Remembering Brook

[Eric the Red]

Berringer's memory lives on

 

Ten years after his death, former Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer is recalled as a good friend whose quiet spirit lives on in his hometown of Goodland, Kansas.

 

By BRIAN ROSENTHAL | Lincoln Journal Star

 

GOODLAND, Kan. — Jim McKee brings pictures. About a half-dozen photo album pages filled with pictures. It’s just a sampling from six scrapbooks.

 

When you’ve never really shared your close Brook Berringer stories — especially with total strangers — photos are a good place to start.

 

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McKee passes them around the kitchen table in Berringer’s boyhood home. It’s a calm, warm spring Saturday morning in northwestern Kansas. If you’re a farmer, it’s a day probably better suited for spraying fields than storytelling. But McKee happily obliges and provides live captions for each candid shot.

 

There’s one of Brook with the entire McKee family — Jim, Judy, Jayme, Jake, Janel, Jara, Janae and Jance. There’s one of Brook with many of the McKees at Nebraska football photo day in Lincoln, Brook’s freshman year. A local TV station featured the group in a story broadcast that evening.

 

And there’s one of Brook, standing before the front door, with a duffel bag strapped over his shoulder.

 

McKee and Jan Berringer, Brook’s mother, look at the photo and smile as they point out the contents of the duffel bag. Jance, then just a toddler, appears tucked away, his head poking out, a big grin on his face.

 

Now a sophomore at Brewster High School, about 30 miles east of Goodland, Jance is active in sports. Because he had just transferred, he couldn’t play football last season. A shame, really, because Brewster, an eight-man team, loves to throw the football. And Jance, according to his dad, can toss the ball quite a ways, and pretty accurately.

 

Brook taught him how to throw a football.

 

“And you can still see it,” Jim said.

 

n n n

 

Jake McKee isn’t sure why he stayed home from school that day.

 

He and his father had planned on leaving that Thursday to get an early start on their weekend trip to Lincoln. They were going to watch the Nebraska spring game and visit Brook.

 

But Jim had farming duties to tend to, and they postponed their trip a day. Jake, a senior at Goodland High, stayed home anyway. He didn’t have a good reason. He just stayed home.

 

He was still asleep at 8 in the morning when his mother, Judy, before leaving for an errand, poked her head in Jake’s bedroom. “Keep an eye on your brother,” she said.

 

Jance, then 5 years old, eventually crawled into bed with his older brother. The phone rang.

 

“I don’t know why I did this, but I told Jance to go get the phone,” Jake said. “It was Brook. I remember laying in bed listening to them have a conversation on the phone.”

 

Jance brought the phone into the bedroom, and Jake and Brook talked. It wasn’t a long conversation. Jake told Brook they’re coming to Lincoln a day later than planned.

 

“I remember Brook said he may go flying,” Jake said. “He said, ‘See you tomorrow,’ ” and hung up the phone.

 

“The weird thing is, I would’ve never let Jance answer (the phone). I don’t know why I did.”

 

The news spread quickly later that day. A small plane had crashed near Lincoln. It was reported that Brook was aboard. There were no survivors.

 

Jake said he can count the number of times he’s seen his father cry. That day was one. Jim hugged Jake and told him he’d lost a son. That was OK with Jake, because to him, Brook was a brother.

 

As the McKees — all eight of them — mourned together, one eerie fact quickly surfaced. They discovered that each one of them had spoken with Brook earlier that day.

 

Even little Jance.

 

n n n

 

It’s been nearly 10 years since the J-3 Piper Cub airplane that Brook piloted crashed northwest of Lincoln. Tobey Lake, the brother of Brook’s girlfriend, Tiffini, also died. The date was April 18, 1996, only two days before Brook had expected to be chosen in the NFL Draft.

 

Nebraska mourned. The state grew to love Brook, a Kansas boy, like an adopted son.

 

Play quarterback at Nebraska, come off the bench to lead the Huskers to a national championship, then go back to the bench as the Huskers win another title, and, well, you’re hero status across the state. The fact Brook was a handsome, likeable, honorable man who didn’t seem to know a stranger added to his lore.

 

“What you saw with Brook is what you got. He didn’t put on a face,” said Brad Wells, a close friend and college roommate of Brook. “Just a great, great guy, with great integrity, great values. Just a true character.”

