LINCOLN, Neb. — For 20 days in the fall of 2017, in the wake of a Nebraska loss to Northern Illinois that reverberated across campus and beyond, Dave Rimington stepped in as interim athletic director. His task: to keep a seemingly rudderless ship from drifting farther off course while university leaders plotted their next set of moves.

Advertisement

“Things were not good,” Rimington said.

A Nebraska icon and two-time Outland Trophy winner as a center in the early 1980s, Rimington bridged the gap from the ousted Shawn Eichorst to Bill Moos, who six weeks after coming aboard hired football coach Scott Frost.

Rimington was a natural choice to ease the transition. He is beloved by Nebraskans and accomplished professionally as the longtime president of the Boomer Esiason Foundation. Rimington went to work in 1993 with Esiason, his old quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals, and has directed the organization’s efforts since 1995 to raise money and awareness in the fight to cure cystic fibrosis.

Esiason and his wife, Cheryl, started the foundation after the birth of his son, Gunnar, who was diagnosed with the genetic disorder at age 2.

A first-round draft pick of the Bengals’ in 1983, Rimington played seven seasons in the NFL. After his career, he lived in Hong Kong with his wife, Lisa, a fashion model, before settling in New York to work alongside Esiason.

Until Sept. 11, 2001, the foundation operated in space donated by financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald on the 101st floor of One World Trade Center, the second building to fall in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Rimington was out of the office on the infamous Tuesday morning. The Esiason Foundation regrouped as Dave and Lisa began their family.

Triplets Chase, Shawn and Sienna are 13; daughter Savannah is 10. They moved recently from Manhattan to Port Washington on Long Island, where Rimington works out of the foundation offices nearby in Garden City.

His Rimington Trophy, presented each January in Lincoln to the nation’s top center, has raised $4.2 million alone for the Esiason Foundation.

An Omaha native and South High School graduate, Rimington, 59, has traveled internationally over the past two decades and shared his passion for landscape photography with thousands on social media. His wanderlust extends the legacy of Rimington’s late parents, Emile and Barbara, who traversed the United States at every opportunity with Dave and his three siblings.

Advertisement

Throughout his travels and work in the private sector, Rimington’s heart has remained close to Nebraska.

Brothers Dennis and Doug and sister Diane live in Omaha. Dave plans to return to his roots in retirement. And he’s got a good feeling about a succession plan within the Esiason Foundation that will allow it to happen soon.

In a recent conversation with The Athletic, Rimington shared his thoughts on Nebraska football, life in the big city and his experiences in helping to lead the fight against cystic fibrosis.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What did you most take away from your three weeks in charge at Nebraska in 2017?

I knew I could settle things down until we got a new AD with experience who could move the program to where it needs to be. I think we’re at that point with Bill Moos. I think he’s been great. He’s been tasked to do a lot of hires. And they’re the most important sports as revenue goes.

So I’m happy that the program seems to be moving along in the right direction.

How do you feel about Moos’ most important hire, Scott Frost?

Coach Frost has really given people hope. And he’s done all the right things. A lot of the old-timers like the walk-on program. I’m telling you, if you get more bodies and you get people who will work, it’ll push the kids who are your three- and four-star players up to their potential. It gives you some depth that we just didn’t have before. It’s good to see that he’s working on that. We’ve got a head coach who’s brought inspiration and hope to the fan base. And he knows what he’s doing.

I think we’re doing some of the things that coach (Tom) Osborne did, bringing the numbers up. An old-timer like me, I like to see 3 yards and a cloud of dust. I want to just pound people. And that’s my problem, because when we played, we could physically impose our will on people. Everybody’s got a strength program now. Everything is pretty much level now.

Advertisement

And you’ve got Scott’s offense that can move the ball against anybody. There’s always a mismatch somewhere where he’s able to spread out and find a guy.

Were you surprised by the state of the program when you came back?

It was a blessing that we were so bad because it opened everybody’s eyes. We had fallen so far that we were able to give (Frost) a chance at the right time. He knows. He knows the history. He knows what’s expected. I’m hoping that we can get something going and see where it lands this year. I don’t expect miracles. I just want improvement. And I think most of the educated fans will think the same way.

What’s new in your life since the stint as interim AD?

I’ve had to cut back on traveling because my kids were getting to the age where they noticed I was gone. I heard, ‘Hey, Dad, you gonna watch me play football or baseball?’ I was like, OK, well, I guess travel is going to be out until they get old enough for me to get back out there. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy traveling. I enjoy photography. So that was always a reason for me to get up and get moving, to get out there and take some good photos.

How did you discover those two passions?

Well, travel has been a big part of my life. My mother is from England originally. So I went to England at a fairly young age, like 16 or 17. And then my dad and my mom would travel the Lower 48 states. So I guess I get that from my parents. The photography thing, I’ve always been interested in it. But when my kids were born 13 years ago, I started taking pictures of them. I expanded, and I went into more landscapes. I find those a little easier to do. I’m not really good at taking shots of people. I can do it, but I feel kind of uncomfortable.

