DANA DECLARES NOV. 8 MARION HUDSON
DAY
Scholarship to be named
for
former outstanding Viking student athlete
Dana College will announce the creation of a new scholarship
in honor of Nebraska collegiate athletic legend Marion Hudson at
a special ceremony during the Vikings’ football match against
Northwestern College, Saturday, Nov. 8. The college has also named
Nov. 8 Marion Hudson Day.
Kickoff for the game is at 1 p.m. on Dana’s
Viking Field. General admission tickets are $6.
Hudson first entered Dana in the fall of 1952. The
previous year, the Dana student body raised money to provide a scholarship
to an African-American student to increase diversity on the campus.
Hudson, who spent most of his high school years in Alaska but graduated
from Omaha Central, was awarded the $355 scholarship.
Hudson immediately became a leader on campus. He received
12 varsity letters while at Dana and was a strong presence outside
the athletic realm, participating in Glee Club and making friends
on the all-white campus.
Hudson’s achievements in track and field have
withstood the test of time. In 1953, he reached 24 feet 4 3/8 inches
in the long jump, just 6 inches short of the gold medal winner in
the 1952 Olympics. At the Drake Relays that year, Hudson scored
more points individually than all of the Big Seven Conference schools
combined. At the time, the Drake Relays was considered one of the
premier collegiate track events in the country.
By the time Hudson graduated, in 1956 with a bachelor’s
of sciencein history and education, he had set the college long
jump record at 24 feet 6 inches, and added a javelin record —
an event he had never tried before coming to Dana — at 208
feet 8.5 inches. Both records still stand today.
On the football field, he rushed for a career total
of 2,383 yards and scored 157 points. He averaged 7.78 yards per
carry and introduced weight training to Dana, effectively turning
the residence hall room he shared with teammate John Lodl into the
campus’s weight-lifting center.
Hudson, who will turn 70 on Nov. 12, is now retired
and living in Omaha with his wife, Ella. He is a member of the Nebraska
Football Hall of Fame, the Dana Athletic Hall of Fame and was the
Lincoln Star’s State Athlete of the Year in 1956.
The Marion Hudson Scholarship will be awarded annually
to a Dana College student. First preference for the award will be
to African-American students from the Omaha metro area who are interested
in participating in intercollegiate athletics.
Dana College is a place where students make things
happen — in their own lives and in the lives of others. Through
a highly supportive faculty and campus community, Dana students
develop interpersonal skills, leadership abilities, and other important
values and knowledge as they make choices about their future. Dana’s
outstanding academic programs in business, education and social
work, among others, ensure that students have the knowledge, skills
and experience necessary to pursue challenging careers or placement
in graduate school.
Dana College is a private, liberal arts institution
in Blair, Neb. To learn more, visit www.dana.edu.
Dana College: Develop talents, Take charge, Build
a future — We’re with you all the way.
— END —
For more information contact:
Sarah Cavanah
Communications Coordinator
Dana College
(402) 426-7216
scavanah@fs1.dana.edu
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