1404: Gridiron Giveback and More

(upbeat music) Coming up on Nebraska Stories, setting up underprivileged athletes for success, restoring a Cold War warrior, (upbeat music) the historic windows of Strategic Air Command Memorial Chapel and a toast to Kool-Aid.

Oh yeah.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Ope, here it is, look at that.

[Mike Goolsby] I've lived a pretty full life for being 40 and most of that can be attributed to football.

The relationships that's allowed me to create, the people that I've met, the opportunities that have fell into my lap, (people speaking softly) some of the wisdom that it's given me, some of the toughness that it's given me.

[Coach] The way he said hit.

Good.

Excellent.

(football stadium cheering) [Announcer] Intercepted, picked off by Goolsby, he will score!

(cheering continues) Touchdown Notre Dame!

[Narrator] Mike Goolsby was a high school All-American.

a Notre Dame captain, an inside linebacker.

And he had a brief stint in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and the St. Louis Rams.

[Mike Goolsby] Your progression from high school to college to the NFL.

And there's some wasted time there because you're trying to get caught up as far as like the football stuff.

Technique, keys, all those things.

So I was like, man, if I could prevent a a kid having to waste that time and ramp up his development, I want to do that.

[Avante Dickerson] My first time training with him I actually didn't know what a cover two or a cover three or any of that football stuff was.

[Jamison Kemp] I'd say the biggest thing that he first helped me was my stance.

Because as a D lineman, your stance and your get off means everything.

And if explosive off the ball that's about like 50% of your game right there.

[Mike Goolsby] It was really born out of, as I like to say, when I was done with football or when football was done with me, it left a huge void.

And frankly I didn't know what else to do.

So I just started training kids.

Kind of a give back and selfishly for me it was really cathartic.

Kind of helped me move on past football as a player.

(piano) [Narrator] Sometimes it takes more to get noticed by a college coach.

So Mike works with his athletes on things like building a highlight reel, preparing for camps, and navigating the recruitment process.

The training is effective and Mike says that's because it's all one-on-one.

(piano music) [Mike Goolsby] So you can really take your time and be very particular in terms of your training.

And then beyond that, you could build a closer relationship with the kid.

And that's really the fun part, is take a kid, we don't know each other, but trust me this is gonna be fun.

And I don't think I could do that if it wasn't done on a one-on-one basis.

[Cheerleaders] B E aggressive [Narrator] Avante Dickerson was the first athlete Mike worked with.

A sophomore at Omaha Westside.

Avante already had a lot of natural ability.

[Announcer] Off the top from Daley in the end zone and picked off by Dickerson.

[Avante Dickerson] Well it goes nervousness for probably, the first couple plays but once you get rolling, I just love the feeling.

I just, I love being out there, that's the thing.

All those fans.

[Mike Goolsby] You could just tell being around the game as long.

I was like this kid's got something.

Came to me as a wide receiver, switched him over to corner and it worked out for him.

[Avante Dickerson] I mean, he played at the next level.

So whatever he says, you can just take it and just learn from him.

And that's really what I did.

[Narrator] Avante had a lot of success on the field, even when things weren't so easy at home.

[Avante Dickerson] I grew up in North Omaha, really rough, rough nights.

Bullets have come through the house.

My house been robbed plenty of times.

[Ken Fox] Man, like great kid.

I see so much of myself in him when it comes to his background and his beginnings.

Not having the options that a lot of other kids have the options to get.

(soft music) [Narrator] Ken Fox has volunteered with youth sports programs in North Omaha for over a decade.

In 2015 he co-founded the Black Police Officers Association.

A non-profit focused on bridging the gap between the community and law enforcement.

[Ken Fox] I tell people all the time, you know, I'm a police officer, I'm here to serve and protect.

But if it wasn't for sports, if I didn't play football, if I didn't go to college to play football, I probably would be robbing you because of the background and the people that raised me and the culture that was around me.

[Narrator] Ken's organization offers free sports to Omaha youth, primarily for kids from places where violence hits hard.

