Legendary high school sports writer Bob White covered high school sports for The Courier-Journal for 41 years, retiring in 2000. He continues to work for the paper on a freelance basis. White covered all high school sports, boys and girls, including every football game between Louisville stalwarts Trinity and St. Xavier between 1968 and 2000. His presence at a game signaled that the game was special. White is a member of the Kentucky All-Star Basketball Hall of Fame and received distinguished service award from the National High School Coaches Association in 1991. He graduated from the University of Kentucky.
White covered the careers of Jeff Brohm, Greg Brohm and Brian Brohm while working for The Courier-Journal. Below, he reflects on the path that Brohm took to arrive at WKU as the head coach of the Hilltopper Football program.
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Jeff Brohm, from the time he first learned to walk and to this day, probably was destined to become a leader on the football field, or on any other athletic team he played on or coached for.
His father, Oscar, was the first-team All-State quarterback for Flaget High's 1965 City Region champions in Class AAA, and from there went on to play for the University of Louisville. The rest is history. The Brohm family became so well respected that in 2013 it was the first recipient of the Howard Schnellenberger Award given by the Louisville Catholic Sports Hall of Fame.
Oscar's three sons, Greg, Jeff and Brian, all made first-team All-State while playing for Trinity High. Greg was a wide receiver. Jeff and Brian played quarterback, and all three played significant roles in helping the University of Louisville gain national prominence in football.
I remember Jeff as a solid all-around athlete who played basketball and baseball as well as football at Trinity. In the 1988 4-A championship football game against unbeaten Manual, Jeff - a great scrambler - ran from one side of the field to the other side and back again before completing a pass in the Shamrocks' 28-0 victory. He was determined to succeed, and that's how he's been as a coach at U of L, Alabama-Birmingham, Illinois, Florida Atlantic and WKU.
Jeff played and coached in some big-time bowl games while in college and has been guided by some great coaches, such as Dennis Lampley at Trinity, Schnellenberger and Bobby Petrino. His years in the NFL from 1994-2000 with the Chargers, Buccaneers, Broncos and Browns had to increase his knowledge of football and how to inspire a team to greater heights.
His name alone will mean a lot to WKU while recruiting in the Louisville area as well as throughout the state and nation. The knowledge he has gained from working under Schnellenberger and Petrino has already made Jeff a coach who can put an outstanding and exciting offensive team on the field.
He has paid his dues as a quarterbacks coach, an offensive coordinator in charge of the passing game and as an assistant head coach to continue the success and tradition WKU has reached in football.