Jay Prauner: A man guided by family, faith and sports
Mar 1, 2025
AUSTIN SVEHLA
Norfolk (Nebraska) Daily News
At 6-foot-4, Jay Prauner stood taller than most.
Pair his height with his brawny build and, at first, one might have been intimidated by his stature.
But looks, as they say, can be deceiving.
Because inside Prauner’s big-boned body was as soft a heart you’ll find — one that helped him touch the lives of so many, from his children and grandchildren to athletes, coaches, colleagues and his church’s congregation.
He had an impact on too many people to count, but he’d be the last person to tell you that.
Prauner, who worked as the Daily News’ managing editor and sports editor before that, died on Jan. 25 at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha at age 63. He was involved in a single-vehicle crash nine days earlier just north of Norfolk.
Prauner is survived by his three children, April, Jayden and Alex, six grandchildren, his mother and two brothers. His funeral service was held at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Norfolk on Monday morning.
A GENTLE GIANT
Prauner, a 1979 graduate of Battle Creek High School, grew up with three brothers and picked up sports from an early age. He also was blessed with size.
But Prauner was no Charles Oakley, Reggie White or Mike Tyson. He might have been physically imposing, but whether he was on a field of competition or working in the office, he was even-keeled and calm, a quality admired by many.
This made Prauner well-suited to be a grandfather. All three of his own kids’ first-born were girls.
“He was just such a gentle giant,” said his son, Jayden. “My sisters and me, all three of us had girls first, within three years of each other, and him being so soft and gentle, it was really a good fit for him to be a grandpa to three girls right away.”
April Danon, Prauner’s oldest, recalls having a special bond with her father.
“He was just a very tender man,” Danon said. “He loved tenderly; he loved quietly. He was never this boisterous, loud type of person. We always knew what kind of love he had for us.”
Prauner had an ability to help people through his quiet spirit, Danon said, which is a quality she inherited from her father.
“I get compliments from my peers and co-workers that that’s how I carry myself,” she said. “Everyone’s like, ‘April, you’re just so even-keeled, so calm.’ I instantly think of my dad because that’s exactly how he was.”
All three of Prauner’s children, as well as friends and colleagues, are grateful for Prauner’s approachability.
“To me, he was someone I could always go to with concerns,” said Alex Kirby, his youngest daughter. “He had just a very nonjudgmental view with a lot of things, and I think he helped a lot of people get through things as best as he could.”
Prauner also was as organized as they come.
“He got endorphins from having things organized and being able to provide that to people and help people in that way,” Kirby said.
It was the same at work. At the Daily News, Prauner designed charts and printed them out for his staff to use for story ideas or planning. And even if nobody ended up using the charts, Prauner took peace in knowing that he was organized, even if nobody else was.
After all, juggling his part-time job at the newspaper while running a business required organization. Prauner opened King’s Kloset, where he sold big–and–tall clothing, in 1984. He ran the business until the mid-1990s, when he began working full-time at the newspaper.
Jayden Prauner said that when his dad and his siblings were boys, they often had to go to Sioux City to find clothes to accommodate their size. Jay Prauner wanted larger men in Norfolk to have easy access to clothes that fit them.
“I think my dad commiserated with that a little bit because he knew what it was like,” Jayden Prauner said.
A LOVE FOR SPORTS
Prauner had a passion for all things sports from a young age. He was an athlete himself — and a good one at that, routinely competing in the state championships in high school in multiple sports and later playing basketball at Northeast Technical College and football at Midland Lutheran.
Prauner earned a degree in business, but not long after returning to the Norfolk area after college, he followed his passion and pursued a position in the Daily News’ sports department in 1986. It was a way to be involved in something he cared about so deeply.
But sports weren’t just something Prauner involved himself in for self-fulfillment; he instilled that same love in his kids.
“The best memories with him and I are bonding over sports,” Danon said. “I’m a huge sports fan. I could always call him up and talk about a coach getting fired or something big happening that I knew we could bond over.
“We just clicked over that, and that’s the fondest memory I have.”
Jayden Prauner also developed a strong relationship with sports, and he’s grateful for how involved his dad was, coaching Jayden in flag football and club basketball growing up.
“A lot of those teams and time spent playing sports led me to a lot of my friendships early in life, and I still have a lot of those friends today,” Jayden Prauner said.
The elder Prauner played town basketball and softball in his 20s and 30s. On the court, Jayden Prauner said, his dad loved shooting corner 3s.
“It was his favorite spot on the court,” he said. “I don’t know why he liked that side shot — probably because he was able to make it so often.”
One of the younger Prauner’s favorite memories was getting to play in Battle Creek’s alumni basketball tournaments with his dad.
“I really loved playing with him and his buddies,” he said. “I always thought they were so cool.”
Kirby didn’t pick up the same love for sports as her two siblings, but she’d throw in a comment here and there about something sports-related. She knew it made her dad happy.
Matt Svehla, Northeast Community College’s women’s basketball coach, witnessed Prauner’s affection for sports firsthand. Svehla, a former college basketball player himself, played against Prauner in city basketball leagues in the 1990s. He also had frequent conversations with Prauner at the height of his sports coverage for the newspaper.
“We had a lot of phone calls over a lot of years,” Svehla said. “Jay always wanted to know the history of stuff; he wanted to know who our big rivals were. He just really had a lot of interest in what he was doing.”