That's how he knows Avante; coaching him in little league baseball.

Their relationship grew from there.

[Avante Dickerson] My father really wasn't in my life how he's supposed to be, but Ken really stepped up and really played that role.

We're pretty much family.

I love him to death.

[Ken Fox] That's my goal and that's what I focus on doing for Avante is just giving him opportunities and giving someone to talk to and hang out with.

[Narrator] Avante's interests evolved to football and when Avante said was working with a trainer Ken was skeptical and he wanted to know more.

But then he got to know Mike and his work.

And after Avante got a scholarship to play football at the University of Oregon, the two began thinking about how they could help other kids.

[Mike Goolsby] Not everybody's gonna end up being the number one player in the state, but my mission for kids is to get their school paid for, to get college paid for in whatever level possible.

[Ken Fox] And that's one of the first things I told him.

I don't care if you make D1 athletes.

If I can take a kid from North or South Omaha, that are disadvantaged and they go to an NAIA school, that's a win for me.

That's the same win as if they go to to Alabama, to me personally.

[Mike Goolsby] It shouldn't be an instance where if a family can't afford training or they can't afford to drive to X, Y, or Z, that shouldn't be a limiting factor behind that kid pursuing a goal.

This kid might have some ability.

This kid's got some promise.

This kid's just a great kid, you know he deserves to have a shot to work with somebody.

You know, Jameson Kemp would've been one of those kids.

[Jamison Kemp] Football's kind of like a therapy for me.

You can really go out on the field and just let it all out.

(piano noise) [Narrator] Jameson Kemp, an Omaha Central defensive tackle wants to become an economist and a CEO of Fortune 500 company.

But after a standout career as a collegiate and professional football player he was another one of Fox's Little Leaguers.

[Ken Fox] Jameson had to work extra hard to get where he's gotten in life and he's been extremely passionate about it.

[Narrator] After working with Mike, Jameson showcased his skills to coaches from all over the country at a summer camp.

He walked away with three division one offers.

[Jamison Kemp] But once we got in the car, family, dad, yelling, screaming, mom crying.

It was just an amazing feeling.

[Mike Goolsby] He was like, coach, I got Great news.

I got these three offers.

And I was just like, praise God man.

I get emotional talking about it.

So that's crazy.

But I was just like, you know, he deserves it.

You're prepping for it.

You're prepping for it.

The moment comes and you knocked it out of the park and like, that's so cool to me.

I mean, it's so fulfilling.

(soft rock music) (soft rock music) The core issue is that there are kids that wouldn't have the ability to pursue higher level of training that shouldn't get lost in the shuffle.

That's gonna be my focus.

Helping kids that are committed that might not have the resources otherwise and they shouldn't get short changed in that process.

[Narrator] Helping young athletes achieve their dreams and creating mentors in the process.

[Coach] So let's try and piece it up, peek and then throw off.

Does that make sense?

[Ken Fox] I have a servant heart and so I believe that, you know, I believe giving back is something that you know, we're put here on this earth to do.

See kids that were like you and then support them, like you got supported.

And so, I absolutely have brought them in and made them mentors to younger kids.

(soft rock music) [Avante Dickerson] For me, I want to have young athletes look at me and see like, oh, he's doing that.

I wanna follow his footsteps.

[Coach] Oh, there, it's good.

Good job, Jamis.

Good job.

[Jamison Kemp] Thankfully I had great parents and great friends who were there for me.

I know there are a lot of kids in bad situations, who might need a positive figure in their life, to really come in to uplift them and keep them on the right track, you know?

So I always feel like volunteering and giving back is just a big important part of what I do.

[Mike Goolsby] Because the next Jameson Kemp, the next Avante Dickerson, they're out there.

[Coach] Stay square.

That looks beautiful.

That's a nice rep. That looks beautiful.

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (birds chirping) [MarkÑ This is your battle staff area, and you can see right here is corrosion.

It's there, it's there, it's there, it's everywhere.

[Narrator] Mark Hamilton has been restoring aircraft at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland for more than two decades.

