Parents endure plenty to watch their sons play for NU
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Let’s pretend you’re the parent of a Nebraska football player. Your son is a reserve walk-on who, to this day, has never played a down.
You’re not a born-and-raised Husker fan, but you want to attend every home game, you know, to offer support. Tickets aren’t a problem. You get those through your son.
Here’s the dilemma: Memorial Stadium is roughly 450 miles from your doorstep, gas is gold and you drive a Suburban.
What do you do? If you’re Jaci and Mark Titchener, the answer is obvious.
Fill ’er up.
“We’ve contemplated skipping a game this year,” Mark Titchener said, referring to high gas prices, “but if he ever got in ...”
Their son is Dan Titchener, a punter who, quite frankly, will only play if veteran Sam Koch is suddenly injured.
Mom and dad know this. They’re realistic. They’re also taking no chances. That’s why you’ll see them every Saturday, fresh off a drive from Cheyenne, Wyo., sitting in the East Stadium and wearing No. 97 jerseys.
And as for their season tickets to Denver Broncos games?
“We’ve given a lot of them away this year already,” Mark said, laughing.
Hey, anything to support your child, right?
“We just try to tell him to stay positive,” Mark said. “He’s not used to sitting around.”
Providing moral support — as the parent of a Husker, it ranks highly on a long list of responsibilities that includes long travel, tuning out critics, understanding the game, doing laundry, granting media interviews and fielding countless questions from your curious friends and neighbors.
“We thought once they left high school it would be easier in college, but it has not been easier,” said Floretta LeFlore, mother of Huskers Mark and Chris LeFlore. “I became more of a counselor.”
Various coaching changes throughout Mark’s career, she said, have made parenting a Husker somewhat challenging for Floretta and her husband, Mark Sr.
“We’ve had to teach Mark how he has to be more adaptive,” Floretta said.
The LeFlores, from Omaha, attend every home game. Mark Sr. travels when the boys are on the road, and Floretta is usually content with watching on TV.
But when she’s attending the game in person?
“I hold my breath,” she said, “until they stand up and walk off the field.”
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You’ve gotta hand it to Stewart Bradley. The Husker linebacker, a native of Salt Lake City, is pretty tough on the field.
Off the field? Well, apparently, he’s pretty good at making a bunch of women melt with compassion. One of the questions asked of Bradley at the summertime Football 101 for Women class was what he missed the most about home.
His answer: Mom.
“I think what he was trying to say was not just ‘Mom’ but just that home environment,” Monica Rigoni said. “Kids leave their homes and are hundreds of miles away from home and don’t have their family.”
That’s not a problem for Monica and her husband, Chuck, whose son, Brandon, plays for Nebraska. The Rigonis live in Lincoln. Brandon can head across town whenever he feels like it — a trip that, Monica notes, usually involves a load of dirty clothes.
“We’ve got to keep him coming back,” she said, laughing.
Even more welcome than laundry, Monica said, is another Husker. A warm meal or just a simple escape from campus may be just the cure for a homesick player.
“We try to open our home,” she said. “You can bet in a heartbeat I would.”
The Rigonis try not to take for granted they’re a local family. That’s why they help facilitate a Husker parents group, an idea of coach Bill Callahan and his staff.
“We wanted to have an avenue to communicate to the parents,” said Tim Cassidy, Nebraska director of football operations.
Monica Rigoni and Jaime Ruud, mother of Lincoln native Bo Ruud, produce packets of information for out-of-town parents — lists of places to eat, places to stay, things to do, etc. They operate a Web site that players’ parents can access for information, and also organize various gatherings and block motel rooms parents can then reserve for road games.
“Coach Callahan and Coach Cassidy want to see this as one big family,” Monica said. “They’ve always made their doors open to parents. That’s a nice feeling to be part of a group that thinks that much of your child.”
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It’s third down. Tie game. Fourth quarter. The crowd is going bonkers.
Then, it happens. A dropped pass. A bad throw. A missed block. A sloppy tackle.
Nearby fans are grumbling. You hear your son’s name mixed in with an expletive, maybe two.
You want to say something. You know you shouldn’t. And you don’t.
“I’ve actually had to learn ... my husband has taught me how to be a good fan and how to not take things personally,” Floretta LeFlore said. “Because they don’t know the children. They don’t know them personally.”
Negativity and criticism haven’t exactly been in short supply recently among Husker fans. And not just from the bleachers, either. It’s in the newspaper, on the radio, on the Internet, on television.
How does a parent respond?
“You don’t,” said Loy Todd, father of fullback Dane Todd. “You just listen and understand that a lot of people have opinions about it. That’s what it’s all about. We’re all fans.”
Loy understands. He was a season ticket holder years before Dane even thought of playing. He started going to Husker games in junior high.
Now, he has a different perspective.
“One thing you do as a parent, you recognize these are kids. It’s part of their life,” he said. “They want to win more than the fans want them to win. And the coaches want to win more than the fans realize.
“That’s an unsettling thing about it. The people think somehow that the players and the coaches aren’t aware of that. That’s wrong.”
Of course, not everyone realizes their harsh words or actions may catch the eyes or ears of a Husker parent. But sometimes, people seek those same eyes and ears for inside information.
Who’s playing second-string quarterback? What do the players think of the coaches? Did Joe Schmo really leave the team?
“You get pumped,” Chuck Rigoni said. “Always.”
He admitted the questions grow tiresome but he also understands the great interest. He always answers by politely saying he doesn’t have any inside info. Which, most parents say, is the truth.
“I don’t even have a clue,” Loy Todd said, laughing. “I don’t even suspect anything, let alone know anything.”
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Parents come from everywhere to watch their sons play for the Huskers.
Florida. Tennessee. Oklahoma. Utah. Texas.
“Unless my brother has a game (Friday night), then they’ll split up and one will stay and one will go,” said Bradley, whose parents fly from Salt Lake City to Omaha every week.
“It’s a big deal, and I appreciate it.”
The Titcheners leave Cheyenne every Friday afternoon, arrive in Lincoln late that night, then drive back on Sunday.
Sherwood and Julie Taylor, from Norman, Okla., plan each trip separately. With a son playing high school football and a daughter on a traveling soccer team, their trips, whether driving or flying, can become hectic.
The parents of freshman quarterback Harrison Beck, Evelyn Beck-Bothwell and Dave Bothwell, fly from Florida every week. Knowing they’ll be making several trips to Lincoln over the next few years, the Bothwells decided against finding motel rooms.
They went a step further. They bought a condominium in downtown Lincoln.
“We’re spoiled brats, OK?” Evelyn said, laughing. “It’s conducive to making things nice and easy for everyone.”
Gerline Williams, mother of Daniel Bullocks, attended about half of Nebraska’s games when both of her sons played for the Huskers. Now that Josh is playing in the NFL, she’s traveling twice as much.
Not only does Josh purchase a plane ticket so his mother can attend Daniel’s every game in Lincoln, he’s planning on flying Mom to wherever he’s playing the next day, too.
Won’t those weekend trips become tiresome?
“It seems like you can’t get tired when it comes to getting to see your sons,” Williams said. “If you do, you just keep on going.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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