 

The outpouring of support was tremendous. Jan received 10,000 pieces of mail, most of it from Nebraska fans. One letter was addressed, “Brook’s Mom, Goodland, Kansas,” and arrived with all the others. Thousands filled Max Jones Fieldhouse in Goodland for a funeral that lasted three hours and was broadcast locally on radio.

 

In the days, weeks and months that followed, everyone shared Brook stories. But not once in the past decade has Jim McKee spoken publicly about his father-son like relationship with Brook, whose natural father, Warren, died of cancer when Brook was 7.

 

McKee turned down numerous interview requests shortly after Brook’s death. He’s mentioned, but not quoted, in “One Final Pass,” the book Jan Berringer helped write with author Art Lindsay. The five-year anniversary of Brook’s death passed without comment from McKee to the media.

 

The soft-spoken McKee is still somewhat guarded in how much he shares. He chooses his words carefully as he tries to explain his special relationship with Brook, whom he met through his daughter Jayme.

 

“It was just a real personal experience,” McKee said. “I felt like what he and I had ... was not to be talked about again.”

 

Said Jake McKee: “Their relationship will never fully be known by me. And I’m his own kid.”

 

In fact, not even Brook’s mother fully understood, McKee said, until he began sharing stories with Jan after Brook’s funeral. Jan had known the McKees, who farmed near Goodland, because Brook dated Jayme in high school. But beyond that …

 

“We were his getaway, and we just left it that way,” Jim McKee said. “Nobody really knew about it.”

 

Of course, the 15,000 acres of McKee land were like heaven for Brook, an avid outdoorsman. Anyone who spent a lot of time with Brook probably has a hunting story to tell, whether it be about calling coyotes, falling in a creek bed while chasing turkeys … or even risking a new fishing pole on a stupid snapping turtle.

 

Gathering cattle, roping steers, driving semis, running the combine, helping with wheat harvest. Brook was part of it all on the McKee farm. He was a part of the family.

 

Football? A small part of the conversation, usually. But Jim and Brook talked on the phone four or five times a week when Brook was in Lincoln, and those talks inevitably turned to football. When Brook learned he’d lost the starting quarterback job to Tommie Frazier prior to the 1995 season, he called Jim.

 

“There were a lot of issues with him and football,” Jim said. “There were a lot of things he had a hard time dealing with.”

 

McKee especially remembers one of Brook’s last phone calls, about four days before the plane crash.

 

“It was basically a thank-you phone call,” McKee said. “He said, ‘I want you to know I love every one of you.’

 

“He had never, ever said anything like that before.”

 

n n n

 

A medium-sized red Nebraska flag flies just above the ground of Brook’s gravesite, in a cemetery on the north edge of Goodland.

 

The flag first appeared not long after Brook’s funeral. When it eventually became torn and tattered, Jan decided to replace it. She purchased a new flag during her next Nebraska trip, but when she returned to the cemetery, the old flag had already been replaced.

 

Somebody has continued to replace it every year. To this day, Jan says she has no idea who. She turns to Jim as she’s re-telling this story, and asks him if he knows. Jim shakes his head.

 

Pheasant feathers, gun cartridges, notes to Brook, Nebraska sweatshirts and Nebraska ball caps have also been left on Brook’s grave. Jan tells the story of a trucker who parked his rig on a nearby highway and walked about a quarter-mile to the cemetery, asking cemetery workers where he could find Brook Berringer’s grave. Jan has had strangers come to her home and stand in the front yard to take pictures of Brook’s house. One such occasion led to a two-hour conversation on the front patio. They, of course, were Nebraska fans.

 

“You can’t live in Nebraska and not know who Brook Berringer is,” said Jake McKee, who also played football at Nebraska and now lives in Omaha.

 

“In fact, every conversation I have when I introduce myself, when I say I’m from Goodland, people bring up Brook.”

 

Some Husker fans have entire walls in their homes dedicated to Berringer. The Nebraska football team named a citizenship award in his honor and memory. A local Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet will pay a special tribute to Berringer on Monday night in Lincoln.

 

But how is Berringer remembered in his hometown? You might be surprised.

 

There are no signs on the edge of town declaring Goodland the home of Brook Berringer. Of the dozens of local and regional artifacts hanging on the walls of Crazy R’s, the local eating joint and watering hole, not one is a red No. 18 jersey. Or a Berringer high school jersey. Or photo of Brook.

