LINCOLN — When Nebraska football’s historic sellout streak started, Dennis Claridge was the Husker throwing the passes.
The first starting quarterback — and starting punter — for Bob Devaney, Claridge died this week after a three-year battle with bladder cancer, according to a Nebraska spokesman. Claridge had been a long-time orthodontist in Lincoln after his playing career at NU and three seasons in the NFL. He was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1976 and was, until Jerry Tagge came along in the early ‘70s, the best quarterback in Husker history.
He’s also the one who helped kick-start the Devaney era.