(piano music) The B-29 Superfortress, The C-47 Skytrain and now this one, the EC-135 Looking Glass.

Some stuff is so deteriorated that you have to paint it.

There's mold, this stuff's gonna have to come out.

(scratching sound) This piece, there's a nut plate that fits up here where that screw went.

That piece is all corroded off.

[Narrator] This is the largest and perhaps the most important restoration project to date for the museum.

Just think of the copper that's up there.

We're gonna take all that copper out.

-And sell it?

(laughs) -And sell it.

(laughs) [Narrator] The two men who initiated the effort to restore this aircraft spent years working aboard the plane.

This was the heart of the operation.

Twenty-four hours day, seven days a week, week after week, month after month, year after year.

I mean, this was the heartbeat.

This part of the airplane is referred to as the battle staff area.

(piano music) And this would be the chair right here that the general sat in.

This chair right here.

[Narrator] Retired 4-star General John Chain is the former Commander of the Strategic Air Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

He, and former Emergency Action Team Officer Al Buckles want others to know the role this plane played in helping the US win a war it never had to fight.

So it was airborne 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for many, many years.

And if we were ever as a country under attack, particularly with nuclear weapons, we had a command post that could operate and be able to control and make sure that the missiles that we had, when the President of the United States made the decision, we would be able to launch them.

(inspirational music) [Narrator] For nearly 3 decades beginning in 1961 at the height of US and Soviet Cold War tensions, Strategic Air Command operated airborne command posts, code named "Looking Glass," for its ability to mirror the nuclear command and control functions underground at Offutt.

They never come to the general to say, "may I go do this?"

They just knew their job had to be done this and they did that, okay?

[Narrator] General Chain never got the call to launch from the President, but it was a responsibility he was ready to execute at any time.

[John] We were so strong and so well-prepared.

They'd have to know that we would retaliate, and it would be a terrible retaliation.

I mean, we would eliminate them basically.

[Narrator] There were a number of Looking Glass aircraft built but this will be the only one on display in the world.

The general was at the helm for the final mission.

[John] The biggest memory is the quality of the crews flying the airplane and the battle staff.

They were a band of brothers and sisters.

They knew what they were doing and the importance of the mission, and they did it extremely well.

[Narrator] It was once a state-of-the-art aircraft, walls lined with the latest in electronic equipment, high-tech wiring and control panels and manned by a highly trained, elite crew.

In 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the continuous airborne mission ended and the Looking Glass was put on ground alert status.

It was the end of an era as newer technologies and efficiencies replaced this relic of the Cold War.

For many, the Looking Glass is an icon of peace, but the aircraft's current state belies its historical significance.

(soft music) Now, much of the plane has been tagged and stripped.

Bare walls expose rotted insulation and corroded panels.

Every instrument, from cockpit to tail, is being restored and reinstalled.

After deteriorating outside for nearly two decades, this EC-135 Jet, also known as the "Doomsday Plane", is inside a hangar at the museum, wings clipped, and more than half-way through a multi-year restoration project.

[Mark] I knew this one was going to be a lot of work.

The aircraft had never been sealed.

It had a lot of openings in it.

When it sat out there, the right side of the aircraft was facing on the west side of the...

So all the snow came and it formed them barnacles and so I was out there killing wasps and plugging holes.

There was damage on this panel so I had them remove this panel and then we found bird nests.

And that was the same underneath but it was like a bale of hay coming out.

[Narrator] For the past couple of years, Hamilton has been working with a rotating crew of volunteers to bring this iconic warhorse back to its appearance during the height of the Cold War.

(classic music) [Mark] Good?

All right.

[Narrator] Some of the volunteers have a personal stake in the restoration.

I was flying the Looking Glass from 1978 to 1982.

(classic music) I was a communications officer and airborne launch control systems officer.

I knew what it was when it first came out here and then I saw the deterioration and it made me feel upset.

I pulled my old chair out and put it in storage and I pulled my console out and it's in storage and I cleaned that down to the metal.

