The History Of Husker Hoops Central

[hhcdave]

I also posted this in the "I post here because..." thread but since that topic is several days old, and perhaps missed by some, I thought I'd post it in a brand new thread, too.

 

A little background on the site to add to many who never knew this or have long ago forgotten.

 

I was living in Charlotte, NC. from 2004-2006 for my radio career and had just graduated from UNL. I had a ton of connections within the program at that point - both current players who were friends, and connections to the coaching staff - and I had a huge passion for Husker Hoops, with a journalism and radio background.

 

I went through a particularly tough breakup in the spring of 05 and needed something to throw myself into. I've always been passion and work oriented.

 

In my one bedroom apartment in Charlotte, depressed as all being, missing home and not knowing a soul because my ex was my ENTIRE social life, I somehow decided to start a Husker basketball blog. My love of the program had kept growing in the months since I left Nebraska - absence always makes the heart grow fonder. Heck, I took that same ex to Knoxville, TN (3.5 hours away) and spent New Years Eve there just a few months earlier to see NU pull off the road win after Marcus Neal knocked down free throws at the end of regulation.

Anyway, within 3 days or so of starting that blog, maybe a week, I found out I could (with the help of HHCGarrett/AKA Garrett Wright) launch an actual website by using Microsoft Front Page. We bought the "Front Page For Dummies" book at Barnes & Nobel and I bought the software and mailed it all to Garrett. He was working with Husker Vision at the time so he completely separated himself from any articles. He published, I wrote and researched. And wrote. And researched. (Anyone remember when Garrett took video of EVERY SINGLE DUNK from the slam dunk contest and had them ALL on-line after 6 hours of overnight work?).

 

Anyway, content - articles - that's right - HHC once had DAILY ARTICLES YEAR 'ROUND. Maybe some of the real old posters remember that or Dimes or someone who knows how can go back and pull off screen shots from years passed.

 

I interviewed, for this site (just a few):

 

Jay Bilas

Paul Splittorff

Fred White

Danny Nee

Barry Collier

Stu Lantz

Doc Sadler

Eric Piatkowski

Erick Strickland

Greg Doyel

Ricardo Patton

Mike Anderson

Quin Snyder

Paul Millsap

Scott Drew

Richard Roby

 

And around 100 other players and coaches. Articles were done for three seasons.

 

We had weekly "Then & Now" features with former Huskers. I once found a guy who was homeless living in New York (Gerard Myrhtill). I once single handedly found Jose Ramos for the 90-91 Reunion. Nobody else could find him from the basketball offices. I called him on the phone and he was blown away I located him. Kind of cold at first but soon opened up. He went to the Rebounders Club banquet that night and publicly complained that I wasn't given an invite to attend the banquet since I had been the one to get him to come to Lincoln.

 

Beau Reid once wrote for this site. John Turek. Cary Cochran. Randy Lee. Andrew Drevo. Bruce Chubick. Matt Coatney.

 

This site was MY LIFE for 3 years. Literally. 20-30 hours a week. Thousands of dollars of debt for lots of stuff I later found out I didn't need.

 

I should also give a shout out in the early days to Jerry Trickie of NU SID for working with us and giving us media access, as well as to Scott Cunningham for moderating and the graphics work.

 

By 2008, maybe 2009, the site went from interviews and features and post game STORIES (with quotes and interviews) to just report cards. Then by 2010 or so, to just a message board with report cards.

 

So at one point, this was a full service site - message board was secondary.

 

I eventually couldn't afford to keep buying every media guide known to man to research interviews, as many road trips to see games, as much hosting space and paying photographers, but more than that, I was both jaded by a few incidents from the university that I won't ever publicly mention (because that's not my style) and I just flat out ran out of time. My career has taken over further and not allowed me to do what I once did.

 

Nowadays, Dimes is the one who runs this site. Its essentially 100% his. He does EVERYTHING. He has SAVED THIS SITE. SINGLE HANDEDLY. Scott and I help occasionally but anymore, its Dimes (as you know) and several others who have stepped up and kept this site going.

 

I hope that no matter what happens to me in the future, or Dimes, that you posters will ALWAYS promise to keep the site going. I don't want to see this site ever go away. It's nothing I can take credit for anymore - the last 3 years are all Matt (Dimes). He occasionally asks my opinion but I defer to him 9 times out of 10.

 

But it's sure cool to read all of your memories of HHC, how you found it, etc.

 

Hard to believe a heartbreak in Charlotte nearly ten years ago, in a small one bedroom apartment, and a random 1 AM idea to start a blog, led to a site that once broke three steps of the Barry Collier leaving for Butler process, once got quoted in the KC Star, Lawrence Journal World and The Sporting News, and now is going on ten years strong.

