Steven M. Sipple: One night in Ames, Jim Walden saw Devaney's popularity in full effect

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne (right) shakes hands with Iowa State coach Jim Walden on Nov. 12, 1994. Walden, along with Osborne, was an assistant at NU under Bob Devaney.Bob Devaney's charisma and popularity always were evident to Jim Walden.

Especially on the night of Nov. 13, 1992.

Walden was Iowa State's head football coach at the time, and Devaney was Nebraska's athletic director. The Huskers and Cyclones were set to square off the next day in Ames, Iowa. Devaney, the legendary former Husker head coach, scheduled a dinner with Walden on that Friday night in Ames. After all, Walden had coached under Devaney at NU from 1969-72.

"We end up going to a place downtown," Walden said. "We walk in…