The Final Farewell:
I've copied Rick Bozich's latest to my entry today in honor of my Cards, the Brohms, and especially Brian. I don't care about the losing record, especially when you look at what this family has given to our city and university. So I pray that the fans give one last amazing cheer and the players have one last victory for the other seniors and for the first family of U of L athletics. Thanks Brohms. And thank you Seniors. It's been a wild ride.
The Brohms' lullaby will be sung tonight:
Oscar Brohm says it all began on a Little League field at Highview Park 32 years ago, when his oldest son, Greg, was a 6-year-old hitter taking a vicious rip at his first fastball.
His wife, Donna, thinks there was some organized batting, dribbling or quarterbacking by the fabulous Brohm boys before that, but she isn't certain.
"You're not the first person to ask how many games I've watched my children play," she said. "I tried to take a paper and pencil to it, but there's just no way."
From Highview Park to St. Bernard to Trinity High School to the University of the Louisville. Those are the stops that Oscar and Donna's three sons -- Greg, Jeff and Brian -- have made. Please don't forget that their daughter, Kim, was a four-sport star at St. Bernard, Mercy Academy and Spalding University.
"She might have been the best athlete in the group," Oscar Brohm said.
On Tuesday afternoon, when Oscar wiped a tear from his cheek as he walked off U of L's football practice field, he closed his eyes and started to contemplate something an entire stadium will contemplate tonight:
This is it.
The last game one of Oscar and Donna Brohm's four dynamic and precocious children will play for their hometown schools. Brian Brohm, U of L's senior quarterback, will say goodbye and begin his transition to the NFL after he directs the Cardinals against Rutgers in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
ESPN intends to help the Brohms celebrate the farewell the right way. The network invited Mom to tape the video introduction of the Cards' starters.
"When I stop and think about it, I get a little emotional," Oscar said. "I have to be careful because it makes my eyes tear up. I'll say it's the wind in my eyes, but it gets to you."
"It's been great, especially the last four years when all three boys have been together," Donna said.
"But I'm sure it will be emotional. We went through it once when Greg (1992) and Jeff (1993) finished their careers. But back then we still had two more kids who had all kinds of activities. This will be different."
Different for the Brohms, who watch the games from different spots because Donna has been known to pace while Oscar sits quietly and tries to read defenses and call the plays his son is calling.
And it will be different for the U of L football program, where Brian is the quarterback, Jeff is assistant head coach and Greg is director of football operations.
Starting in 1988, there has been at least one of Oscar and Donna's sons on 10 U of L football teams. The Cards' record in those 10 seasons: 77-38-1, including victories in the Fiesta, Liberty and Orange bowls.
"I remember when they were my sons," Oscar said with a laugh. "Now I'm their dad."
Stop your booing of this season's lackluster 5-6 team for a night and remember the Brohms have been critical participants in many of the most memorable U of L football moments.
Beating Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl to cap a 10-1-1 season in 1990. A one-point loss at Ohio State in 1992, a game in which Jeff threw a touchdown pass to Greg. Whipping Michigan State in the 1993 Liberty Bowl, with Jeff leaving Memphis as the MVP. Those were the Greg and Jeff years.
Brian enrolled at U of L in 2004. He played on teams that beat Kentucky three times. Last season he quarterbacked a team that delivered victories against three top-20 teams, punctuated by the 24-13 win over Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 2, with Brian leaving Miami as the MVP.
The fabulous Brohm boys have combined to complete 1,170 of 1,878 passes for 15,989 yards and 108 touchdowns. Greg, a receiver who arrived as a Howard Schnellenberger recruit in 1988, caught 45 passes for 722 yards -- and his father is certain he dropped only one ball.
"And it was a tough catch," Oscar said.
Don't forget the five state championships they won at Trinity or that Greg, Jeff and Brian also won one Toy Bowl at St. Bernard. Or that Jeff and Brian were voted Mr. Football and drafted by major league baseball teams. Or that Jeff preceded Brian into the NFL.
But there have been many brother acts in elementary and high school. The Brohms loyally took their act to the hometown university even though they could have sprinted to schools with more football sizzle than U of L, especially when Greg and Jeff started this journey.
Credit Oscar and Donna, who both grew up in this town. Oscar played quarterback at Flaget High and at U of L in 1968-69. But don't be so quick to credit all the athletic DNA to Dad. Donna was a three-sport star at Angela Merici High School.
"A lot of people say they got their ability from her," Oscar said.
And credit Schnellenberger, who was wise enough to recruit Greg out of Trinity after UK stopped pursuing him because Jerry Claiborne's staff questioned his size and speed.
"Then Greg played on the Kentucky All-Star team with 10 guys that Kentucky signed and he outran every one of them," Oscar recalled. "They took all the times and matched him against the next-fastest kid, and he beat him head up."
The pipeline was in place. Jeff followed Greg, waving off scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Ohio State, Kentucky and others. Ditto for Brian, who passed his way onto the cover of Sports Illustrated before he left high school.
Now the run that began at Highview Park Little League 32 years ago concludes with its 117th University of Louisville football game tonight.
"We're very thankful because it's been a fabulous ride," Donna Brohm said.
Go Cards! Love, Elizabeth
