LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a former University of Nebraska defensive back, knew about getting hit hard long before he played for Hall of Fame football coach Tom Osborne. He got bruising lessons at home, on family land near Columbus, where big brother, Clete, an all-Big 8 linebacker, pummeled him long before the Pillen boys played against Big 8 offenses.

But the governor said the pain of backyard tussles was “nothing” compared to what he felt after a few slow-motion seconds on Dec. 22, when his son-in-law’s horse and his got spooked. “I’ve never experienced anything close,” said Pillen, who broke seven ribs, two of them twice, along with a collapsed lung, a lacerated spleen, a bruised kidney and a fractured vertebra.

Pillen discussed his injuries during that horse ride, his recovery at hospitals in Columbus and Omaha and getting back to work in a sit-down interview with the Nebraska Examiner on Friday. He laughed and teared up in a high-backed chair in the living room of the Governor’s Mansion, where he has stayed since being released from the Nebraska Medical Center a week earlier.

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