 

You will, however, find a poster commemorating Berringer that hangs in the trophy case at Max Jones Fieldhouse, the high school’s gymnasium. But no local awards or scholarships are known to be presented in Berringer’s name.

 

“We all remember Brook,” said Richard Schwansinger, a long time coach and teacher at Goodland High School. “I don’t know that there was anybody in town who didn’t know him. He was just that personable.

 

“The community … they just grew up here. We knew all the kids. It’s a tragic loss when we lose any student.”

 

The locals will tell you Goodland loses one or two of its youth each year. That’s an abnormally high number of tragic losses, that often, for a town of around 5,000 people.

 

Last May, the community mourned the loss of Derek Lutters, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Illnesses, such as lupus, have claimed the lives of teenagers. Many have died in car accidents.

 

“It’s hard for the people here in Goodland to separate different losses like this out and hold them differently than others, because there are so many,” Jim McKee said. “As far as honoring one individual who passed away tragically at a young age ... well, there’s so much of that here. It just blends in with everything else.

 

“It’s a big deal to everybody depending on how close they were to the person at that time. There are so many people dealing with their own losses, that it’s hard to share in too many of those.”

 

Don Smith was Brook’s high school basketball coach. When asked about his memories of Brook, he’ll tell you that Brook was “absolutely” a better basketball player than he was a football player.

 

When asked his thoughts on how Brook is remembered around Goodland today, Smith paused.

 

“I don’t know how callous this will be ... but I had a son who was killed in an accident, also. As those years go by, those memories definitely fade.

 

“There aren’t many people who say anything to me about my son. As time goes on ... they just forget about it. The people that remember are those who had the personal involvement. That’s the sad fact of it.”

 

That’s not to say Brook wasn’t respected here. Things are just a bit more tempered, partly because of the many other losses of young people, partly because many in Goodland didn’t share in the Nebraska football connection.

 

“Brook was just another guy that graduated,” Jake McKee said. “For people in Goodland, they’ll never know. They’ll never know what he did up here. That’s neither good nor bad … in fact, it’s probably good.”

 

n n n

 

Jan Berringer still lives in Goodland, in the same house she and Warren Built some 30 years ago. She’s retired from teaching but still substitutes locally, when she’s not traveling. She healthy, having recovered from a double mastectomy and surgery for colon cancer.

 

Her daughters, Drue and Nicoel, are married with families. Drue lives in Omaha, Nicoel in Fort Collins, Colo. Nicoel’s daughter, Brook Ellen, was born four days after Brook’s funeral. Jan has three other grandchildren. Their Easter baskets are all ready, sitting on the dining room table.

 

Tiffini Lake, who grew up in Goodland, is married and lives in Vermont, where she’s an anesthesiologist. She’s expecting her first child in May. Tiffini, through a friend, declined interview requests.

 

The McKees live in Goodland, only a few blocks from Jan, with whom they’ve grown close. Jim still farms some 30 miles outside of Goodland. He’s in the field a lot these days, and can tell you the exact spot where was driving his tractor 10 years ago when he heard about Brook’s accident. Certain spots around the farm trigger hundreds of memories.

 

He admits he doesn’t believe Brook has received the respect he deserved from his hometown because of his accomplishments. It doesn’t bother him though. He knows Brook was more than just a Nebraska football player. He was a part of the family. Still is.

 

“For a lot of people, it’s still a really big thing,” McKee said, “and always will be.”

[Eric the Red]

For readers, memories of Berringer endure

 

Tobey Lake was my second cousin. Brook was going to marry his sister (Tiffany). Tragically, we lost a valued member of the football community. We lost loved members of our family.

 

Tiffany lost her brother and her fiance. They were taken from us much too soon. I will never forget that day. I still visit the boys’ graves and pay respects at the cemetery when passing through Goodland. Their memories live on in my heart. Brook was an awesome quarterback. He loved Nebraska football. He would have been a terrific asset to an NFL team.

 

Tobey was an awesome carpenter and loved working with wood. He was a beloved son and brother. They both loved to live life to the fullest. My thoughts and prayers are with Ruthie, Jan and the families.

 

Kay F. Brown, Oxford

 

 

 

 

A class act

 

I got to meet Brook at the Husker football camp in June of 1994. I was there with several other guys from my hometown of Norton, Kan. The Husker players couldn’t instruct us during the camp, but some of them were there one day to show us some drills they do in practice.

