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Gold and Black Illustrated Vol28, Digital1

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 1 15 Considering the talent level of the boys, choosing which Catholic high school to attend was a big decision. One of the school powers was going to get a lot more po- tent. By the time Greg chose to attend Trinity High School in the mid-1980s, essentially lining up Jeff to do the same, the community was ready to embrace them. "People who knew football highly anticipated the ar- rival of the Brohms," said longtime sportswriter Rick Bozich, who started covering sports in the Louisville area in 1978. Even if the Brohms themselves didn't quite feel the buzz. In their first couple years, they had to take the local TARC bus transit three times to get to and from school, which was 25 minutes away from their house. "We were nobodies. Trust me," Jeff said. "Once we got older, we got a ride in the car. Early on, it was like, 'Geez.' We had to earn our stripes." There's little doubt they did just that. Both Greg and Jeff were three-sport stars, playing bas- ketball, baseball and football. Greg was a point guard and all-district baseball player. Jeff was the basketball team's leading scorer and assist man as a senior, earning MVP honors, and developed into a pro baseball prospect. As a senior, Jeff had 23 scouts show up for a Babe Ruth League game, Oscar said, and in the days leading into that year's Major League Baseball draft, Oscar was being told by a handful of scouts they'd take Jeff in the first round if he opted not to play football. But how could Jeff not play football? At Trinity, Jeff showcased his elite athleticism at quar- terback weekly, essentially as a runner who could throw — "If you ever watch some of his high school film, it's some of the best scrambling and im- provisation you've ever seen," Greg said of his brother, who reportedly had sub-4.4 speed — and Greg often was a significant beneficiary of Jeff's passing talent. By Greg's senior year, he was a first-team all-state receiver. By Jeff's senior year, he'd become one of the state's best players, leading Trinity to an undefeated season, capped by a Class 4A state title after throwing for 1,707 yards and 20 touchdowns and rushing for 602 yards and 12 TDs to earn Mr. Football in 1988. "He's special," former Trinity football coach Dennis Lampley said. "He could have been a coach in anything. In any sport, football, basketball, baseball, the whole works. He knew it all. He studied it. He worked at it. He hustled. There was no laying down, not going as hard as you can go. He could always do that. "All the Brohms could. They're almost clones, the way their attitudes are, the way they work." That kind of senior season had college football coaches drooling. Notre Dame, Boston College and USC wanted Jeff. So did Louisville, a program that only a handful of years earlier considered de-emphasizing football and dropping from then-Division I-A to I-AA. Jeff couldn't possibly stay home, could he? Not with iconic Catholic school Notre Dame and legendary coach Lou Holtz calling? But the Irish also had a freshman quar- terback named Rick Mirer. GREG AND JEFF Photos by Trinity Yearbook, Louisville Athletics

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