Dorchester Times: Brent Zoubek, Greg Tyser Are Our 'Citizens Of The Year'

Friday, December 28, 2018

Brent Zoubek, Greg Tyser Are Our 'Citizens Of The Year'

The Dorchester Times is proud to name Dorchester head football coach Brent Zoubek and DHS super fan Greg Tyser as the "Dorchester Citizens of 2018."

Coach Zoubek is receiving this honor based largely on his successful effort to revive Dorchester football. The reappearance of Longhorn football at Nerurd Field was voted the top story of 2018 by our Dorchester Times staff members.

Dorchester had been without a football team of its own since 2013, as fewer enrolled boys in grades 9-12 and decreased participation rates raised questions whether a viable eight-man team could be fielded. However, Zoubek never lost faith. Instead, he lead efforts to bring back Dorchester football in the six-man form, just as nearly 40 other Nebraska high schools took up the six-man game in 2018.

As one Times staffer said, "You could just feel energy breathed into this village when the Friday night lights were turned back on."

Zoubek was able to get nearly two dozen young men to go out for football this season. As reported by school officials, the result was not only a renewed focus on school spirit, but better grades and better attitudes among male students.

Zoubek also played a big role in helping Dorchester properly salute DHS alumni who played on the six-man football teams of the 1950s, as well as their former coach, Bill Story who was also on hand at the season opener in late August. This was a special occasion since 69 years ago this past fall, Dorchester resumed its football program following a hiatus since the 1930s.

Meanwhile, Greg Tyser is also receiving this year's "Citizen of the Year" honor because of his efforts to rally the Dorchester football fan base.

Tyser, who is owner of Tyser Repair and Tyser Auto Sales, renovated an old Dorchester school bus and affectionately called it the "Longhorn Express." The renovated machine carried two dozen or more Dorchester football fans to DHS' away football games, ensuring a large turnout of orange and black at each road contest. In fact, it was common to see as many or more DHS fans at the road games.

Tyser is the definition of a die-hard Longhorn fan -- a booster extraordinaire -- and his efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Previous winners of the Dorchster Times' Citizen of the Year award have been Peg Bergmeyer, Penny Keller, Carol Olson, Dale Hayek, and Bill Velder.

Honorable mentions submitted to the Times by non-staff members (Dorchester.Times@gmail.com) either this year or in previous years include (in no particular order): Deanna Bird (two nominations), Amanda Cerny, Tom Cerny, Larry Kaspar, Lyle Weber, Shelly and Rose Bruha, Todd Axline, the members of the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Dept. and Rescue, Jason and Kathy Duhrkop, Mike Pracheil, George Kasl, Ben Haufle, Brent Zoubek, Kyleigh Jo Lewis, Don Eret, Phil Weber, Steve Ottmann, Scott Pohl, Eric Stehlik, Joyce Karl, Adam Briggs, Rob Parks, John Bruha, Mark Bors, Tom Cerny, Joel Weber, Julie and Joe Holly, LJ Barley, Bob and Marva Kasl, Dan Nerud, Mike Nohavec, Brandon Zoubek, Lisa Veprovsky, Daryl Schrunk and Marv Kasl.

Congratulations to Brent Zoubek and Greg Tyser, our Times' Citizens of 2018.

2 comments:

AnonymousDecember 26, 2018 at 9:13 AM
Tyser also renovated the Ball Diamond 2 attract a Select area Baseball team. 2 many scheduling conflicts with youth practice's. Don't give up that cause young fella!
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AnonymousDecember 26, 2018 at 4:35 PM
Congratulations to the Longhorns and Coach Zoubek and my cousin Greg Tyser. Keep up the good work!

JR Wolfe
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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."