Courtesy of University of Nebraska-Kearney Athletics
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Kearney, Neb. – Nebraska-Kearney legend Donald “Don” K. Briggs passed away Wednesday morning, March 6th, at Wel-life in Kearney.
He was 86.
Graveside services will be held Monday, March 11th, at 11:00 a.m. at the Ft. McPherson National Cemetery near Maxwell. Military Rites will be provided at the Cemetery by the North Platte Veterans Group and the Nebraska National Guard Military Funeral Honors Team.
Visitation will be Sunday, March 10th, from 1-4:00 p.m. at the Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral and Cremation Services in Kearney. A message of condolence, tribute, or memory may be sent to
www.hlmfuneral.com.
Memorials are suggested to the Don Briggs Endowed Scholarship Fund at the U. of Nebraska Foundation.
“Mr. B”, as he was known to the UNK and Kearney community, served as the Lopers sports information director (SID) for an unprecedented 33 years (1958-90).
Previous to 1974, he was the schools entire public relations department, serving as SID, alumni services, college relations and college publications directors.
His began his UNK tenure as a journalism and English teacher and, over the years, was an adviser to The Antelope Newspaper, Blue & Gold Yearbook and Student Senate.
Briggs was also greatly involved with the Phi Tau Gamma and Alpha Tau Omega fraternities, serving as adviser from 1957-2002. He not only earned the ATO's National Adviser of the Year award but also received an ATO Lifetime Achievement award. Pledging Phi Tau in 1948, he was initiated in 1966 when the fraternity went national.
A pioneer in the collegiate sports information field, Briggs earned his undergraduate ('51) and graduate degrees ('57) from then-Kearney State College. His graduate degree was the first-ever awarded by KSC.
The Broken Bow High School graduate was inducted into the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) Hall of Fame in 1971, the CoSIDA (College Sports I
nformation Directors of America) Hall of Fame in 1987, the UNK Athletic Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Broken Bow Hall of Fame in 2004.
He also picked up the UNK's Distinguished Alumni Service Award and received the Kearney Hub Freedom Award for volunteer service in 2004.
During his Loper career, he twice received the NAIA Award of Merit, served as President of the NAIA Sports Information Directors Association and was the NAIA District 11 information director for two decades.
For more than 20 years, he served as the press room coordinator for the NAIA track and field championships and for the NAIA national basketball tournament in Kansas City. Not surprisingly, in 1980, Briggs received the Pearson Award, the NAIA's SID highest honor.
Additionally, he wrote the history of Loper athletics for the years 1905-2000 and wrote the history for the State Tuberculosis Hospital, which is now the West Center of the UNK campus.
Before coming back to the Lopers, he was a teacher and principal in Lyman and served in the Army.
Don is survived by his brothers; Russell and Delores Briggs of Lexington, Ky., Gary and Martha Briggs of Wayzata, Minn., George and Jan Briggs of Arlington, Texas, sisters; Margaret Briggs of Kearney, Joyce Munnell of Kearney, Leah and Clair Burnett of Anselmo, Carol Herbin of Bellevue, and Retha Harris and Cheryl Briggs, both of Springfield, Ill., and many nieces and nephews.
Don was preceded in death by two brothers, Dean and Robert, and sister, Janis Penny.
Tributes to Don Briggs
Jim Rundstrom, former UNK Alumni Director
“Nobody cared more about UNK and Loper athletics than Don Briggs. He truly bled blue. His dedication to the university is legendary among former students, ATO and Phi Tau Gamma fraternity members, athletes and alumni. For more than 60 years, the university was his life.”
Al Zikmund, former UNK head football coach and Athletics Director
“He was loyal to Kearney State College, Loper athletics and to the City of Kearney. He was a very big supporter of what we were doing and went beyond the call of what was in his job description all the time. I was lucky to have someone like Don in an administrative role; when I would ask him about a certain situation or duty, he would say 'That's already been taken care of.' He came from a large family and really pulled himself up by his own bootstraps to become successful.”