved more of the memorabilia -- "I really didn't keep a lot of stuff around,'' he said -- although he has held on to his major trophies and awards.

Rodgers, 57, works for an Omaha real-estate agency, has a publishing company and is working on another book. His old No. 20 is in both his e-mail and his Web site (www.jr20.com). Not every venture has worked but Rodgers keeps trying. People are still calling to see if he can do a quick radio or TV spot for their product.

This season, you can find him before any home game joining fellow Heisman winner Eric Crouch for Husker tailgate parties. That's the thing about Rodgers: He's never hard to find. He'll be at practice every once in a while. In the press box for almost every home game -- usually wearing his familiar red blazer -- whether Tom Osborne or Frank Solich or Bill Callahan or Bo Pelini is head coach. Others might have taken sides in the dissent of recent years, but never Rodgers.

"I'm not going to have another university to support,'' he said. "I'm a Husker, always going to be a Husker. In regards to coaches and athletic directors, they come and go, but I'm still going to be a Husker.''

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