By STEVEN BENDER
Alumni News staff
In this journey through life, people who succeed often plant seeds and lay down foundations for later generations. By means of a University of Nebraska scholarship, one family continues to do just that.
For the past 35 years, the Robert H. and Todd Storz Memorial Broadcasting Scholarship has rewarded students for their excellence in academia. The scholarship goes to four or five select students each academic year, helping offset the increasing costs of a college education. The scholarship also leaves a legacy that comes from a rich broadcasting tradition.
Harold Soderlund, 86, a retired advertising salesman and broadcaster, said he met Todd Storz when Storz worked as a salesman at KFAB in Omaha. He said Todd and his father, Robert, bought KOWH in Omaha. Then they bought stations in Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, St. Louis and Miami. Many broadcasters remember Todd Storz has been credited with developing the popular music format referred to today as “Top-40.”
Todd Storz enrolled in the University of Nebraska as a freshman in 1942. One newspaper reports Storz spent four years during World War II with the Army Signal Corps in Europe. He died in his Miami Beach home on April 13, 1964, at age 39.
A year later, colleagues and friends of Storz decided to create a scholarship in his name.
Soderlund said he and a Storz Broadcasting Company manager wanted to do something to remember Todd Storz.
On April 12, 1965, Jack L. Sandler, then vice president and general manager of WQAM, Miami, wrote a letter from himself and Soderlund to their broadcasting colleagues. In his letter, Sandler wrote: “It would be fitting to set up a permanent scholarship fund so that an annual grant can be made to a worthy student in that school.”
Later renamed to recognize Robert Storz’ leadership of Storz Broadcasting, the Robert H. and Todd Storz Scholarship attempts to attract incoming University of Nebraska freshmewho have demonstrated high school academic excellence and who plan to major in broadcasting.
A University of Nebraska Foundation press release from 1994 reports that the Storz Foundation had awarded $77,500 to the Foundation, putting the scholarship fund at more than $135,000.
Soderlund remembers this, too.
“There are people, and I’m one of them, who contribute large sums of money just because we think it might help mankind,” Soderlund said, recalling the Storz Scholarship and a chair he endowed at NU.
“And this is just another small brick in the road to achieving that end of educated young people,” Soderlund said of the scholarship. “And if they think about where the scholarship money comes, it will probably make them more public spirited.”
John Knicely, 47, news anchor for Channel 6 News (WOWT) in Omaha, made use of his “brick in the road” when he attended the University of Nebraska between 1970 and 1974. During the 1973-1974 school year, Knicely received the Storz Scholarship and part of a legacy.
“Probably more than anything,” Knicely said, “it told me that somebody was watching and noticing when I’m just going about my everyday-tunnel-vision approach. It was a reward, in my opinion.”
Jody Ambroz, 22, reporter for 10/11 News (KOLN) in Lincoln, trod on her “brick” as an NU broadcasting student twice between 1995 and 1997, beginning with her sophomore year.
“It’s kind of like a reward for doing well in school,” Ambroz said of the Storz scholarship. “And if someone is willing to help out other students, then I think that’s really important.”
Bobbi Zapp, 21, an NU broadcasting student, and three other students made use of their “bricks” this year. Zapp has received the scholarship twice since 1997. She said the scholarship relieved her from the financial stress that many of her friends faced. She said she spent less time worrying about lab fees or the cost of textbooks.
Zapp said she thought the idea of a scholarship as a legacy was inspiring.
“I’m beginning to look for internships and work after graduation next May,” Zapp said. “And I’m realizing it is not going to be as easy as I once thought. Yet, by receiving financial assistance from people who have been successful in the broadcasting industry, I know that I can have a fulfilling broadcasting career.”
As people like the Storz family and their friends lay down bricks on the road to success, maybe students whose path is paved by those bricks can lay down new ones some day for the next generation.
“If you look at the seed that was planted with that scholarship,” Knicely said, “it’s growing into a tree because of the lives that are affected.”