Brother holding Brogan

Brother and Brogan,
a beautiful story

The entire nation knows that Nick “Brother” Saban began the Nick’s Kids Foundation in 1998 to help children when he was at Michigan State and continued it as the Alabama football coach.

But few know that he gave special treatment to a Monongah child a decade or more ago with little fanfare and no publicity.

Brogan Raddish and her family do. And they are on “Brother’s” team forever.

The Alabama football coach, going for his 6^th national title against Clemson on Monday night, was in Marion County campaigning for his friend from over the hill from Carolina in Farmington, Joe Manchin.

Brother’s wife is Terry Constable Saban. Terry’s father and Paul Goush worked together in the mines for years and he put the kitchen in for Dietta Goush’s family. Paul’s wife, Linda, made Brogan a silk pillow case with her name monogrammed on it.



Brogan, Brother, Paul Goush

So Brother showed up and had his photo taken with Brogan and Paul Goush and again with just Brogan.

A later photo was taken when Brogan, about 13, opened a package from Brother at her home in Monongah. It was an autographed photo of Brother, a football signed by all the player and a sweatsuit from Alabama “which she wore proudly,” Dietta wrote.


Brother asked about Brogan at Terry's dad’s funeral and asked for our address and mailed the box to Brogan when he was told told that Brogan was no longer in remission.
 

Brogan's mother, Marcie Goush Raddish, has the items enclosed in glass today.

Brogan was only a few years old when Brother first visited her.

Brogan was 14 when she passed away from cancer – specifically Ewing's Sarcoma, which usually starts in the bone -- at the age of 14 in 2009. Her parents are Marcie Goush Raddish of Monongah and Mark Raddish of Fairmont.

Ever since, her grandmother, Dietta Goush, has conducted fundraising for the Brogan Raddish Scholarship Fund for students in the town where Brother was quarterback of the 1968 Monongah High state championship football team.

Joe Manchin, by then West Virginia’s governor, spoke at Brogan’s funeral. His son, Joseph, Jr., sang “Amazing Grace.”

Brogan opening her gifts from Brother

Saban led the LSU Tigers to the BCS National Championship in 2003 and the Alabama Crimson Tide to BCS and AP national championships in 2009, 2011, 2012, and the College Football Playoff championship in 2015.

He became the first coach in college football history to win a national championship with two different Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936.

If Alabama beats Clemson on Monday night, Brother will become a legend in college football, tying another legend, Paul "Bear" Bryant, with six national titles.

He already is a legend to Brogan’s family.

Dietta makes jewelry and other items in her Brogan Raddish Scholarship fundraising attempts. If you want to contribute, make out a check to:

Brogan Raddish Scholarship Fund

And mail it to:

Dietta Harden Goush

675 Cottage Street
Monongah, WV 26554

I did. It was one of the best investments I have made, in students living in the place of my birth, on Walnut Street at Pike Street intersection in my Polish grandparents’ house because it was the Great Depression and families of multiple generations shared homes.