When the Brohm kids were lighting up scoreboards at Trinity High a generation ago, there was one school with a constant presence at Dant Clayton Stadium in St. Matthews.
The legendary Notre Dame.
Jeff Brohm was leading the Shamrocks to one of their record 28 state titles in the mid-eighties, with an undefeated season in 1988. He was, in fact, selected as Kentucky Mr. Football that season and later named player of the decade.
“When you played at Trinity, an all-Catholic boys school. they knew what kind of talent you had,” said Brohm at his weekly media conference. “I knew they had signed the number one quarterback in the country, Rick Myr,” Said Brohm. “So I looked elsewhere.” They also talked with brother receiver Greg Brohm. Both ended up signing on as Cardinals for coach Howard Schnellenberger.
Notre Dame was just one of many programs that recruited Trinity, but it was the one that could not be ignored. The Irish could go winless for three seasons and still be considered football royalty, with seemingly automatic consideration as a pre-season top 10 pick.
Several years later Brian Brohm was calling signals, capturing the attention of Notre Dame Coach Ty Willingham. One day during a spring recruiting, he visited Brohm’s grade school where his mother Donna was a teacher. The coach thought he might gain some points. What Notre Dame couldn’t overcome, however, was the love affair between the Oscar Brohm family and University of Louisville football.
Oscar, of course, was a UofL quarterback during the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Jeff and Greg were key players when Howard Schnellenberger was in charge. Bobby Petrino liked the play of Brian and got him to stay on Floyd Street.
Jeff has the Cardinals undefeated after five games. Greg is chief of staff and Brian is offensive coordinator.
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Brian Brohm’s jersey will be honored Saturday night before the game. A three-year starter at quarterback, he led the Cards to victories Boise State in the Liberty Bowl and Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl.
“He was a tremendous passing quarterback who did a lot of great things,” said Jeff. “We are very happy for him.”