Probably the most significant impact was that when I moved to Dallas in Dec. 1984, my first boss here hired me because of my Nebraska background and UNL degree. He said he knew I would have the work ethic he wanted and would have the determination (now referred to as "grit") to excel in sales. Another funny story - as a sales-person in the mid-90's, I actually won a $1M+ sale because I knew the President's son had been a Nebraska football player and named him immediately and other assorted facts about him at the time. It was actually hilarious because the guy I had been negotiating with prior to that meeting knew he had lost all leverage once I had that "infamous interaction" with his boss - the President of the company. :) Still makes me chuckle to this day!