So I'm looking forward to the time when we start putting the components back in.

(classic music) [Narrator] Volunteer Steve Stevens piloted the Looking Glass and flew 18 missions on this very plane.

[Steve] You look at the airplane and you say, "you know, I flew that beauty."

You live in the past, I guess, is the best way to call it; and I thought it was a good project, I needed, you know I'm retired and I had plenty of time so, (classic music) it's a lot of memories.

(classic music) [Narrator] Six years later, the faces have changed and so has "The Glass."

[Andy] We have about, on average, you know, about 40 active volunteers, a lot of veterans, a lot of people who just love airplanes, a lot of people with just a lot of skills, and who are very, very generous with their time, and none of this would happen without them.

[Narrator] Andy Beemer has been with the project from nearly the beginning and oversaw the final steps of the restoration.

[Andy] The last I looked up was the other day was 33,474 volunteer hours, which is the most we've ever put into one of our planes.

So it beat the B-29 by a couple thousand hours.

(classic music) But the biggest thing, the most gratifying thing about the job of restoration is when you're done and you see somebody who was a crew member on the plane that you just restored and you see that they're happy that someone took care of their plane, and you see the satisfaction they have in their service, you know that you did something for them and it means something to them.

It means a lot more to us as volunteers and restoration guys.

(soft piano music) (classic music) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (guitar music) (guitar music) (guitar music) [Justin] In 1900, David Perkins opened a general store in the village of Henley.

It became a central hub in the community.

And helping David run the store was his 11-year-old son, Edwin.

Edwin was a curious kid who spent his spare time doing science experiments.

Eventually, Edwin began creating products to sell in the family store.

In 1918, he invented Nix-O-Tine, a remedy he declared cured tobacco habits.

Edwin targeted advertising for Nix-O-Tine toward veterans, and it turned into a great success.

The profit from sales allowed Edwin to move to Hastings, where he spent more time developing new products.

One was a fruit-flavored concentrated drink Edwin called 'Fruit Smack.'

It was an instant hit, not only in Nebraska but in neighboring states too.

But as the popularity of his new drink grew, Edwin was confronted with a big problem.

Fruit Smack was packaged in glass bottles that often broke during shipping.

He struggled to find a solution.

And then in 1926, Edwin attended a food manufacturing convention.

There he learned about a new food preservation method.

Inspired by jello, he invented a powdered formula for Fruit Smack and gave it a new name, Kool-Aid.

(cheerful guitar music) Within three years, Kool-Aid was distributed across the United States.

Edwin was also innovative when it came to advertising.

He packaged Kool-Aid in vibrant colors with images of children on the envelopes which appealed to young consumers.

He also displayed Kool-Aid in colorful, eye-catching boxes and called this method of selling "The silent salesman," although not everything was smooth sailing.

In the middle of Kool-Aid success, Perkins did have to change the spelling of his famous product in order to meet new regulations.

But that didn't stop the momentum that was built.

By 1939, Kool-Aid was rated as the seventh most popular soft drink in the country.

This allowed for the General Food Corporation to buy Perkins Product Company.

And that's when Kool-Aid popped.

Oh, yeah.

(funky music) (funky music) Kool-Aid became the center of pop culture.

(vintage Kool-Aid ad song playing) (vintage Kool-Aid ad song playing) (vintage Kool-Aid ad song playing) -From the 60s, -(upbeat music) the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, and the 2000s, (funky music) the Kool-Aid brand was on everything and anything you could could think of.

From hats and children's toys to shirts and even action figures.

Kool-Aid even branches out to different food products such as ice cream and even cakes.

(funky music) Everyone across the country knew what Kool-Aid was and couldn't get enough of it.

(funky music) Nearly 100 years later, Kool-Aid remains a well-known brand available worldwide.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Watch more "Nebraska Stories" on our website, Facebook and YouTube.

(upbeat music) "Nebraska Stories" is funded in part by the Margaret and Martha Thomas Foundation, and Humanities Nebraska, and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.

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