 

Afterwards, Coach Osborne gave us some time to meet with them. The group of us from Norton went over to talk with Brook since he was from Goodland, only a couple of hours from Norton. He was very nice and we had a good conversation.

 

He remembered playing Norton when he was in high school and asked us about one of the guys he played against who went on to play for Fort Hays State. It’s something I won’t forget. He wasn’t a cocky guy who acted like he’d rather be doing something else other than talking to a bunch of high school kids. Brook was a class act, and he will always be remembered as the ultimate team player. He is still missed, but the memories live on.

 

Aaron Orsborn, Fairfax, Va.

 

You had to admire him

 

Since we had a special relationship with Brook Berringer, I’ll share some of the experiences that (my son) Trent and I had with him.

 

Brook worked at our ranch, Diamond Head Ranch, for two summers, during his last two years at NU. He was introduced to us by Turner Gill, as Turner was looking for jobs for the athletes. Brook loved horses, therefore, we let him work with and ride the horses. Every weekend there was a home game, his fiancée would come to Lincoln from Kansas, and he always took her horseback riding every Sunday.

 

The Saturday that we were playing Colorado, and he was starting, I met with him that morning, at his house, as he helped me with a couple of additional tickets. I asked him what our chances were for beating Colorado and he said, “We are definitely going to beat Colorado. We are ready and the whole team feels that we are going to beat them.” He was correct, and it was a really great game.

 

Brook was the type of person that you couldn’t help but like and admire. His conscientious devotion to duty, his loyalty to the team, his intelligence, dependability and cooperative attitude definitely contributed to the highly efficient manner in with he conducted his life and quarterback for Nebraska.

 

We definitely miss him.

 

David R. Anderson, Anderson Enterprises LLC, Lincoln

 

Shakespearean tragedy

 

Whenever I see something that reminds me of Brook … a college kid holding a child’s hand or signing an autograph, smiling for a photo or a loving embrace with his mom or dad, I’m reminded of what Shakespeare’s Juliet cried of her lost Romeo: “Death lies upon him like a frost upon the prettiest flower in all the field.”

 

Jim Rose, NU broadcaster

 

His future was bright

 

I still feel terrible about Brook. His dad died early. I think he was a pilot as well. Brook was a great competitor against the Michael Jordan of college football (Tommie Frazier). Without Brook, we wouldn’t have won our first national championship since 1971. The ’94 offense he ran was very balanced. I remember how great he played during the spring and fall of ’95 to regain the top spot, but Frazier was too much. He must have been hurting so bad to be on the bench that whole year.

 

His future was bright. He was to be drafted and had all the tools. The guy was what you wanted when it comes to being a role model. I still have chills thinking about how and when he died. I think the least us fans should expect is that some of these high-priced items (indoor facilities, weight rooms, expensive skyboxes, etc.) should be named after the great Brook Berringer.

 

William l. Steele IV, Schaumburg, Ill.

 

FCA Berringer tribute event Monday

 

The Lincoln Area Fellowship of Christian Athletes will be hosting the 2006 FCA Celebration and Expo — a tribute to Brook Berringer — on Monday at the Devaney Sports Center. The event will feature FCA ministry exhibits, live FCA camp demonstrations, a slam dunk contest for area athletes and a tribute to the life and influence of Berringer.

 

Special guests will include Tom Osborne, Ron Brown and Tony Veland. Former Husker basketball three-point specialist Brian Conklin will also provide a shooting demonstration.

 

The program, which will start at 6 p.m., will feature a special performance by Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown. Tickets are $10 — for admission, pizza and soft drinks. For tickets, contact Doris Brown at (402) 434-7150.

[Eric the Red]

Tom Osborne: Berringer's loss still felt deeply

 

On April 18, 1996, we mourned the loss of teammate and friend Brook Berringer in a tragic accident. Today his memory perseveres, even 10 years later, and we have the opportunity to reflect on the continuing positive impact of Brook’s life on the many people who knew and loved him.

 

I first met Brook, a young quarterback from Goodland, Kan., in football camp, where his athletic skill and character were clear immediately. He quickly became an integral part of the team in Nebraska, and he rose through the ranks to become the No. 2 quarterback by his junior year. Even more importantly, he was also growing into a respected leader and role model for his team.

 

That same year, Brook stepped into the spotlight when starting quarterback Tommie Frazier was sidelined for the season due to injury. Showing the confidence and dedication that he was known for, he started seven games that season and won them all, fighting a collapsed lung in victories against Wyoming and Oklahoma State, and beating a championship contender in Colorado.

