Saturday Night Special after the Nebraska Cornhuskers game: Brook Berringer

In the team spirit embodied by #18 Brook Berringer, this article is a TEAM effort by guest writer Brent Craig and myself.

What are you doing Saturday night following the Nebraska Cornhuskers vs Northwestern Wildcats game? I will be watching the Big Ten Network special immediately after Saturday’s game, “Unbeaten: The Life of Brook Berringer“.

Just in case you don’t know who he was or where he came from, Brook Berringer ended up in Lincoln, NE by way of Goodland, KS. He was originally born in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, but moved to Kansas at the age of 7 with his mom and two sisters following the death of his father. Brook was a multi-sport athlete at Goodland High School. Of course he was the star Quarterback, but he also played basketball and ran track.

Brook was part of the 1991 Nebraska Cornhusker recruiting class that Tom Osborne called, “good and solid.” The ’91 class would indeed turn out to be a pretty good one. Recruiting services weren’t listed on Twitter, updated weekly, written up in the paper, or “trending” back then. SuperPrep ranked the 1991 Husker recruiting class 28th nationally, with the commitments of such notable names as: Christian Peter, Dwayne Harris, Troy Dumas, Tony Veland, Aaron Graham, Clester Johnson, and Abdul Muhammad.

Looking back at what the ’91 class accomplished, I think Coach Osborne’s comments were just a little understated. Husker fans were sick and tired of the consecutive bowl losses. They were hungry for a successful season. But this class was the start of something beautiful! Brook Berringer helped lead the Nebraska Cornhuskers to a 1994 Orange Bowl victory over the Miami Hurricanes that year. Sooooo “What if…” What if Tommie Frazier had chosen Notre Dame or Clemson in 1992 (it was the school of his choice) instead of picking Nebraska? Would the Huskers still have played for three National Championships, winning two of them, with Brook Berringer at the helm?

I would have to say “Yes, the Huskers still would have won without Tommie Frazier.” I know that is a bold statement because of how great Frazier was for the Husker program. He was arguably the greatest player to ever wear scarlet and cream. In Tommie’s absence during the 1994 season, Brook showed Husker nation that he wasn’t just capable of leading the team to victory, but he excelled at it.

Those Championship Husker teams were so dominating and good at almost every aspect of the game that they may have won all those games even with Matt Turman leading them. Oh wait, we did win with Turman (See Ok St and K St when Frazier was out with blood clots & Berringer was out with a collapsed lung during the 1994 season). Regardless of whether we could have won those games with Berringer alone, one thing is for certain, Nebraska Cornhuskers were blessed to have two, and quite possibly three, quarterbacks to lead the Huskers to victory during those Championship run seasons.

I know I am thankful that Brook Berringer chose to play for the Huskers because to me he was not only a great Quarterback, but he also was a great humanitarian. He is the kind of athlete and individual every University hopes to have come through their doors. It has been a little over 18 years since that day when the plane Brook Berringer was piloting crashed in a field in Raymond, Nebraska. Lost that day was not only Berringer but his girlfriend’s brother, Tobey Lake. It was just two days before the 1996 NFL draft in April where Brook was expected to be drafted. Coach Osborne was called upon to provide his mouth guard to the authorities for a positive identification of the body. I heard him talk about that in an interview once. He said it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. I can’t even imagine.

The Husker fans everywhere who watched him play loved him. The statue of Brook Berringer and Coach Osborne outside of Memorial Stadium stands strong and reminds those who walk through the doors of his legacy. The Brook Berringer Citizenship Team was established by the Husker football program. The award which is presented every year at the Spring Red n White game goes to a Husker football player who exemplifies the same great characteristics of #8. Berringer was also one of the most dedicated Husker volunteers in the community with kids. This is something that he did in both Goodland, KS and carried on in Lincoln. The team honors players who display a similar love and dedication for volunteering in the community through Nebraska’s nationally recognized Life Skills program.

Check out the preview of “Unbeaten: The Life of Brook Berringer.”

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