Dorchester Times: Huskers.com Spotlights Inspiring Story Of Saline County's Tanner Zlab

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Huskers.com Spotlights Inspiring Story Of Saline County's Tanner Zlab

Wilber's Tanner Zlab (far right) with Sam Foltz and Sam Hahn.

"To anyone who’s ever thought of quitting, whether in sports, music, drama, careers or even relationships, please know and understand the Tanner Zlab story."

That's a line from a story at Huskers.com spotlighting Tanner Zlab, a 2012 graduate of Wilber-Clatonia High School, where he was a standout in Class C2 football.

There are several lessons to be gleaned from Zlab's journey to becoming a Nebraska Cornhusker football player.

We were so impressed by this guy's determination we wanted to share it with the readers of the Dorchester Times.

Be forewarned: Zlab's story is inspiring -- from losing his dad to cancer at age 6; to being rejected multiple times as a NU walk-on; to his transfer from Doane College to SCC-Beatrice; to his friendship with NU players Sam Foltz and Sam Hahn (of DeWitt); to his ability to fly small airplanes at a young age; to his eventual reward of earning a spot on the NU roster under Coach Riley after four attempts and going into his senior year of college.

“It says a lot about him as a person, his character,” said Kenny Wilhite, a former NU player and current recruiter for the Huskers. “Some kids would just say, ‘OK, I’m not good enough.’ He always thought he was good enough to have some role on this team. He was persistent about it. The kid has a heart of a lion. I admire the kid. That’s why I always pushed to get him on the roster."

Wilhite went on to say that Zlab "exemplifies what Nebraska high school kids are. They’re tough, they’re hard-nosed, they’re hard-working. Most of them are from farm communities and they farm growing up. It instills hard work in them from day one.”

By the way, Zlab is no slouch in the classroom, either. He holds a 3.762 GPA and will graduate in December with a double major in agronomy, and fisheries and wildlife.

From his goal setting, to his work ethic, to his willingness to pay his dues, Tanner Zlab is the kind of guy the world needs more of. We hope he will stick around Saline County after graduation to ensure our corner of the world remains the special place it is.

See the full story here.

1 comment:

NU FANOctober 16, 2016 at 10:59 AM
National Media hates Nebraska
http://dataomaha.com/quick-hit/857#video-college-gameday-asks-is-nebraska-for-real
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."