Where are they now?

Morrell, Matich remember two fallen teammates
lead BYU to the national championship. More than 20 years later, Morrell learned that Allen was suffering
from a brain tumor and was fighting
for his life. Morrell called his friend,
who lived in southern California.
“Kyle, I want to see you,” Allen
said, barely able to talk. “Will you
come and see me?”
By Jeff Call
Deseret News
PROVO — To this day, Kyle Morrell is haunted by a phone conversation he had with his former BYU
teammate, Mark Allen, a few years
ago.
In 1984, Morrell and Allen played
in a defensive backfield that helped
Morrell promised he would. But
about one month later, in July 2006,
Allen died at age 46. Failing to make
good on that promise is something
Morrell regrets deeply.
“As life goes, you get busy with
family and other things and I didn’t
go down and see him,” says Morrell,
who lives in Farmington. “It haunts
Where are they now?
BYU
Continued from D1
OFFENSE
Adam Haysbert
Position: SE
Occupation: Gospel
Minister Residence: San Matteo,
CA
Glen Kozlowski
Position: WR
Occupation: Broadcaster, HS Coach
Residence: Wildwood, IL
NFL: Bears
Mark Bellini
Position: WR
Occupation: Environmental Consultant Residence: Heber City, UT
NFL: Colts
Robert Anae
Position: OG
Occupation: Off. Coordinator, BYU Residence: Provo, UT
NFL: Patriots
Trevor Matich
Position: C
Occupation: Marketing Company Owner,
Broadcaster
Residence: Nashville, TN
NFL: Patriots, Redskins
Craig Garrick
Dave Wright
Position: OG
Position: OT
Deceased, Sept. 3, 2001 Occupation: Retired
Deputy Sheriff Residence: Petaluma, CA
OFFENSE
Lakei Heimuli
Position: FB
Occupation: Delta
Airlines Performance
Leader
Residence: Woods Cross, UT
NFL: Bears
David Mills
Position: TE
Occupation: HS Teacher
& Coach
Residence: Island
Lake, IL
Louis Wong
Position: OT
Occupation: HS Coach Residence: Highland, UT
NFL: Eagles, Raiders,
Cardinals
Robbie Bosco
Position: QB
Occupation: Development, BYU Athletics
Residence: Provo, UT
NFL: Packers
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kelly Smith
Position: HB
Occupation: Teacher,
Coach at Dixie State
Residence: St. George,
UT
Lee Johnson
Position: P/K
Occupation: Stock
Trader Residence: Alpine, UT
NFL: Oilers, Bengals,
Pats, Vikings, Eagles
Vai Sikahema
Position: RB/PR/KR
Occupation: Philadelphia Sports Anchor Residence: Mt. Laurel,
NJ
NFL: Eagles, Cardinal
DEFENSE
Larry Hamilton
Position: DT
Occupation: OC Tanner
Executive
Residence: Alpine, UT
Shawn Knight
Position: DT
Occupation: Medical Sales
Residence: Park City, UT
NFL: Saints, Broncos,
Cardinals
Brad Smith
Position: NG
Occupation: Plumbing
Contractor
Residence: Orange
Park, FL
Jim Herrmann
Position: DT
Occupation: Exec. Icon
Health & Fitness
Residence: Draper, UT
NFL: Cowboys
Leon White
Position: SLB
Occupation: Retired NFL,
Direct Youth Programs
Residence: LaMesa, CA
NFL: Bengals
Kurt Gouveia
Position: WLB
Occupation: Retired
NFL, Coach
Residence: N. Carolina
NFL: Redskins
Marv Allen
Position: MLB
Occupation: Cardiologist
Residence: Mapleton, UT
Cary Whittingham
Position: LB
Occupation: HS Coach
Residence: Provo, UT
NFL: Bengals
David Neff
Position: LLB
Occupation: Medical
Sales
Residence: Oakley, UT
Steve Haymond
Position:SS
Occupation: CPA & Business Owner
Residence: Salt Lake
City, UT
OTHER NOTABLES
DEFENSE
PLAYER
Kyle Morrell
Position: WS
Occupation: Sales Rep.
Residence: Farmington, UT
NFL: Vikings
Mark Allen
Position: RC
Deceased
Ken Smith
Alema Fitisemanu
Ladd Akeo
Jay McDonald
Rodney Thomas
Marc Sherman
Korey Rasmussen
Shane Shumway
POSITION
OCCUPATION
RESIDENCE
NG Owner Firestone Service Center
LB Executive Director Coral Reef Academy
WLB High School Counselor MLB Quality Assurance Director LC Charter School Dean of Students SS Teacher & HS Coach WS Attorney RC Contractor/Rancher Mt. Pleasant, SC
Western Samoa
Makawao, HI
Cedar Hills, UT
Coconut Creek, FL
Las Vegas, NV
Salt Lake City, UT
Blanding, UT
SE
TE
OT
OG
C
OG
OT
QB
FB
Salt Lake City, UT
Iona, ID
Pasadena, CA
Mokena, IL
Newport Beach, CA
American Fork, UT
Morgan Hill, CA
Kaysville, UT
Honolulu, HI
OFFENSE
Richard Orr
Lance Lindley
Sam Oramas
John Borgia Keith McCullough
David King
Scott Robinson
Blaine Fowler
Thor Salanoa
me to this day.
