Editor’s note: In an effort to support local businesses that are being threatened by the devastating effects of the coronavirus, The Athletic is publishing an ongoing series of stories to highlight our treasured communities. #supportlocal. This story originally was published as part of The Athletic‘s Sept. 2019 buffet of stories on food and college football, The Spread.

LINCOLN, Neb. — Scott Frost offered some advice last winter to the newest member of his coaching staff as Tony Tuioti settled into his job at Memorial Stadium as the Nebraska defensive line coach.

“Frost told me to go get a Runza,” Tuioti said, “that it’s a big part of the culture.”

Tuioti, who arrived at Nebraska via California, Ohio, Michigan and his native Hawaii, had never heard of this concoction of ground beef, cabbage, onions and spices baked inside four ounces of bread and sold at restaurants that share a name with the tasty sandwich.

There’s a Runza around almost every corner in Lincoln — 14 in the city among 85 throughout Nebraska and just outside its borders — so Tuioti stopped in and tried a Swiss Mushroom Runza. It’s among the many variations that include the Spicy Jack Runza, BLT Runza and BBQ Bacon Runza.

He liked it. Next time, Tuioti got a burger. And just like that, he was a Nebraskan.

The sandwiches, derived from a delicacy of German and Russian heritage called the bierock, were popularized in Nebraska by Sally Everett. She opened the first Runza store in 1949 with her brother, Alex Brening. Sally’s son, Donald Everett Sr., took over as the chain expanded. His son, Don Jr., serves as the current Runza president.

Though sales of burgers and chicken strips outnumber the Runzas, the original sandwich resonates deeply with Nebraskans. Donald Everett Sr., sold Runzas from an old mail truck parked outside of Memorial Stadium, starting in the early 1980s.

“They grew up with our brand,” said Runza spokeswoman Becky Perrett. “They’ve seen it grow. We would not be here without their support.”

The restaurant chain in 2007 began selling chili and cinnamon rolls, the bizarre combination born decades earlier in Midwestern school cafeterias that grew into a staple of many Nebraska homes.

In 2000, Runza officially partnered with Nebraska athletics. Today, teen-aged “hawkers” sell approximately 14,000 Runzas at every home football game. There exists seemingly no end to the ties between Nebraska and Runza.

Sen. Ben Sasse has sold Runzas inside the stadium for several years, though he recently ceased the practice when confronted by constituents upset over his political decisions. Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook recently proposed, perhaps seriously, for a drone to fly around the inside of the Devaney Center arena and drop Runzas to fans as his team played.

Actress Gabrielle Union, an Omaha native, appeared on BuzzFeed News last year to discuss the Huskers. She did it while eating a Runza.

Watch #BreakingInMovie star and Nebraska native @itsgabrielleu show off her impressive #Huskers football knowledge 🏈🤓 pic.twitter.com/BVTl2OMQFB — AM2DM by BuzzFeed News (@AM2DM) May 15, 2018

Freshman linebacker Garrett Nelson of Scottsbluff, Neb., joked that he was eating a Runza as he emerged from his mother’s womb.

Nelson, who falls asleep to highlights of legendary Blackshirts, is something of the ultimate Nebraskan. His grandmother cooked her version of the Runza sandwich. His grandfather Ken Parish, once the football coach at Cozad (Neb.) High School, bought them by the dozens for parties to watch the Huskers on TV.

“I love Runzas,” Nelson said. “I do. I’m not lying. I can’t describe the bread, because it’s moist but not soggy. The meat is obviously great. The cabbage adds something to it. It’s a great balance. Whoever made up Runzas was a smart person.”

Perrett said Runza receives requests “from every state in the country” to add restaurants. Runza moved into Kansas, Iowa and Colorado, but the company won’t go far beyond the Nebraska borders after short-lived attempts at expansion in Las Vegas in the early 1990s and Moline, Ill.

The regional presence, as with other chains, preserves Runza’s charm.

“During any college break, the beginning of summer or just a holiday, I can’t tell you how many times we hear, ‘I just had to get my Runza fix,’ ” said Wayne Wilson, managing partner of the store in Papillion, Neb. “It’s just so unique and a part of Nebraska.”

Wilson, 53, grew up in Lincoln and worked at the store on 33rd Street and Nebraska Highway while in high school at Lincoln Southeast. He met his wife, Jackie, in the kitchen. She attended Lincoln Pius X and specialized in making onion rings.