 

His leadership eventually brought his team to the national title game in the Orange Bowl against Miami, where Brook and Tommie worked together to bring a national football title home to Nebraska.

 

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Brook’s senior year found him in the backup role again, which is a challenge for any athlete, much less one who had been a starter in the past. Coaches often worry about players in this situation developing a bad attitude and negatively influencing their team, but I never had to worry about Brook.

 

Despite his backup role, he maintained a good attitude and exerted a tremendous positive influence on the team on and off the field, and his presence on the sideline played no small part in winning the national championship again in 1996.

 

Brook was as fine a young man as I have ever had the opportunity to coach, but his positive attributes went far beyond football. I worked directly with him as head coach, but we also had the chance to become close through our common interests in hunting and fishing. Brook was also a deeply spiritual person, and he was closely involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and other volunteer activities.

 

For me, the most moving symbol of his impact on the lives of his fans, teammates and friends was his funeral procession from Nebraska back to his hometown of Goodland. All along the route, hundreds of people stood at the side of the road for miles and miles, wishing him farewell.

 

Brook’s passing was a potent reminder of our own mortality. It is still hard to imagine that the life of a vibrant young man could be cut short so abruptly, yet the brief time that he spent with us has never diminished the difference he made during his life.

 

Even a decade later, the loss of Brook Berringer is felt deeply by the thousands of people who loved and respected him for who he was both on and off the field. But as we look back on the full life that he led, I prefer to focus on the continuing effect of his example on others. In every situation, Brook conducted himself with an attitude of humility, class and self-sacrifice, and that legacy lives on in our own lives.

 

I remember that Brook spoke frequently of what Nebraska had done for him, but as we commemorate the 10th anniversary of his passing, I believe we are still in his debt.

 

Rep. Tom Osborne was Brook Berringer’s head coach at Nebraska.

[Eric the Red]

High school coach remembers Berringer for more than football

 

BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Apr 08, 2006 - 12:10:13 am CDT

 

Neither person realized it, but this was goodbye. Maybe that’s why it lasted a half hour. It’s strange. The high school football coach never talked with the quarterback that long before. Both were busy people. Time always seemed against them and conversation.

 

But that one particular day, they talked and the clock hand turned and no one cared. They discussed the NFL scouts and their crazy questions — What’s Brook’s favorite vegetable? They laughed and talked about the good ol’ days and the better days to come.

 

It was not two weeks later when Mike Johnson stood on the high school track in Goodland, Kan., and heard the news from his wife. Brook Berringer was dead. He’d crashed a small airplane, killing him and another local man, Tobey Lake.

 

Johnson, now the football coach at Waverly High these 10 years later, didn’t have time to process all the memories on the spot.

 

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If he had, he wouldn’t have first thought of football. When most Nebraskans think of Brook Berringer, they think of No. 18’s savior right arm and his steely insides. They think of the day he played with a bad lung and how he once made a pack of Buffaloes whimper.

 

When Johnson thinks of him, he thinks of a friendly, goofy, prankster, loveable high school kid. He thinks of the time he looked out at a room of teenagers to see Berringer … asleep in class.

 

He thinks of the time he made a deal with his Goodland High senior football players. They could cut his hair if the Cowboys knocked off No. 1-ranked Colby High in the last game of the season.

 

You can be certain Berringer had the scissors in his hand that night.

 

The day he died, Johnson ran across the Goodland track, hopped the single fence which separated it from the Berringer house and knocked on the door.

 

Jan Berringer was there. Brook’s mother had been getting food ready for an NFL Draft party. It was just two days before the draft and Berringer’s stock was pointing up.

 

Johnson remembers Jan telling him, “I think he’s still in the air. I think he’s still in the air.”

 

He remembers Husker coach Tom Osborne calling Jan and telling her he was checking out the situation. He’d get back to her as soon as he knew what happened.

 

He remembers it all hitting him in the gut at the memorial services: Brook and Tobey were actually gone.

 

He thinks about it every year the NFL Draft comes along. It’s then that he and his wife allow themselves a few Brook stories.

 

You know, Johnson tells you, “At first, I was going to put him at tight end.”

 

You know what else? Hardly any Division I schools seemed too interested in Berringer until rumor spread that Osborne was recruiting him. If Osborne liked him, suddenly, so did everyone else.

