For talent, stats, and historical relevance, Nebraska’s high school sports landscape is among the deepest in the nation. 

Athletes have dominated sports, ranging from softball to track, overcoming adversity to reach the collegiate and professional levels. All-time stars like Bob Gibson, Marlin Briscoe, and young athletes looking to the future like Jett Thomalla make up the extraordinary talent base of the state. 

Who is the all-time greatest Nebraska high school athlete?

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, USA TODAY is launching its 250 for 250 series, looking to answer that question by celebrating the best athletes from each state.

From fans’ votes, five athletes will be selected to represent the state as legends who have defined high school sports.

With that in mind, here are the Nebraska high school athlete nominees. The 12 players (listed in alphabetical order) were all standouts at the high school level. 

Jordyn Bahl, Softball, Papillion La Vista High School 

Over Jordyn Bahl’s four-year high school career, she went an astonishing 95-3 with a 0.63 ERA and 978 strikeouts. Over her junior and senior years, she went a combined 54-0 with a 0.16 ERA and 615 strikeouts while hitting .544 with 42 home runs and 114 RBIs. Papillion La Vista went undefeated both years and won three championships with Bahl. 

Bob Boozer, Boys Basketball, Omaha Technical High School 

A high school teammate of Bob Gibson and eventual NBA champion, Bob Boozer set a league scoring record in 1955 as he helped Omaha Tech win the Inter-City League championship. 

Marlin Briscoe, Football, Boys Basketball, Tennis, Omaha South High School 

Marlin Briscoe, the first Black quarterback to start in the modern NFL, began his career at Omaha South, where he helped the team win a championship. He was a multi-sport athlete. 

Bob Gibson, Baseball, Boys Basketball, Track and Field, Omaha Technical High School 

Bob Gibson, among the greatest pitchers in MLB history, was initially blocked from playing baseball because the coach would not allow Black kids on the team. Instead, he competed in track as a junior and set an Omaha high-jump record. As a senior under a new coach, he joined the team, hit .368, made the all-city team, and helped Tech win the Inter-City title. He also made the All-City basketball team, according to SABR. 

Ahman Green, Football, Track and Field, Omaha North and Omaha Central high schools 

A first-team USA TODAY All-American, two-time All-Nebraska first-team selection, and Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year, Ahman Green played running back, linebacker and punter for Omaha Central, establishing a career that would make him a Green Bay Packers legend. He also won the 100- and 200-meter state championships in track. 

Tom Kropp, Football, Boys Basketball, Baseball, Track and Field, Aurora High School 

Tom Kropp helped Aurora win six championships across three sports, averaging 33 points and 21 rebounds as a senior in basketball, surpassing 1,000 rushing yards in football, and winning discus and shot put. He also threw a no-hitter. 

Jordan Larson, Girls Volleyball, Girls Basketball, Track and Field, Logan View High School (Hooper) 

A future Olympian, Jordan Larson was a star volleyball and basketball player at Logan View. She was the Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year and a three-time all-state selection in volleyball. In basketball, she set the school record for scoring, rebounding and assists, according to the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

Alyssa Onnen, Track and Field, Kearney Catholic High School 

Alyssa Onnen graduated in 2026 as one of the most dominant track and field athletes in Nebraska history, winning four pole vault championships. Her final clearing as a senior was 12-06.00, according to Nebraska Preps. 

Johnny Rodgers, Football, Baseball, Boys Basketball, Track and Field, Omaha Tech High School 

In 1969, Johnny Rodgers was named the Nebraska Athlete of the Year, was an All-American football and baseball player, an All-City basketball player, and an All-State in the long jump. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers and received more than 50 scholarship offers for football. He played two seasons in the NFL. 

Gale Sayers, Football, Track and Field, Omaha Central High School 

Few athletes have wowed Nebraska like Gale Sayers, who led Central’s football to an undefeated season, twice led the state in scoring and was named All-State, and set the state long jump record at 24ft 10in, a mark that stood for almost 40 years. 

