Nebraska football broadcasting icon Greg Sharpe's family shares heartbreaking update

When it comes to talking about “The Voice of the Huskers” there are two men that almost ever fan will picture these days. Kent Pavelka has been the voice of Nebraska basketball for 5 decades now. And for Nebraska football and baseball, Greg Sharpe has been synonymous with those teams for almost 20 years.

There is a familial feel to hearing both those men call the action of their respective sports and fans feel like they know them, at least a little bit because their personalities come through on the radio, or on a podcast, or when they appear on television. And that’s one of the reasons why the latest news about Greg Sharpe is so utterly heartbreaking.

The voice of Nebraska football announced earlier this year that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And since that announcement Husker fans, and really fans of all programs and sports have been following his status as best they could, hoping and praying that he would overcome the disease. Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse.

The voice of Nebraska football and baseball, Greg Sharpe’s cancer has spread

Earlier this week, Sharpe’s wife Amy took to social media to offer the most unpleasant update. After starting the post off talking about some uplifting messages Sharpe had received at the radio station, she got into the really bad stuff.

“Sharing this update is hard. It’s never easy to face the tough decisions. The PET scan Greg had last week showed the cancer has spread nad grown in both the liver and bone. The treatments are no longer working.”

Amy went on to say that Greg has decided to transition to Pallative care. In other words, they’re going to be working to make him as comfortable as possible, while understanding that beating back the cance is no longer really an option. She added that “ telling our girls was the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do as parents.”

And its here why I decided to write this post, beyond sharing the news with those who care and didn’t yet know.

I wrote on social media earlier this week that I understand all too well what the Sharpe family is going through. I’ll never forget the day my father called me and told me that he was no longer going to fight his own cancer (a form of chronic leukemia that he’d managed to stave off for several years) and was “ready to go.”

A little over a month later he was gone. 

I say that to say this. I hope Greg and Amy and Emily and, Campbell and Taylor are still able to celebrate the holidays, however they plan to spend it and know that this time together is precious. It will hopefully be something along with the weeks or months, or however much time they have together they can look back on smile. 

I hope they also know that all of Nebraska football nation are thinking about them and truly hoping they can still enjoy being together.