LINCOLN, Neb. Nebraska football is a tradition like no other but for one Lincoln native a simple sign made to send a message to friends became a national tradition for College GameDay.

“I had my sign, I put it above my head and I’m walking back and forth in front of the camera,” said Bobby Mersed of Lincoln.The first time College GameDay was in Nebraska it was 1994. It was the third time the show was actually on a campus and it was the very first time somebody brought a sign to be on television.

Mersed went to College GameDay with a plan to send a message to a pair of friends he met in passing.

“I decided to make a sign and I called Art up and I said Art watch GameDay because I’m gonna send you a shout out,” said Mersed. “I made my sign, put on my Tommy Fraizer jersey, and went to the game.”

That day he created a long-standing College GameDay tradition on accident.

“The first thing that comes to mind is my handwriting looks like a sign from the old Beverly Hillbillies show. I’ve got terrible handwriting,” said Mersed. “If I’d known it was gonna be the first sign I would have said something cool or sports or something!”

The original sign is long gone, tossed in the trash after campus police asked Mersed to stop holding the sign up for the camera.

He made a replica to take to College GameDay at Northwestern after he was invited by ESPN in 2013.

“ESPN gets a hold of me and were going back and forth because I had to prove I was who I was because they didn’t want a crazy guy coming along,” said Mersed.

Mersed does plan to go back to College GameDay this Saturday when it comes back to campus.

“I’m gonna make on that says OG sign man ’94,” said Mersed. “Maybe original ESPN GameDay sign guy with an arrow down here.”

Mersed says he would love to see a classic Nebraska player be the guest picker on the panel but hes still holding out hope that it will be him.

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