“I even have nightmares about
it. Not to sound corny or religious
or anything like that, but I felt him
come to me at night and say, ‘Hey,
Kyle, it’s OK that you didn’t come
down. I’ll see you again. Don’t worry
about it.’
“It gives me some comfort, but it
Branch manager
Principal
HS Dean of Students
Heavy Equipment Appraiser
Attorney
Sales Manager
Real Estate
Striker Orthopedics
Prison Guard
DESERET NEWS
Palmer and played Commander Jonas Blane in the CBS
adventure drama “The Unit.”
Adam Haysbert spoke
of dreams and goals of his
brother but, with his own
catch, he set in motion a
grand dream for BYU football,
too. That 1984 Cougar squad
never lost a game.
“We just had a feeling that
we would win, and keep winning,” said Herrmann, now an
executive with Icon Health &
Fitness in Draper. “Our dream
came true.”
“What we had then, we still
have,” said backup quarterback Blaine Fowler, now a
color analyst for The mtn.
network and host of a local
radio show in Salt Lake City.
“As a group, we were very
close then and we still are
today,” Fowler said.
“It’s like a band of brothers. When you go through
something like that, you
cannot do it unless you have
chemistry, unless you are one.
It took that kind of closeness
to overcome the challenges,
the close games, the key plays
we had to get to get a win, to
overcome adversity.
“Of all the teams I’ve played
on, been associated with, or
covered as a sportscaster over
the years, I don’t think I’ve
witnessed one as close as that
one,” Fowler said. “It sticks
with you. LaVell Edwards
might have had more talented
teams; I think Utah’s team
last year was a great one, so
was the 2004 team. But none
had the closeness on both
offense and defense as our
team.
“We had a real mixture
of cultures — black, white,
Polynesian, players who came
from all over the country. We
all got along. We watched
each other’s backs all the
time. There was not bickering.
“Even today,” he continued,
“I’ll see one of my teammates,
somebody I haven’t seen in 25
years, and I’ll go up and we’ll
hug and there’s this bond,
something that’s tangible
and real, something that will
never be broken by time or
distance.”
Of the 48 primarily key players on the roster that year, 18
served LDS missions, a much
lower percentage than what
you’ll see on a BYU team
today, which is about 85 to 90
percent.
Today, that 1984 squad is
spread out from Hawaii to
New York, and the players
have become fathers and
grandfathers. They are doctors, teachers, carpenters,
ministers, stockbrokers and
sportscasters, whose work
can be seen in the nation’s top
media markets, some with
extensive national exposure.
In addition to Fowler’s TV
work, center Trevor Matich
has worked with ESPN and
punt return specialist Vai
Sikahema is a popular TV
sports anchor in Philadelphia.
Receiver Glen Kozlowski does
a Chicago Bears radio show
in the Windy City. In terms
of money made for minutes
worked, Sikahema may be the
biggest cash man.
Kicker Lee Johnson, who
went on to play for more NFL
teams that anybody else on
the team, struck it big with
his buddy Steve Young playing the stock market.
“Now he’s giving back,”
laughed Herrmann.
It’s tough to say who has
made the biggest fortune.
Some say it isn’t a player but
a coach — former quarterbacks coach Mike Holmgren.
“He’d always tell Robbie
(Bosco) and I that one of us
would make it big someday,
make millions, and that when
really bothers me that I gave him my
word and I didn’t keep my word,”
Morrell said. “Mark was a real good
friend of mine. We were really close.
It breaks my heart that I didn’t take
time to spend a few hundred dollars
to fly down before he passed away.”
“It’s like a band of brothers. When you go through
something like that, you
cannot do it unless you
have chemistry.”
Blaine Fowler
backup quarterback for 1984 champs
we did, we had to remember
him and take care of him,”
Fowler said.
“As it turned out, he’s made
the millions. I’m sure as one
of the most respected coaches
in the NFL over the years,
with all those teams he’s
coached, from being an assistant with the 49ers, the Super
Bowl champion Packers and
Seahawks, he’s made a ton.”
Another assistant coach for
that team could make a claim,
too. UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow, a receivers
coach for BYU in 1984, has
earned plenty of coin since
moving on to North Carolina
State before being part of
national championships at
USC and then a stint with the
Tennessee Titans of the NFL.
Backup lineman Ty Mattingly may have actually hit
the biggest jackpot when he
hooked up early in the glory
days of network company Novell, working as the prime assistant for CEO Ray Noorda.