“I can’t tell you how many times we hear, ‘I just had to get my Runza fix,’ ” says Wayne Wilson, managing partner of the store in Papillion, Neb. (Joe Mixan for The Athletic)

He opened the restaurant in downtown Papillion in 1996. It’s now one of 22 in metro Omaha. Wilson still regularly molds the Runzas — about 200 on a typical day at his store. The ground beef, mixed with other ingredients, is called the filling. It’s separated into oblong chunks of about 3 3/4 ounces called footballs, which are stuffed into the dough cutouts and cooked for 45 minutes.

At Wilson’s store, three couples in his 23 years have met and married. A Runza romance, it’s called. He would know.

“There’s a lot of them around,” Wilson said.

And families often send multiple siblings to work for him. On a recent Monday morning, 19-year-old Elen Marek helped Wilson make the Runzas before they moved on to salads. Her sister Cecilia, 24, worked at Runza in Papillion before Elen. Younger sister Sophie got a job at the store not long ago.

“It’s very Midwestern,” Elen said. “And everyone wants to know the recipes.”

Those are closely guarded. Like a state secret.

People desire the Runza recipe, but it’s not for sharing. (Joe Mixan for The Athletic)

Wilson travels annually in March to Arizona to play golf. For his room and board at the home of a friend, he brings frozen Runzas — as many as he can fit into his golf bag. They’re like currency.

In 2010, Wilson traveled with Runza corporate to the Holiday Bowl as Nebraska faced Washington. Runza struck a deal to get into the stadium and sold thousands of sandwiches before halftime. Displaced Nebraska fans in San Diego saw the familiar Runza logo and rushed to meet Wilson. He posed for several photos.

“We were like celebrities out there,” he said. “It was my 15 minutes of fame.”

Runza regularly ships full-sized and mini sandwiches to watch parties of Nebraska fans and alumni around the country. This year in Week 2, the company towed a trailer to Boulder, Colo., and set up shop outside Folsom Field. Perrett said they sold more than 1,200 sandwiches.

On football Saturdays at Memorial Stadium, the Runzas are prepared off campus but cooked on site and divided in coolers. Each cooler holds about 26 sandwiches, said hawker Elijah Rogers, 14, who attends Scott Middle School in Lincoln.

After going through four coolers and for each additional cooler, Rogers said, the hawkers get a $10 bonus in the form of two extra Runzas that they can sell and keep the cash.

Rogers hangs out in the southwest corner of the stadium on field level during warmups to catch hungry fans as they pass through the gates. He prefers the north end zone seats near the big screen after kickoff.

Jonathan Reed, 13, sold popcorn at the stadium last season in his first year as a hawker. Getting access to the Runza coolers is “like a promotion,” said Reed, who attends Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in Lincoln and enjoys a hot Cheese Runza when he’s not working.

“This is what we’re known for,” said Reed, explaining Nebraska fans’ passion for Runza. “It’s nowhere else.”

Hawkers sell an estimated 14,000 Runzas at each Cornhuskers home game. (Joe Mixan for The Athletic)

Runza is deeply rooted in communities around Nebraska.

Among its philanthropic work, Runza has partnered with the TeamMates mentoring program, founded by former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, for 10 years. It participates at all Runza locations in a fundraiser for child hunger and has sponsored the statewide Walk to End Alzheimer’s since the 2014 death of Donald Everett Sr., to the disease.

And of course, there’s the connection to Nebraska athletics.

“It’s a fun thing to have that Husker tie and Husker tradition,” Perrett said.

Senior defensive end Khalil Davis and his twin brother Carlos got a taste of Runza during their first visit to Lincoln several years ago with their uncle Lorenzo Hicks, a former Nebraska defensive back. The twins, from Blue Springs, Mo., knew nothing about Runza.

“I’m sure me and Carlos ate it,” Khalil Davis said. “And I’m sure we really liked it.”

Khalil prefers the burgers at Runza today. So does inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud, who orders the double cheeseburger with fries on trips to Runza. Ruud grew up in Lincoln and starred at Nebraska before an NFL career with Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Seattle, New Orleans and Houston.

NFL cities offered much in culinary options. Ruud tried plenty of it, he said, but never lost his love for chili and cinnamon rolls.

“People didn’t quite understand,” Ruud said of the Nebraska specialty, adopted by Runza.

Ruud received strange looks from teammates. But he shook them off. “Usually,” Ruud said, “it was from the guy who was eating alligator.”

By comparison, Ruud said, his dining preferences seemed as traditional as Nebraska football in the fall.

(Top photo: Joe Mixan for The Athletic)