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Gold and Black Illustrated Vol28, Digital1

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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 1 20 "Did I want to stay and live with the pressure of the high expectations or did I want to go somewhere and start fresh and make a name for myself?" Brian said. "I decided to stay home and had a great career. I enjoyed every minute of it." Brian had one of the most successful careers in Lou- isville history, throwing for nearly 11,000 yards and 71 touchdowns, completing nearly 800 passes, winning 24 games and beating three ranked teams. Decision validated. "Everybody expected him to be great, and he lived up to it," Greg said. "Every stage he was on, he was better than the stage he was on. He was always real calm and composed. The lights were never too bright for him. He couldn't have done, really, any more in his athletic career in high school and in college. For somebody to have that much attention, he handled it great." Brian was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft. He spent eight seasons in professional football, including non-NFL stops, before retiring two years ago and joining Jeff's staff last season at Western Kentucky. Which promptly had a first-time starting QB throw for more than 4,000 yards. "I've kind of watched it all develop," said Bozich, who worked alongside Oscar starting in the late 1970s. "When I first got to town and heard about Oscar's kids and then to watch them actually … everybody says their kid is good. Yeah, I've heard that before. They might be good in grade school. Then they're at Trinity and they're winning state championships and they're going to U of L. I remember hearing, 'Brian is going to be better than either of them' (and thinking), 'Oh sure.' Then Brian is better than ei- ther of them. "All the hype — and they had plenty of hype — has been justified." O scar Brohm holds the word out, for effect. "Nooooo question," he says when asked who he'll be rooting for on Sept. 2 when his alma mater is pitted against the current employer of his three sons. "There's no divided loyalty at all. Family first. I'll even be trying to convert some of my U of L friends to pull for Purdue this game. Actually, I have, but I can't give their names or they'd get in trouble. "We're real excited." He says this with a Purdue hat firmly on his head, dis- cussing his family and its Louisville connections over lunch this summer at a restaurant just across the Ken- tucky border, peeking onto the Ohio River. He's a chat- ty, personable storyteller and has just enough southern drawl to make every word interesting. Around these parts, he's simply known as "Oscar" now, no last name. When he's out, either by himself or with Donna, often he's stopped. Many ask about the boys. It's widely known they're all up north now, having trad- ed in their red for black and gold. And it's widely known which team they'll open with in Jeff's first game as head coach. That's probably more because it's their beloved Cardinals, of course. But it just as easily could be because the careers of Jeff, Greg and Brian have been watched closely. "Everybody around here, they know them. It's nice that it's that way," Oscar said. "They used to be my sons and now I'm their dad, which is great. I love it. "I feel lucky. Because what guy who was a former play- er wouldn't enjoy being involved in it for his whole life with your sons and your daughter? It's great. It keeps me young. I think it keeps me young." A pause, a smile. Clearly, Oscar is enjoying every moment of this new experience, this fresh start, this introduction to a new community, he hopes, will embrace his family like the old one. And he knows he's not the only one relishing the pos- sibilities. When Greg was in the Louisville area this summer, he Stacy Clardie Trinity has only three retired jerseys, including Brian's No. 12 and Jeff's 11.

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