In 1950, Nebraska and new head coach Bill Glassford (1949–55, 50–40–4) played the school's first "spring game", a 13–13 draw between the varsity team and an alumni team. Led by twenty-two touchdowns from All-American Bobby Reynolds, NU had its first winning season since 1940 and finished the season ranked seventeenth. Glassford led the Cornhuskers during their first night game, a 19–7 loss to Miami in 1951, and college football's first "NCAA-regulated" telecast, a 20–12 loss to Oregon in 1953. The hard-nosed coach, who at one point had to overrule a player petition calling for his firing, took Nebraska to its second bowl game, a 34–7 loss to Duke in the 1955 Orange Bowl. Glassford resigned in 1955, but survived until 2014, when he died at 102 as the oldest-living professional football player.