And the smartest guy on the
squad proved it in his postplaying days.
Linebacker Marv Allen, his
teammates claim, had the
best grades and the highest
GPA back in the day. He is
currently a cardiologist in
Mapleton.
Interesting enough, Bosco’s
two tackles on that offensive
line have migrated around the
country and ended up in the
same zip code. Robert Anae
is BYU’s current offensive coordinator, and Louis Wong is
the highly successful coach of
the state champion Timpview
High School football team.
Kyle Morrell, the safety
whose diving goal-line tackle
of Hawaii’s quarterback in
Aloha Stadium helped save
that undefeated season, is
a sales representative who
now lives in Farmington. His
teammates remember him as
one of the toughest players on
the squad.
“I remember before the Wyoming game, Kyle got up and
gave a speech,” Herrmann
said. “He started off real soft
then he got louder and louder.
Pretty soon he was screaming
at the top of his lungs and he
grabbed a ketchup bottle and
threw it. It whistled right by
my head. Dude, what were
you thinking?”
The 1984 crew keeps close
tabs on one another, said
Fowler. That includes the
team comedian, the kicker
Johnson. He can often be
found all over the place, calling teammates, hooking up at
games, showing up on BYU’s
campus, visiting practices.
“He’s a typical kicker, kind
of crazy,” said Fowler.
A few weeks ago, Herrmann
was in an important meeting
when his cell phone rang. It
was Johnson.
“Did you hear about Michael
Jackson?” Johnson asked Herrmann.
“No, I haven’t heard,” Herrmann said.
“Well,” Johnson said. “He
died.”
“Oh, well, thanks for calling
me,” Herrmann said.
Then the big defensive
tackle who roomed with
the effervescent, ebullient
Johnson remembered THE
Michael Jackson scene.
Johnson was in the shower
near the locker room, all
soaped up, and he had a
Michael Jackson song blaring over his tape player.
Right there, naked as a baby,
Johnson was moonwalking,
Please see ALLEN on D6
twirling, high stepping to
the music as players shuffled
by and began to give him an
ovation.
“I’ll never get that one out
of my mind — unfortunately,”
Herrmann laughed.
“Lee was always dancing in
the shower,” Fowler said.
Kozlowski, a favorite target
of Bosco, had a reputation for
starting fights, or finding his
way into one. His blood had a
low boiling point, evidenced
still by an incident on an
Orem golf course this past fall
on the day of the San Diego
State game, Nov. 8.
Playing behind a slow, plodding foursome, Kozlowski
began shouting ahead for the
group to pick it up. Playing
with Bosco and Kozlowski’s
son, BYU receiver Tyler
Kozlowski, Glen was getting
antsy. One of the guys in the
group made the mistake of
turning around and telling
Glen to shut up, using an
expletive.
To a horrified Bosco, in seconds, Koz got in the cart and
raced up to the group, went
right up to the guy and asked
what he’d said. The guy just
looked at him, stunned. After
repeating what he said, the
guy found himself in the legendary alligator grip of The
Koz, crying out, “It’s a social
game, it’s a social game.”
Of course, the title of toughest guy is argued amongst
the team. Koz doesn’t get
too many votes over Morrell, or even a linebacker like
Cary Whittingham, younger
brother of Utah coach and
former BYU captain Kyle
Whittingham.
“Thing with Koz,” said Cary
Whittingham, “A guy that lays
down on the field after almost
every play with what looks
like a season-ending injury
and then miraculously jumps
back up to be in the next play
cannot be the toughest guy on
the team. Of course, I’d vote
for myself.”
Whittingham, a former
Provo City police officer, now
works with the Provo School
District as a resource officer.
He is also a P.E. teacher at
Timpview High, where he
coaches the linebackers with
former teammate Wong.
“Of course, Louis is the
guy from that team that I see
the most,” said Cary. “I’m
also close to Jay McDonald,
another linebacker, and those
I have relationships with at
BYU are those from the old
days, from that team. Other
than that, I don’t have that
much contact there any more.
No one I talk to makes a redblue thing about me or my
brother, Utah and BYU.”
Whittingham agreed that
the 1984 team had great
chemistry.
“I can’t put my thumb on
one time the offense or the
defense struggled and guys
on the sideline said anything
negative,” he said. “Didn’t
happen. We were very much
about taking one another’s
backs.”
On the Fourth of July, at the
Provo parade, Whittingham
knows he can count on one
thing — an encounter if he
ever needs a bump or handshake with his former teammates. As a patrol officer, he
was always assigned parade
duty near in the vicinity of
575 East Center Street. And
every year, at the same spot,
he sees Johnson and Mattingly hanging out in front of
a house he suspects is owned
by a relative of Johnson, the
Michael Jackson shower
dancer.
If anyone ever wants to
hook up with those guys or
meet for a reunion, says Cary,
you can go there every year
and count on them.
“Some things never change,”
he said.
E-mail: [email protected]