Happy 87th birthday to College Football Hall of Famer and former Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne. Osborne was the head coach of the Cornhuskers from 1973-1997, ending his career with a career record of 255-49-3.
He won three national championships (1994,1995,1997), 13 conference championships (12 – Big Eight, 1 – Big 12), and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
Osborne was drafted in the 19th round of the 1959 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He would make his NFL debut as a wide receiver with Washington during the 1961 season.
In 1962, Osborne joined Bob Devaney’s coaching staff as an unpaid assistant. He became the offensive coordinator for the Cornhuskers in 1969 and took over as head coach following the 1972 season.
His teams never won fewer than nine games a season, finished in the top 15 in the final AP Poll 24 out of 25 years, and were ranked for 304 out of his 307 games as a head coach.
After leaving football, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska’s 3rd district from 2001-2007. Osborne returned to Nebraska in 2007 and served as athletic director before retiring in 2013.
Scroll below to see social media’s happy birthday messages!