 

But, for some reason, it’s a phone call that sticks out the most. Berringer had just gained the starting spot at Nebraska after a Tommie Frazier injury. He finally had his opportunity. Just as quickly as it came, it seemed to collapse.

 

A collapsed lung had Berringer’s 1994 season in jeopardy. The quarterback dialed Johnson and told him, “Coach, I finally have a chance to play and I can’t even breathe.”

 

If the story ended there, that line would be one to throw out with the trash. But the setback would eventually just add to his Nebraska legend.

 

For all his gridiron heroics, a star football player is not how Johnson chooses to remember him.

 

“I lost one of my favorite kids,” he says. “To me, he wasn’t the Nebraska quarterback. He was just Brook Berringer. He was a Cowboy.”

 

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.

 

FCA Berringer tribute event Monday

 

The Lincoln Area Fellowship of Christian Athletes will be hosting the 2006 FCA Celebration and Expo — a tribute to Brook Berringer — on Monday at the Devaney Sports Center. The event will feature FCA ministry exhibits, live FCA camp demonstrations, a slam dunk contest for area athletes and a tribute to the life and influence of Berringer.

 

Special guests will include Tom Osborne, Ron Brown and Tony Veland. Former Husker basketball three-point specialist Brian Conklin will also provide a shooting demonstration.

 

The program, which will start at 6 p.m., will feature a special performance by Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown. Tickets are $10 — for admission, pizza and soft drinks. For tickets, contact Doris Brown at (402) 434-7150.

[Blackshirtsguru]

He was a good kid all the way around. He is what being a team player is all about. He played behind Tommy Frazier his entire career and not once bitched about playing time! When Tommy went down with those blood clots Brook stepped in and steered the Huskers to a undefeated season. Being a KC Chiefs fan I remember Marty Shottenheimer had Brook high on his draft board and I am damn sure he would of been a QB for the Chiefs. That being said he is truley missed by the Husker Nation!

[tattooedhusker]

this is simple enough to figure out, he would of been drafted, he was a good person, and YES ONE OF THE NEW FACILITIES SHOULD BE NAMED IN HIS HONOR..BECAUSE HE WAS HUSKER FOOTBALL.

[Touchdown Tommie]

Wow....I can't believe it has been 10 years. I have a big poster of him hanging in my office in memory of him. I agree that there should be a building named after him on campus somewhere.

[KCTown]

I knew his sister, who went to K-State as I did. Met him once, the guy had a presence about him. I guess I don't know how to say it, but just a genuine person. One of the fellas, I suppose. But what he was that most are not is that he was the leader-type of guy. People really listened to what he had to say, or followed what he did. His sister was alot like him, and still is. Just a thought I thought I'd share.

[HSKRNOKC]

I knew his sister, who went to K-State as I did. Met him once, the guy had a presence about him. I guess I don't know how to say it, but just a genuine person. One of the fellas, I suppose. But what he was that most are not is that he was the leader-type of guy. People really listened to what he had to say, or followed what he did. His sister was alot like him, and still is. Just a thought I thought I'd share.

Thanks. He is definently missed.

[Foppa]

Wow....I can't believe it has been 10 years. I have a big poster of him hanging in my office in memory of him. I agree that there should be a building named after him on campus somewhere.

 

God must've had a huge plan for Brook after this life, because there is no way to humanly explain why he was taken away when he was.

[BLKSHIRTD]

Thank you for you all of the memories that you gave us brook, we love ya and miss you

[Eric the Red]

this is simple enough to figure out, he would of been drafted, he was a good person, and YES ONE OF THE NEW FACILITIES SHOULD BE NAMED IN HIS HONOR..BECAUSE HE WAS HUSKER FOOTBALL.

Yes, I like your thinking. A library, an awards room, something

[KCTown]

Or maybe an award given to a potential Husker football player to represents amazing character and attitude. Something any youngster should aspire to be.

[tattooedhusker]

Or maybe an award given to a potential Husker football player to represents amazing character and attitude. Something any youngster should aspire to be.

that is a great idea!

[sdhsker]

I enjoyed watching Brook play football at Nebraska, he was what every kid should model himself after. My daughter ( who was 8 at the time ) & I went to see some former Huskers at a Casino in Sloan, IA after their Senior season, everyone was super. Brook was one of the players there & he took the time to interact with my daughter and posed for a picture with her, she still remembers to time to this day. Thanks Brook!!!