 

I love you all, even if I am a "has been" in the world of HHC.

Go Huskers,

Dave

[Stuk N Boulder]

Wow,  thanks for the history lesson, Dave.  Very informative and very well written.  Your journalism skills definitely come thru.  Good on ya !

 

This needs to be pinned somewhere that is forever accessible to the members of this site. 

[jimmykc]

Great to hear from you Dave. That 90-91 reunion at P.O.Pears was undoubtedly one of the all time highlights of NU basketball history for those of us fortunate enough to be there. Where are you hanging out now, if you care to share that. Best wishes and thanks for providing the history for both us oldtimers and the newbies who have no inkling of the early days. And ,by the way, who was your favorite interview of all time?

[lanigan123]

I remember arguing with you and NUStudent about keeping Collier over on the basketball board at Huskers online and how we hated that not many posted over there. When it switched to this it was awesome. The stories and content were great. Thanks for all your hard work!

[lang]

I have to admit Dave, I would have forgotten most of the original content etc...thanks for the recap and thanks again for getting the ball rolling.  Dimes, huge praise for continuing to keep the ball rolling (and to the guys in between Dave and Dimes).  And then thanks to the 10-20 posters who are the "large volume" guys who keep the site exciting and informative and going as well.  Of course thanks to everybody's else for their needed 2 cents as well to fill in the gaps....gotta have us role players too.

[skerbball]

Thank you Dave for your passion and dedication to this website! This site has been my homepage since it started! I remember posting back on the old ESPN Big 12 basketball message boards. I vividly remember Sockers, nustudent, and some others posting there as well and some arguments about Joe McCray. I can't remember if you were there too to break the news that HHC was starting?? But thanks to everyone for making this site possible! Although I'm mostly a lurker....the discussions are incredible!

[nebrasketball21504]

Thanks, Dave. This reminds me I have an old HHC shirt I need to dig out for the season.

[HuskerFever]

I hope that no matter what happens to me in the future, or Dimes, that you posters will ALWAYS promise to keep the site going.

 

And if you ever take this away from us...

 

 

[hhcmatt]

Anyway, content - articles - that's right - HHC once had DAILY ARTICLES YEAR 'ROUND. Maybe some of the real old posters remember that or Dimes or someone who knows how can go back and pull off screen shots from years passed.

 

 

Nowadays, Dimes is the one who runs this site. Its essentially 100% his. He does EVERYTHING. He has SAVED THIS SITE. SINGLE HANDEDLY. Scott and I help occasionally but anymore, its Dimes (as you know) and several others who have stepped up and kept this site going.

 

 

There has definitely been a change of focus. I'm not necessarily a media guy so I'm trying to do what I do which is aggregate. It's possible that we could get more into an interviewing/features mode again but that would require rounding up people with the talent for that.  Given the explosion of coverage out there it's possible that what we're currently doing is the best use of our time.

In the past like most everyone who is a member here I've been running under an alias.  It's sort of a message board thing to do but since I am sort of the local face of the site so I'm going to start switching that up in the near future.

 

 Regardless of the future, the goals is to keep our finger on the pulse of Nebrasketball while keeping this a site that doesn't charge for access. 

[REDZONEDAN]

Thanks for the recap Dave.  I was a huge fan of the "Then & Now", as I loved hearing what former players were up to.  I also forgot that Beau Reid wrote for the site.  This is a great website!  I greatly appreciate what all of you guys have contributed to this website over the years and hope this site will always be around.

[Noah121]

I remember finding the site when I saw an ad for it in Avery Hall during my freshman year.  Because I saw it there, my handle was a bunch of different math-related names (Integral, Hermite Matrix, etc.).

 

It took people a while to figure out that it was me, particularly because I disguised myself by using the third person in a few posts... like when I missed a men's game due to a bus trip for the women's game.

 

I wonder what happened to McCrayzie/McDoc/McPissed/McStateSoccerChamps... he was one of my favorite posters.

[jimmykc]

Nice to hear from you again Noah. Northwestern's win yesterday was the only redeeming note concerning college football which happened yesterday. Now the basketball season begins again, and with the new season comes a new Walter.

[Huskerpapa]

I remember finding the site when I saw an ad for it in Avery Hall during my freshman year.  Because I saw it there, my handle was a bunch of different math-related names (Integral, Hermite Matrix, etc.).

 

It took people a while to figure out that it was me, particularly because I disguised myself by using the third person in a few posts... like when I missed a men's game due to a bus trip for the women's game.

 

I wonder what happened to McCrayzie/McDoc/McPissed/McStateSoccerChamps... he was one of my favorite posters.

He is up in Omaha after graduating from UNL.  He is married and has a couple of kids I believe...I may be wrong with that...His little brother is at UNL and has ties to the Husker basketball program.