Football interview - Wisconsin

Ronnie Green Author

10/09/2017 Added

3 Plays

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Ronnie Green along with guest Jeff Sotzing, former Executive Director of The Tonight Show and nephew of Nebraska alumnus Johnny Carson, discuss the continuing support of the university from Carson Foundation.

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[00:00:00.000](upbeat intro music)
[00:00:02.418]Welcome back. At the kick-off
[00:00:03.251]here in the Husker Sports Network.
[00:00:04.877]Headed to a 7:10 kick tonight between the Huskers
[00:00:07.112]and the Badgers of Wisconsin.
[00:00:08.373]As we do every week during our pre-game,
[00:00:09.965]we have the chance to sit down
[00:00:11.488]with University of Nebraska at Lincoln Chancellor
[00:00:13.133]Ronnie Green.
[00:00:14.203]Night games at Lincoln?
[00:00:15.500]I'm not sure there's anything better than that.
[00:00:16.949]You can't ask for a better day than today.
[00:00:19.610]We've got great weather.
[00:00:20.758]It's going to be a great evening
[00:00:22.574]hosting the Wisconsonites in town.
[00:00:24.541]We've got quite a few of them visiting us
[00:00:26.675]and a great game ahead tonight.
[00:00:28.282]Got the rain out of the way, too,
[00:00:29.435]so we're good to go.
[00:00:30.536]I love when you bring special guests,
[00:00:31.732]and you have a really special guest with us
[00:00:34.107]here today, a friend of the university.
[00:00:36.093]Can you tell us who you brought along?
[00:00:37.986]Well, you know, we have a long-standing relationship
[00:00:40.931]with the Foundation of one of
[00:00:42.756]our greatest alums of all time, Johnny Carson.
[00:00:45.868]Every Nebraskan knows Johnny Carson.
[00:00:48.007]Every American knows Johnny Carson.
[00:00:49.818]Everybody in the world knows Johnny Carson, right?
[00:00:51.734]But what they may not know is he started his life
[00:00:54.706]in Norfolk, Nebraska, and was a graduate of
[00:00:57.405]the University of Nebraska here at Lincoln.
[00:01:00.063]So he, in his life and since his death,
[00:01:03.290]his family and his Foundation
[00:01:05.095]have been such great supporters
[00:01:06.702]of our Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts
[00:01:09.744]through a number of gifts, including our Johnny Carson
[00:01:13.054]School of Theater and Film, scholarship programs
[00:01:16.952]that have been at the University for a long time,
[00:01:19.156]but most recently, it was just a couple of years ago,
[00:01:22.061]the Foundation made a $20 million gift to establish
[00:01:25.852]a new emerging media arts center here at the University
[00:01:30.025]that we're in the process of building,
[00:01:32.328]and very, very pleased to have with us the representatives
[00:01:36.197]of the Foundation before they came today
[00:01:38.441]and one of Johnny's family members,
[00:01:41.833]his nephew Jeff Sotzing, who was the
[00:01:44.663]Executive Director of the Tonight Show.
[00:01:46.823]You can imagine what an experience that would have been
[00:01:49.567]to have lived that and I'm just really pleased
[00:01:52.206]to have Jeff with us here on campus tonight.
[00:01:54.699]Jeff, it's great to have you back.
[00:01:55.869]Thank you.
[00:01:56.837]You've been here before.
[00:01:57.687]In fact, you brought good luck to the Huskers
[00:01:59.068]a few years ago.
[00:01:59.940]Is that right?
[00:02:00.773]That's right.
[00:02:01.606]It was at the Michigan game, I believe?
[00:02:02.637]Michigan State.
[00:02:03.653]And we knew it was going to be a tough haul, but
[00:02:05.690]they won in the last few seconds,
[00:02:07.624]and it was very exciting.
[00:02:08.648]Chancellor Green, thank you for having me here.
[00:02:09.868]It's an honor.
[00:02:10.741]Well, it's great to have you back with us.
[00:02:12.250]You had such a unique window into the world of
[00:02:14.568]the Tonight Show with Johnny.
[00:02:16.342]What was that like?
[00:02:17.957]It was wonderful because I grew up watching the show
[00:02:20.666]as a child in New York, and Dick, Johnny's brother,
[00:02:24.290]was the Director of the show, so I was familiar
[00:02:26.438]with the show all through the 60s.
[00:02:28.287]I started to work in the show in the late 70s,
[00:02:30.842]and went from a gopher, or a receptionist,
[00:02:33.176]to a producer, and then eventually,
[00:02:35.730]a good friend of Johnny's.
[00:02:37.657]We came to Nebraska a number of times together,
[00:02:40.261]and it's a very special place for me and for him.
[00:02:42.991]I was going to say, he mentioned Nebraska a lot.
[00:02:45.574]He was really proud of his roots
[00:02:46.407]Often. In fact, the Midwestern work ethic
[00:02:49.915]and the people of Nebraska always was a strong draw to him.
[00:02:53.860]Very good.
[00:02:54.693]Chancellor, I think it's great that you brought this up
[00:02:55.914]because people know of Johnny being an alum here,
[00:02:58.151]but I'm not sure they know of the gift that
[00:02:59.481]kind of keeps giving back to this University.
[00:03:01.268]Yeah, absolutely.
[00:03:02.101]As you just heard Jeff say and write what
[00:03:05.460]lit up Nebraska in him.
[00:03:07.839]It was starting at the very rank and file in the show,
[00:03:11.788]working his way up to be Executive Producer.
[00:03:14.430]It's a real Nebraska story in and of itself,
[00:03:16.697]but Johhny was so supportive of the University.
[00:03:20.164]He loved Nebraska.
[00:03:21.455]He would have loved the event today here with the Huskers
[00:03:25.083]and would have been talking about it,
[00:03:26.160]especially if we win tonight,
[00:03:27.532](all laugh)
[00:03:28.517]he would have been talking about it on the show right after,
[00:03:31.462]so it's such a great thing to see the continuing support
[00:03:35.953]from an alum who believed in his university
[00:03:38.443]and knows that this gift will have such a big impact
[00:03:42.779]on the new world of emerging media,
[00:03:44.771]whether you're bringing science and technology
[00:03:47.280]together with the arts, and with storytelling
[00:03:50.700]in new ways and virtual reality and gaming
[00:03:53.722]and all interactive media that's this new world
[00:03:56.393]that we live in, and we can only envision
[00:03:58.214]what the future's going to look like,
[00:03:59.703]and this center's going to help create it
[00:04:01.839]through that lasting gift.
[00:04:04.202]Couldn't be more pleased.
[00:04:05.715]Fantastic. Jeff, again, great to see you.
[00:04:07.607]Welcome back to Lincoln.
[00:04:08.500]Thank you.
[00:04:09.333]Hope you have good luck that's going to rub off
[00:04:10.734]on the team tonight.
[00:04:11.567]It will, for sure. Thank you so much for having me.

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Football interview - Wisconsin

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