Brook Berringer

Brook Warren Berringer (July 9, 1973 - April 18, 1996) was a quarterback for the University of Nebraska football team in the mid-1990s. Berringer came to Nebraska from Goodland, Kansas and played a back-up role to Tommie Frazier. He is best known for replacing an injured Tommie Frazier during the 1994 season and leading the Cornhuskers to seven consecutive wins and to the Orange Bowl national championship game against the University of Miami Hurricanes.

Berringer was expected to be drafted in the early to middle rounds of the 1996 NFL Draft, but he died in a plane crash just two days before the draft. Berringer, an amateur pilot, was in control of a 1946 Piper Cub over Raymond, Nebraska, when the aircraft went down in an alfalfa field. Friend Tobey Lake, the brother of Berringer's girlfriend Tiffini, was also killed in the crash. [http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2006/10/15/huskerextra/locker/doc44370510a2400158671896.txt]

A memorial service for Brook was held on April 20 at Memorial Stadium, before the start of the annual Red-White spring football game. A somber crowd of 48,659 attended. [http://www.angelfire.com/ok/alittlepieceofheaven/berringer.html]

Miscellaneous

*The country band Sawyer Brown wrote "The Nebraska Song" in honor of Berringer. (The song was actually written before his death.) The song appears on the group's album "Six Days on the Road".
*Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton is a Husker fan and wears #18 in honor of Brook Berringer. The #18 jersey was assigned to incoming freshman Jeff Perino for the 1996–1997 season, but after Berringer's accident, coaches allowed Perino to switch to jersey number 5. [http://www.angelfire.com/ok/alittlepieceofheaven/beringer.html]
*"One Final Pass: The Brook Berringer Story" was written after Berringer's death by Art Lindsay, Berringer's religious mentor. [http://www.bpsports.net/bpsports.asp?ID=5517]