Omaha's Hall of Fame
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They’re rock stars, actors, politicians, eccentric billionaires and more: They're the famous sons and daughters of Omaha.
Warren Buffett
He is maybe only the second richest guy in America, but Warren Buffett has something else few wildly wealthy people, and a lot of the rest of us, don’t. The affection of millions of people who think they know him. In the years since he became a household name from the extraordinary success of his Berkshire Hathaway insurance and investment company, Buffett has become a kind of folk hero. Like Ben Franklin with a lot more dough.
People say you can’t be all things to all people, but Buffett comes close. To those who aspire to wealth, he is the guiding gold standard. To those who think rich people ought to be responsible to the rest of the world, he sets an example to be used on those who aren’t. To politicians left and right, he gives advice they don’t want to hear. To a variety of good public causes, he is a sugar daddy.
To Omaha itself, he is a tourist attraction. And to the vast entertainment industry known as financial publishing, he is a mine to be dug in and used, as shamelessly as this: “Dan also possesses a strong foundation in investment research … similar to the investment philosophies of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett.”
Sure, right, another Buffett. Folks, step right up and put your money down.
— Dick Piersol
Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne is a Hollywood rarity — a guy who left middle America to make it in the movie business but who keeps coming home.
Born in Omaha on Feb. 10, 1961, Payne attended Creighton Prep High School before heading west for college, graduating first from Stanford University, then from the UCLA film school with an MFA in Theatre Arts.
But when it came time for Payne to make his first movie, he came home, directing 1996’s “Citizen Ruth” in Omaha. That picture got a little attention. But Payne broke through with “Election,” a high school comedy starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon shot at Papillion-LaVista High School.
For his third film, Payne got a far bigger budget — the better to pay Jack Nicholson with — and adapted the novel “About Schmidt” to fit Omaha. But his biggest hit, “Sideways,” for which he won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award and the best director Independent Spirit Award, was set in and filmed in California.
Still, Payne hasn’t forgotten about Nebraska. He’s recently been in the state scouting locations for a new film. “There’s no one else from Nebraska who have been in his position who have gone as far as he’s gone,” said Danny Lee Ladely, director of the Ross Media Arts Center. “I doubt if there’s anybody around that knows as much about film as Alexander does.”
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Conor Oberst
In the past five years or so, Conor Oberst has become the darling of the indie music world, a critically acclaimed, hip magazine cover boy. But Lincoln scenesters discovered Oberst far earlier than that.
In 1993, the little kid with glasses from Omaha was already a local star, fronting his band Commander Venus at Duffy’s Tavern at the tender age of 13.
“He was barely taller than his amp,” said Andy Fairbairn, who books bands for Duffy’s. “I don’t know if anybody knew it would turn out to be what it has. But it was clear he was going to be around for a long while.”
After putting out a couple great records, Commander Venus broke up. But not before Oberst and his friends had formed a record label — Saddle Creek.
In 1998, Oberst released two records under the band name Bright Eyes, which garnered nationwide exposure with its 2000 album “Fevers and Mirrors.”
By 2002’s “Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground,” Oberst had become an indie icon, a status heightened by the simultaneous releases of the acoustic-based “I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning” and the electronic-based “Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.”
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Nick Nolte
Katherine Hepburn once accused Nick Nolte of falling down drunk in every gutter in town, to which he replied: “I’ve got a few to go yet.”
Nearly as well known for his heavy drinking and drug using as his acting, the Omaha-born, 64-year-old Nolte has been working to achieve sobriety since 1990.
His problems with alcohol already were evident when he was dismissed — unjustly, he says — from the Omaha Benson High School football team for drinking beer.
Nolte made his film debut with “The Deep” in 1977, but his break came with the 1982 film “48 Hours,” which co-starred Eddie Murphy.
Nolte has been nominated for two Academy Awards, first in 1991 with “The Prince of Tides” and again with “Affliction” in 1997.
People magazine chose Nolte as its “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1992.
In 2002, Nolte was arrested for drunken driving in Malibu and found to be under the influence of GHB, the “date rape” drug. His police mug shot, in which he appears with wildly disheveled hair, became synonymous with his rowdy ways.
Nolte currently is being sued by parents of a teenager who allege their daughter was given GHB and sexually assaulted at a party at Nolte’s home in 2003. Although Nolte’s publicist said the actor was not home during the party, the lawsuit claims he was negligent.
— Hilary Kindschuh
Father Flanagan
Father Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, believed that all boys needed love to be productive citizens. Neglected children often turned to crime, he realized, so the priest dedicated his life to helping orphaned and abandoned children.
Flanagan, who was born in Ireland in 1886, served as a priest in Nebraska from 1912 to 1917.
In December 1917, he borrowed $90 to rent a home at 25th and Dodge streets in Omaha and opened Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home to five young boys assigned to him by the court.
In 1921, the home was moved to Overlook Farm, 10 miles west of Omaha. By March 1922, Omaha residents had raised enough money to build a five-story structure with classrooms, a dining hall, gymnasium, chapel and infirmary.
In 1926, the home’s student government voted to officially change the name of the farm to Boys Town.
In 1938, actor Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Flanagan in the movie “Boys Town.”
Flanagan died of a heart attack in 1948 while traveling in Berlin.
But Flanagan’s story does not end there. An effort to promote his sainthood is currently under way in Nebraska.