As a blue-collar South Omaha family with four children, how did your parents manage all the travel?

We had a truck. My dad put a topper on it. And on the back of the truck, we had a travel trailer. We would just load up the kids, put Mom and Dad in the front and the kids in the back and take off. He put benches in there, and then he’d have a piece of plywood that we would slide between the benches that would become a bed. We would just lay in the back, all four of us kids, until somebody had to go to the restroom. Then it was a pound-on-the-window deal. We’d go for like two, two and a half weeks — as much vacation as they could get.

They would collect the decals from every state and put them on the back of the trailer. I remember it was a point of pride when my dad finally got all 48. We’d go to the West Coast. We went to the World’s Fair, to Montreal one year and Seattle the next. My parents just loved doing it. As kids, we didn’t appreciate it as much because we were stuck in the back of a truck. But it turned out to be pretty good. We got a lot of good memories out of it.

As an adult, how extensively have you traveled? 

I’ve been to all seven continents and about 105 countries. It was kind of like what my father did with his decals of the 48 states; I was just trying to hit all the continents and then get to as many countries as I could. A lot of the stops were on cruise ships, where I could go into one location and that would take me to three or four countries. It was a good way to get a taste of the places — not really in depth, but I would have a good plan on getting to where I needed to go to take some photos.

Advertisement

How are you handling teenage children? 

It’s a lot of fun. I’m almost 60, so I’ve got young kids and I’m old. I just keep telling my kids, ‘You’d have loved me when I was young. I’d run around with you, but I can’t do as much as I would like.’ I just try to cheer them on. They play hockey and they wrestle. Even my little girl wrestles. My son Shawn is doing sailing camp, so he’s learning stuff that I wish I could have done as a kid.

Why did you move away from Manhattan for Long Island?

We lived in Manhattan until the kids got to an age where we felt like we needed to get them in better schools. And so we brought them out here to Long Island. They came when they were 10 or 11, and they still travel down to the city a lot with their mom. I don’t really go to the city as much as they do.

What has Gunnar Esiason meant to the work of Boomer’s foundation? 

He’s been the name and the face behind it. He’s the reason we got started — but now he’s 26 and going (this fall) to business school at Dartmouth. Gunnar does a lot of work in outreach with the CF community. He’s been real active in doing his podcast. I would imagine when I leave, he might take over for me. With his business degree (from Boston College) and an MBA out of Dartmouth, I think he’d be ready for it.

About what aspect of the foundation’s work are you most proud?

When we first got involved, we were trying to raise money to find a cure for CF. But then the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation started a venture philanthropy piece. We invested in their Milestones campaign. And they became partners with Vertex (Pharmaceuticals), which has had three drugs that have really been game-changers. They’ve got a lot of money to try to find a cure for this. And we’ve done more with the scholarships and the transplant funds. Our emphasis now is on touching the people that have CF directly.

Is a cure on the horizon because of the joint work of the foundations?

The drugs are not a cure, but they get people to where we’re not seeing symptoms. The first drug was good (to use) for like 4 percent of the CF population. The second drug is good for 40 percent. And the third one, which still hasn’t been totally approved, should bring it up to 90 (percent) of the CF population that can take it.

Things are moving pretty good. Gunnar’s on it now, and he’s doing really well. His weight has gone up. He seems to be really healthy.

What are your memories today of 9/11 and how it impacted the foundation?

I’ve kind of frozen that out of my memory. I don’t think about it that much, simply because it’s just really painful, because I lost so many people that day. We lost 658 people at Cantor Fitzgerald. I probably knew 50 of them pretty closely because they were on our floor (of the North Tower). Cantor had five floors on the World Trade Center. They were all the upper floors. So when that plane hit, and it hit below their offices, all the smoke went up and they had no way to get out. When I think about it, I think about all the people that jumped out of that building. There was no hope. It’s just devastating. I’ll never get over it.

Advertisement

What’s on the horizon as you turn 60 next year?

Well, I’m hoping in two years to retire. That’ll put me at 61. Omaha is where I’d like to be. I really miss living there. I haven’t been in Nebraska since 1982 on a full-time basis. I think you appreciate it more the longer you’re away. My wife’s mom lives in Bellevue. My kids love going back to see their grandma. And it’s getting hard for her to get here to see us. So it’ll be good. Omaha is a city on the move. And I think it’s underrated — in quality of life and just common sense.

Living in New York, you see the nonsense that’s going on. It would be good to go back to a place where people are still able to do things themselves. When anything goes wrong in New York, they have to hire somebody to do it. I live in the suburbs here. My kids cut grass. They’re shoveling snow here. But nobody does anything themselves. My neighbors know my kids are the only ones who will do this stuff.

(Top photo courtesy of University of Nebraska)