Something Svehla appreciated about Prauner is the element of trust the two shared. They often talked about facts and stats Prauner needed for a story while also discussing private matters during the same conversation.
“There was a lot of trust that got built like there is with everyone that works in the media,” Svehla said. “The Norfolk Daily News has always provided us great coverage, and Jay was at the forefront of that for a long time.”
On the court, Svehla said, the competitive juices were always flowing, but Prauner didn’t take himself too seriously.
“Jay was a good basketball player and had a good feel for the game,” Svehla said. “He was a good shooter, always hanging outside the 3-point line. He was going to play to win, but he would make sure we were going to have a laugh or two while doing it.”
Randy Hagedorn was another person who shared the basketball court with Prauner. The two were teammates at Northeast from 1979 to 1981. They were on the last Northeast team to play in the Norfolk City Auditorium and the first to play in the Cox Activities Center.
Hagedorn said Prauner was someone who always worked hard and was never negative.
“He was a great guy and a great teammate,” Hagedorn said. “We got along really well. He was just good with everybody.”
Hagedorn, who worked at the Norfolk Family YMCA for 40 years — 26 of them as the Y’s executive director — collaborated with Prauner in his capacities as sports editor and managing editor at the Daily News.
“Jay was just great to work with,” Hagedorn said. “He wasn’t real intense, just a mild-mannered guy. I always appreciated that.”
Mike Grosz met Prauner in the 1980s while Grosz was starting at KTCH in Wayne and Prauner was starting out at the Daily News. The two hit it off right away, Grosz said, largely because Prauner was easy to talk to.
Both quickly progressed in their respective professions. Grosz pursued the sports information department at Wayne State, where he is now the director, and Prauner became sports editor at the newspaper in 1996. Their friendship continued.
“Jay and I had the same visions, and we wanted the best,” Grosz said. “I wanted the best coverage for our athletes, and he wanted the best for anything he was doing as sports editor of the Norfolk Daily News.”
Prauner would make frequent trips to Wayne for both game coverage and preparation of the newspaper’s fall sports previews. Grosz said he always admired Prauner’s gift of creativity and his ability to spotlight athletes while making the preview section aesthetically pleasing to readers.
“He was good at what he did, he had a true passion for what he did, he cared about the product he put out and he took pride in it,” Grosz said.
As years passed, Prauner and Grosz maintained their friendship, sharing phone calls and meeting for lunch in Norfolk. Early on, their lunches centered largely on work and sports, but in recent years, the focus was family and personal lives.
Many of Prauner’s personal qualities — patience, creativity, organization and a passion for sports — served him well at the Daily News.
Throughout his time at the paper, he received many awards, both for his writing and page design, which was his favorite part of the job.
As sports editor and managing editor, Prauner also fielded phone calls from upset readers, and he had a knack for listening to them and helping them see his side as well, according to Tim Pearson, chief editor at the Daily News.
“Jay always had a calm demeanor,” said Pearson, who worked with Prauner for 28 years at the Daily News. “I rarely, if ever, heard him raise his voice or get angry. No matter the situation, he knew exactly what to say and how to offer the right perspective to readers.”
But Prauner also had plenty of admirers across northeast and north central Nebraska, as evidenced by the dozens of thank-you cards, letters and emails from readers for stories he wrote through his career at the Daily News.
“Over the years, he kept all of those cards in his desk drawer,” Pearson said. “That showed his commitment and the impact he made on countless coaches, athletes and readers.”
Outside work, Prauner’s passion for sports led him to create a fantasy football game and sell it to an online company in 2009.
“It was definitely a highlight in his life and highlights his creativity,” Jayden Prauner said. “It shows his willingness to chase a goal.”
A MAN OF FAITH
Prauner was a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Norfolk. Pastor Lee Weander, who joined Our Savior in 1994, said Prauner was attending church there before the pastor arrived. Prauner rarely missed church, Weander said, and was heavily involved with church activities and ministries.
Following Prauner’s accident in mid-January, another member of the congregation who’d previously undergone a leg amputation drove to Omaha hoping to see Prauner, Weander said. The man went to the hospital because he wanted to tell Prauner, whose lower left leg required amputation following the accident, that he would help Prauner the same way Prauner had helped him.
“It goes to show the impact Jay had on so many others,” Weander said.
Prauner was involved in Stephen Ministries, which involves laypersons providing one-on-one care for individuals who request support. Weander said Prauner helped countless people, from those dealing with the loss of a loved one to those struggling in their personal lives.
“Jay touched a lot of lives,” Weander said. “He found his strength in his faith, and like any of us who get to be 60 years old, he saw a lot of ups and downs in life. One constant strength for him was knowing he was loved by Jesus.”
Prauner’s relationship with God was something he passed down to his own children.
“He always wanted us to create a relationship with God and knew that was what would comfort us in our trials and tribulations we went through,” Danon said.
“It’s definitely gotten me through a lot of things in life,” Kirby said of her relationship with God. “And I think that’s the kind of relationship he had with God, too. He leaned on him for just about anything he was going through.”
According to his kids, Prauner himself was always present through trials and tribulations. If you needed someone to listen, he was there. If you needed advice, he was there.
“For as long as I've known him, that’s the way he’s always been,” Danon said. “Thankfully, we kids were lucky enough to have him as our dad, because what a symbol of graciousness and representation of what God probably wants us all to be like.”