In the meantime, the newly renamed Girls and Boys Town continues to provide care and treatment each year to more than 40,000 children nationwide.
— Hilary Kindschuh
Bob Gibson
One of the greatest college basketball players to come out of Nebraska didn’t make his living on the hardwood.
Instead, Bob Gibson went from Omaha Tech and Creighton to major-league baseball, where he became one of the most dominant pitchers in the history of the game.
Gibson, 70, started his professional athletic career with the Harlem Globetrotters.
But he became a Hall of Famer with the St. Louis Cardinals. His 1.12 earned-run average in 1968 remains a single-season record. He struck out more than 3,000 hitters and hit 24 career homers plus two in World Series play himself.
More recently, Gibson raised thousands of dollars for charity with his annual celebrity golf tournament in Omaha, an event that ended in 2004.
Gibson, who pitched in the big leagues from 1959 to 1975, was an intimidating presence on the mound and knocked down more than a few hitters in his time. He said he felt a duty to protect his hitters from opposing pitchers who were a little too aggressive with those inside fastballs.
Said Gibson said in a 2004 interview with the Journal Star: “I threw at a lot of guys.”
— John Mabry
Malcolm X
Malcolm Little was born in Omaha on May 19, 1925. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker and his father, Earl Little, a Baptist minister and an outspoken civil rights activist.
The family moved twice before Malcolm’s fourth birthday because of death threats from white supremacists. In 1931, Earl Little was killed — probably as a result of his activism. Soon after her husband’s death, Louise Little was committed to a mental institution.
Malcolm Little and his seven siblings were placed in foster care and then in a reform school.
Little dropped out.
In 1946, having turned to petty crime, he was arrested in Boston and sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglary. Seven years later, he was paroled and emerged as Malcolm X — soon to be one of the most prominent and charismatic advocates of black separatism in American history.
His militant message of black pride, economic self-reliance and identity politics often ran counter to the nonviolent notions of Martin Luther King Jr.
He became the spokesman for the Nation of Islam and founded the Muslim Mosque and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.
He converted to orthodox Islam in 1964 and took the name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. In 1965, he was shot to death in Harlem.
— Josh Swartzlander
Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick was born in Omaha, but his world-class tennis game was raised elsewhere.
Jerry and Blanche Roddick moved their family from Omaha to Austin, Texas, when their son was 4. When he was 10, his family moved to Boca Raton, Fla., where he developed into the top junior player in the world by the time he was 18.
At age 23, Roddick already has had a Hall of Fame tennis career. He’s posted a 307-94 professional record in his five years on the ATP tour with 20 singles titles. Roddick’s most notable championship is the 2003 U.S. Open crown, his only Grand Slam title. He also owns the world’s fastest serve at 155 miles per hour.
Roddick became the youngest American to ever be ranked No. 1 in the world, a status he reached in November 2003. He’s currently No. 3 in the world behind Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal.
Off the court, Roddick endorses everything from Lexus to American Express. He’s been featured in Rolling Stone and Vogue. In 2003, he was selected sexiest athlete by People Magazine.
Roddick’s only visits recently to Nebraska, meanwhile, have been to Lincoln for an occasional Husker football game.
Neither Omahans nor Lincolnites approve of where Andy calls home now — Austin.
— Ron Powell
Chris Klein
He’s shared the screen with Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon and Mel Gibson. He’s been a high school jock running for class president and a young soldier fighting in Vietnam.
Not bad for Chris Klein, a kid from Omaha who got his big break when he was 18 from director and fellow Omahan Alexander Payne.
Klein left school at Texas Christian University to act in “Election,” a Payne-directed film in which he played a student who gets help in running for class president from his teacher, played by Broderick.
Before that, Klein’s biggest role was Tony in Millard West’s production of “West Side Story.”
Plenty of roles came after “Election” — “American Pie” (1999), “Here on Earth” (2000), “Say It Isn’t So” (2001), “American Pie 2” (2001), “We Were Soldiers” (2002) and “The United States of Leland” (2003). And there have been others.
In fact, if you’re a big moviegoer, you may have spotted recently him in “Just Friends,” in theaters now.
— Lori Pilger
Ernie Chambers
Ernie Chambers, Nebraska’s longest-serving state senator, has made a name for himself by refusing to conform to popular opinion.
If you’ve never met Chambers, you might say you don’t agree with his beliefs or cannot stand the headlines he grabs in the media.
If you have met him, one thing is for sure — he leaves an impression.
Chambers, 68, serves Omaha’s 11th district and is known for being articulate through his poetry and long debates on the floor of the Legislature. A self-proclaimed defender of the downtrodden, Chambers has been occupying a spot in Nebraska’s Capitol since 1970 but will be forced out because of term limits by 2008, along with 20 other state senators.
He’s compassionate, intelligent and stubborn. Some of the causes he’s championed have become synonymous with his name, including a bill he introduces each year to repeal Nebraska’s death penalty.
A glimpse of Chambers’ personality can be caught on the 1966 documentary about race relations in an all-white Omaha church, “A Time for Burning,” which featured a much younger, though no less fiery, Chambers. He also can be seen each week on a call-in show he hosts on Omaha Cox Channel 22, the minority affairs channel. In short, Chambers’ reputation is not easily summarized, which is why he respectfully declined when asked to comment for this story.
— Gwen Tietgen
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