Darrell was born on March 5, 1937 on the family farmstead near Burwell to Orval and Elsie (Mattern) Conner. Darrell grew up in rural Burwell, attended a one room school and graduated from Ord High School in 1956. Darrell’s athletic talents took him to the University of Nebraska, where he was a rugged Nebraska tackle for the 1956 and 1957 Husker football teams. In 1957 he joined the United States Army, where he served his country for 6 years. While in the service he was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia and served as a military policeman, and was on the boxing team. Darrell had 150+ bouts, and 88 TKO’s. He was honorably discharged in 1963. On July 3, 1960 Darrell was united in marriage to Dolores Sobotka in Ord, and the couple had 4 children to this union. Following his military service he returned to Ord, where he farmed, also ran a hay moving business. He then moved to Ericson, and with his boys ran Triple D builders, as well as an auto sales business. Following his retirement,. . .