Mom's Hand

Kip Brigham responded to a text on Thursday that we weren’t sure would get an answer.

“Kip. Good afternoon,” it started. “Hope all is well. Coach Fox said you may be open to chatting about your mom before the state finals.”

Surely other things are going through an 18-year olds mind during the last few days of one of the most successful high school football careers in state history. Brigham and his Wahoo teammates have won 25 games in a row — 37 of 38 — and play in their third straight Class C-1 state final at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday.

If you keep typing about Brigham — and, to be fair, his Wahoo teammates (he wants it that way) — you’ll run out of adjectives. It’s how it works when you have scored over 100 touchdowns and ran for over 5,000 yards in your high school career. How it also works when his team has started the running clock on every opponent they have played this season.

Just before practice, Kip responded.

“I really appreciate you reaching out,” he said. “That’s super cool of you to think of this. I’d love to give you my time on this story.”

This story begins, basically, in the glory days of Wahoo. If you are from Nebraska you have certainly heard the legendary tales of the Warriors winning 114 consecutive boys’ basketball games from 1988-1992. The four straight state titles.

Rob Brigham, Kip’s dad, was on the first two of those teams, graduating in 1989. Plenty of Kip’s teammates had dad’s who were on those teams, too, or others in the Wahoo basketball tradition (the Warriors won eight titles in 10 years starting in 1988). It makes you wonder how many stories have been passed down over the years.

“I don’t hear too much,” Kip jokes, he’s not sure about anyone else. “My dad was kind of the bench mob guy. The towel waiver.” (Indeed, you can see Rob right here during famous Wahoo, Pius game from the 1989 state tournament.)

The football wasn’t bad either. Wahoo qualified for the state playoffs every year from 1986-1993 but not with near as much success as basketball. They won just two playoff games during that span.

Rob Brigham had his eye on Kim Horsham, a year older. The daughter of two teachers. And ultra-competitive. During her senior year, she qualified for the state golf tournament and helped the Warriors to their first-ever appearance in the girls state basketball tournament. For good measure, she was a three-event qualifier at the spring state track meet.

Rob and Kim were married in August of 1994 and had five children — Bailey, Corby, Kendal, Keegan and Kip. Just like mom and dad, all wore the Wahoo blue and gold.

Bailey was a standout on Wahoo’s first-ever state volleyball team in 2013. Corby was on two playoff football teams. Kendal a standout on three state qualifying basketball teams before starring at Concordia. Keegan, now a sophomore at Nebraska-Omaha, and Kip shared gold medals on Wahoo’s 2024 state championship basketball team.

But, in January of 2015, Kim was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. Kip was just eight years old. Her three-year fight with the disease inspired the hashtag Kim Possible. She passed away in the summer of 2018.

Kim was a beloved art teacher in Wahoo. A hurdle coach. Sponsor of the Art Club and the National Honor Society. She was probably mom to more than just her own kids, it’s just how teachers do it.

“Every once in awhile,” Kip tells me, “I’ll have a teacher or a past student of hers that I will run into and they will tell me about how I was always in her classroom running around and being a turd. Her students loved her. I think some people see those similarities in us.”

Football coach Chad Fox taught next door to Kim. He is also the head track coach and the two shared coaching duties for many years.

“She was always a very kind and caring person who was great with kids,” Fox said. “Not only in the classroom but on the track. But, she was also a fiery competitor who hated to lose. We see that very much in Kip.”

There are 19 seniors on the Wahoo roster for Tuesday’s state final game. Most of them, Kip says, have been playing football together since third grade. When his mom was sick they were there. And in their last game together, she’ll be watching, too.

Fox’s son, Josh, is one of the 19.

“They are just a group of kids that about 8-10 of them are usually together all the time,” the coach said. “Our team chemistry the last three years has just been amazing. But, you also start to understand that we only have a few more days together, too. There is some bittersweet in that.”

They go off in the winter to play basketball or wrestle. And, in the spring to play golf or run track or play baseball. But, each fall, it was back to the football field. It was all they knew.

“It’s just been super special to be with these guys,” Brigham says. “I mean, they are my best friends ever since we started playing tackle football together. We just want to win for each other and I think that’s something we’ve been doing for so long. It's been the same common goal since we started. Let’s win championships.

“And, that’s been really fun to do.”

The first thing Kip Brigham did when it was time to pick his football number before his freshman year was look for No. 32. It was Kim’s basketball number for the Warriors all those years ago. Kendal wore it on the basketball floor, too.

Now, Kim Brigham is there even more on game day. Her signature on the blue tape her youngest son carefully wraps around his wrist prior each game. On the white game towel he sticks in his belt.

In the attitude he takes to the field.

“When Kip speaks, everyone is listening,” Coach Fox says. “When it gets game time, he will flip a switch and become a fiery competitor. As coaches, we know he is going to have a great game when he gets into that mindset.”

The record setter? He knows where it came from.

“Everyone knows how fierce of a competitor my mom was,” Kip says. “I think we share that same mentality to kind of do whatever it takes to win. Do whatever you can for your teammates.

“I know my mom would be super proud of all of us. These past couple of weeks, I have really been thinking about her and wanting to dedicate finishing out my career to her. Even today, I looked down to my phone once and I had 32 messages. It feels like a sign that my mom is proud.”

For one final game, Kip Brigham has a ball to carry. And all the records and medals seem insignificant compared to the memories he has had to bring to each Wahoo football game during his high school career.

But, he knows that his mom is right there, too. In a text message. On his wrist tape. Maybe even inside a Warrior huddle with his buddies. All with the guidance of a mom’s hand.

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