Berlyn Schutz, Track and Field, Lincoln East High School 

The 2019 Nebraska Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year, Berlyn Shutz won championships in the 800- and 1,600-meters, set a state meet record in the mile, and was a state champion in the 4×800-meter relay. 

Jett Thomalla, Football, Boys Basketball, Millard South High School 

Jett Thomalla emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the country, leading Millard South to back-to-back championships and setting state records with 10,253 career passing yards and 134 career passing touchdowns. He was an ALL-USA Second-Team Offense in 2025. 

North Dakota

Sheila Marie Pfeiffer, Jamestown, Chapter 7

Bernard James Overby, Grand Forks, Chapter 7

Emilio James Lamba, Fargo, Chapter 13

John Patrick Bohlin, Fargo, Chapter 7

Consuelo E. May, Fargo, Chapter 7

Jose Alvarado, Dickinson, Chapter 13

James Vincente and Desiree Nicole Moore, Williston, Chapter 7

Laura Lynne Westerholm, formerly known as Laura Johansen, Fargo, Chapter 7

Lacey Mae Puklich, Bismarck, Chapter 7

Jenna Shree Pairian, Bismarck, Chapter 7

James Edward and Pamela Teresa Mercer, Bismarck, Chapter 7

David Henry Yerka, Fergus Falls, Chapter 7

Minnesota

Bankruptcy filings from the following counties: Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Norman, Otter Tail, Polk, Traverse, Wadena and Wilkin.

Dean and Catherine Elizabeth Brown, Detroit Lakes, Chapter 7

Claudette Jean Lewis, Breckenridge, Chapter 7

Justin and Jessica Patelski, Fergus Falls, Chapter 7

Gerald Lloyd Wipper, Alexandria, Chapter 7

Chapter 7 is a petition to liquidate assets and discharge debts.

Chapter 11 is a petition for protection from creditors and to reorganize.

Chapter 12 is a petition for family farmers to reorganize.

Chapter 13 is a petition for wage earners to readjust debts.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

Having lived with Donald Trump’s infamous and baseless insult against them — “they’re eating the dogs … they’re eating the cats” — Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are bracing for a far bigger injury.

More than 10,000 Haitians across Ohio and hundreds of thousands more around the country who had Temporary Protected Status now face the imminent prospect of deportation. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can halt those legal protections for Haitians and Syrians and resume forcing them to leave.

Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion for the court’s Republican-appointed majority curbed the power of courts to review government decisions to terminate protections under the TPS program. 

“They side with him on everything that he says or everything that he does, which means there is no check and balance,” said Viles Dorsainvil, a Haitian TPS holder and executive director of the Haitian Support Center in Springfield, a town Trump catapulted into a maelstrom of misinformation about immigrants when he was running to retake the White House in 2024. 

“The president has that freeway in front of him to do whatever he wants to do, unfortunately, and most of the time to a minority group of people,” added Dorsainvil, who has lived in the United States since 2020.  

In a country rife with political and economic instability, Haitians returning from the U.S. are in danger of being killed or kidnapped, said Dorsainvil’s colleague at the Haitian Support Center, Rose Thamar Joseph. 

“There is this perception in Haiti that if you are living here in the United States, you have money, so you are living your good life, so sending people back to Haiti will put them in real danger,” Joseph said. 

Staying in the U.S. without legal status creates a different crisis. 

“We received calls this morning from people saying that, unfortunately, starting on July 1, they won’t be able to go to work anymore,” Joseph said Friday. 

Joseph predicted that families would be separated during the deportation process. 

“We know that there will be separation,” she said. “A lot of those parents with TPS … they have kids who were born in the United States, so we know that it will happen, not for everybody, not for all the families, but it will happen,” she said. 

The oncoming nightmare for the Haitian community in Springfield was, in many ways, predictable after Trump notoriously targeted them on the debate stage against then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall of 2024.