The Most Famous Nebraskan

By Timothy L. Ashford © 2020

known as Malcolm X.

A recent poll named billionaire Warren Buffett, who was born in Omaha in 1930, as the most famous Nebraskan of all time. The Berkshire Hathaway CEO, billionaire, philanthropist, investor and business tycoon is one of the most recognizable men in the world. Although the annual 30,000 Berkshire Hathaway stockholders did not meet in the Omaha this year because of Covid-19, the Berkshire Hathaway stock holders and most Nebraskans will swear Buffett is the most famous Nebraskan of all time! But is he really the most famous Nebraskan of all time?

Let’s examine the evidence of which Nebraskan is more famous than Buffett? Surely, a man who sues God must be more famous than Buffett. Although African American Ernie Chambers is the greatest state senator in Nebraska history because he has passed more laws, stopped more bad laws and served more years than any other Nebraska state senator, he is not more famous than Buffett. Suing God, making Nebraska one of the first states to demand South Africa eliminate apartheid, and demanding the NCAA pay athletes in the early 1980s when it was not a popular idea, among many other things, does not make you more famous than Buffett.

Maybe, a member of the TD Ameritrade family and current Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts is more famous than Buffett. No! Although they are both famous because of their wealth, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway fortune was growing five decades ago while the Ricketts TD Ameritrade fortune grew in the last two or three decades. As the rappers might say, compared to Buffett’s old money, Ricketts has a little bit of new money and new fame!

How about former Nebraska football coach and former congressman Tom Osborne? Although coaching the Nebraska Cornhuskers to three college football national championships in the 1990s and serving in the house of representatives (2001-2007) makes you famous, it does not make you more famous than Buffett. Are any former Nebraska athletes more famous than Buffett? Unfortunately, Nebraska’s Heisman trophy winners Johnny “the Jet” Rodgers (1971), Mike Rozier (1983) and Eric Crouch (2001), as well as Marlin “the Magician” Briscoe, who was the first black quarterback to start a game in the AFL-NFL in 1968 for the Denver Broncos, are not as famous as Buffett. Maybe former N.B.A. basketball champions Mike McGhee (Los Angeles Lakers -1982, 1985) and a member of the 1960 Olympic Gold Medal basketball team, the late Bob Boozer (Milwaukee

Bucks 1971), are more famous than Buffett? Maybe former ABA basketball player Ron Boone is the most famous Nebraskan? Nope!

Is the founder of Urban One and former Omaha Star employee Black Business Hall of Fame recipient Kathy Hughes, who is the first woman to head a publicly traded corporation, more famous than Buffett? Or what about actress Gabrielle Union-Wade who is married to N.B.A. basketball legend Dwayne Wade? Maybe former Nebraskan politicians Chuck Hagel and Ben Nelson are more famous than Buffett? Naw! Generally when a politician is out of office he is generally out of mind and no longer famous.

Maybe the Fondas-Jane, Peter and Henry Fonda are more famous than Buffett. Although the Fondas have been famous for decades and Henry produced one of the alltime legal movies “Twelve Angry Men,” the Fonda family is not as famous as billionaire Buffett.

Is Buffett the most famous Nebraskan of all time? Is there any Nebraskan who is more famous than Buffett? Although not a native Nebraskan, was William Jennings Bryan, a member of the house of representatives and a presidential candidate in the early 1900s, more popular than Buffett? Having a high school named after you should make you more famous than Buffett? Fame has not lasted more than a century for Bryan so he is not more famous than Buffett.

Speaking of famous politicians, what about the former Michigan football player from Nebraska who became the only U.S. president who was never elected to the office? Let’s talk about being in the right place at the right time. Remember, vice president Spiro Agnew resigned and he became vice president. Then Richard M. Nixon resigned and suddenly without winning a presidential election Gerald Ford was the 38th president of the United States from 1974 until 1977. It appears our last hope may have been Ford.

Is there a Nebraskan worthy of challenging Buffett for the most famous Nebraskan of all time? Yes! Yes and yes! Unfortunately, for the modern day people who ranked Buffett as the most famous Nebraskan of all time history will reveal that he is not the most famous Nebraskan.

In the predominantly white state of Nebraska (which has one of the most segregated cities in the nationOmaha) the most famous Nebraskan is an African American named El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz better

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in 1925 in Omaha and he converted to Islam while serving in prison in 1946. When you think of civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. you must think about Malcolm X. Just like King, Malcolm X had schools, roads, streets and centers named after him throughout the world. In fact, Malcolm X has achieved fame on the level of King, Harriet Tubman, Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks. Initially a member of the nation of Islam, Malcolm X was famous throughout the world for pursuing human rights, racial justice and black empowerment among other issues. Malcolm X Day is celebrated in various countries throughout the world. Although Buffett’s fame as a billionaire skyrocketed in the 1970s, Malcolm X has achieved worldwide fame before his assassination on February 21, 1965.

Buffett provided words of comfort to the world regarding Covid-19 so whomever ranked Buffett as a famous Nebraskan known throughout the world is correct. Although billionaire Buffett is famous throughout the financial world, the title of the most famous Nebraskan of all time belongs to Malcolm X.

At this juncture, in it’s life, I pause to give the history of Black History Month.

In 1926, scholar, Carter G. Woodson, with others, developed the idea, and implemented it, that Black History should be celebrated. And he is given the credit for having created Black History Week, in that year, as the acceptance, growth and credibility of Black History Week, which, by the way, was met with strong opposition from many white racists, circa Jim Crow.

Black History Week evolved and grew, and in 1976, Carter Woodson and many others, established the official Black History Month. It should be noted that it was 50 years in it’s maturity. Along the way, there have always been those brave and innovative, primarily African American educators, both in the North and South, who always taught their students Black History, and should be commended for doing so. Another 50 year anniversary will occur, in 2026.

So it should be noted that we approach the final years of this cycle, Black History Month has always been fueled by the fluidity of Black History. For example, Black History Month, in 1980, celebrated Black History for the life of Black History through 1980. Now we celebrate Black History Month in 2023. Black History has not been static, it has been fluid, and augmented exponentially, with new and exciting Black History, decade after decade. So we find ourselves preparing and celebrating Black History Month once more from the vantage point of 2023.

The history of Blacks, in this country, began problematically, in 1619, when the first boat arrived in Virginia, the first of millions to come, carrying Black people turned into slaves. The history of slavery continued