Dallas Cowboy player Ramiro Romo a hero

Focus on Football: To those who know him best, Romo is driven
By Pete Jackel

One of the hottest summers in recorded history was a distant memory the evening of Dec. 8, 1995. The Burlington High School boys' basketball team was preparing to depart for a road trip to East Troy as shivering players boarded the bus.

Wet snow was coating the area and it was going to be a treacherous 20-mile trip to East Troy. On the back end of this early winter snowfall was a cold front that was expected to plunge the wind-chill factor anywhere from 30- to 60-below zero.

As first-year Burlington coach Steve Berezowitz accounted for his players, it became obvious that Tony Romo, his star sophomore point guard, was nowhere to be seen. Minutes passed and Berezowitz, glancing at his watch, decided he could wait no longer.

He ordered the bus to pull out onto Robert Street and head to East Troy for that night's Southern Lakes Conference game.

"The bus was ready to take off and, no Tony,'' Berezowitz said. "So, I'm thinking, `Oh boy, he's our point guard. What are we going to do?' There was a snowstorm, so we waited for a little while. We had no way of getting a hold of him - nobody was home - so I said, `You know what? We're out of here.' " What Berezowitz had no way of knowing was that Ramiro Romo, Tony's father, was having problems making it back to Burlington from Racine in the snow. And since Tony, who did not yet have his driver's license, was depending on his father for a ride to the team bus, he was stranded at home.

So why didn't Tony answer when Berezowitz placed a call to the Romo home? Because Tony, realizing his father would not make it home on time, decided to hop on his bike and frantically pedal over to the school.

And when Romo saw that the bus had already departed, he decided there was no choice. He started pedaling to East Troy.

All 20 miles. In the dead of night. In the snow. In the plummeting temperatures.

"Hey, I just wanted to play basketball,'' Romo said. "I wasn't going to miss the game.'' He didn't have to. Ramiro Romo, finally making it back to Burlington, encountered his son as he furiously pedaled out of Burlington. Father and son drove to East Troy, creating a happy ending to this story.

Burlington won 54-52 in double overtime that night. And Romo was instrumental in that victory, scoring 12 points and setting up his team with the commanding presence of someone far older and more experienced than himself.

"He got there halfway through the sophomore game with that smile that only Tony could give you,'' Berezowitz said. "And it was a great game. We ended up winning in overtime and I think Tony had 12 or 14 points that night.

"That was Tony for you. He was going to do whatever it took to get there.'' That last line explains better than anything how Romo became an All-State quarterback for Burlington as a senior after never having played a down of organized football prior to his junior season.

It explains how Romo developed into the Walter Payton Award Winner (given to the top football player at the NCAA Division I-AA level) as a quarterback for Eastern Illinois University in 2002.

It explains how Romo progressed from an undrafted free agent in 2003 to become Vinny Testaverde's backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys this season.

And it explains how Romo, whose golf clubs are left untouched for months at a time, was able to rally to win this year's Racine Tri-Course championship this summer just before he reported to the Cowboys' training camp.

Here is a closer look inside a young man who has succeeded in such a big way by the coaches, teammates and friends who have gotten to know him well: * n n John Staehler, a 1988 Case High School graduate who tied for fifth in the Racine County Open in August, became acquainted with Romo and his father on the golf links. Frequently golfing with the Romos at Ives Grove during the summer the last several years, Staehler became aware of the competitive drive that defines the younger Romo.

"The 18th hole at Ives Grove is somewhat of a difficult hole,'' Staehler said. "It's a hole where a lot of the players lay up. There's a couple of ponds out there and you lay in between them with like a 2-iron off the tee.

"Every time we would go up there, Tony would pull out his driver. Tony's dad would always say, `Tony, you should really lay up and hit a 2-iron here.' Tony would always shake him off, pull his driver out and try and blow it over the ponds and try and knock it up right in front of the greens.

"I can think of lots of times when he was unsuccessful doing that. One day we were out there and I think he had his low round ever going. He was one or two under par. He stepped up to the tee and Tony's dad said, `You should really hit your 2-iron.' I can't even count how many times he's heard this and he shakes him off again and grabs his driver and hits it right in front of the green. I think he might have even made birdie.

"He just turned around and looked as his dad with a big smile on his face, like, `I told you I knew what I was doing, dad.' "I think that says something about his go-for-broke style, where he's going to try for the home run every time out. He's not going to lay up and play conservative.'' * n n Tommy Brewer lived on the same floor as Romo in Douglas Hall on the Eastern Illinois campus when the two were freshmen in the fall of 1998. The two became such good friends that Brewer and two other roommates now share a house with Romo in Dallas.

The 25-year-old Brewer, a native of Mount Vernon, Ill., also became acquainted with Romo's competitive spirit during their friendship. Only this time, that desire surfaced not with golf clubs, but with a PlayStation football game.

"Back when we were freshmen in college, we played a college football video game,'' Brewer said. "I had beaten him probably 50 straight times in that game. It was never close. One time, he finally got good enough to play me in the national title game in one of the seasons we were playing. He really had no shot at beating me.

"Anyway, he decided one night to stay up the entire night and he scripted a notebook full of plays for each down and distance and for each possible situation that we would run into in the game.

"The next day he came in and, when we started playing our game, he breaks out this notebook and ends up beating me by like 20 because he had everything scripted out and had prepared so well for that one game.

"From that point on, I've had trouble beating him in any game that we played like that because he's done so much to prepare every time we played each other. He just worked all night long trying out different plays.

"Now that he's gotten to know so much more about football, he's virtually impossible to beat."

* n n Away from the field of competition, Romo is polite, courteous and has an endearing sense of humor. He also is extraordinarily generous, as both Steve Gerber, Romo's football coach at Burlington, and Brewer can attest.

"Last Christmas, Tony was in town for maybe three weeks before he went back down to Dallas to train,'' said Gerber, Burlington's coach from 1996 through 2001. "My youngest son (Eric) and I go out and visit him at his parents. Tony doesn't really know my youngest son well. He knew Buck and Tim, my older twins.

"I take a 12-pack of Hacker-Pschorr out there and we sit down at the kitchen table and talk about what it's like being a Cowboy, pass patterns and things like that. We just kind of catch up on a lot of stuff. We probably talk for 35 or 40 minutes and Tony says, `Coach, excuse me. I'll be right back.' "So I continue talking with Ramiro and Eric, my 10-year-old, is sitting at the table with us. Tony comes back upstairs and he's got a Dallas Cowboys jersey. It was his actual jersey and he gives it to Eric for a Christmas present.

"Eric almost passed out. He gave Tony a big hug. It was so cool of Tony to do that. You have to understand it was around Christmas time and he had all these relatives running around the house and a lot of young kids there.

"For him to think of my son, who he didn't really have a relationship with, I was really impressed with that."

Brewer has witnessed that same generosity.

"He's a very generous guy,'' Brewer said. "When I moved down here, he offered to pay for that. I wasn't comfortable with that, but he's always made it understood that if I ever needed anything from him, that it's there.

"And he's done things for people. I remember he went back to Eastern (Illinois) last January or February and there was a guy who came up and talked to him at a basketball game. I guess he was a huge Cowboys fan and I guess he asked Tony to go back to his house to see his `Cowboy Room,' a room dedicated to Cowboys stuff.

"I don't think Tony was terribly interested in doing that, but he did because he wanted to make this guy feel good. It's something that I know I wouldn't have done, but he certainly did.

"The other thing is, I guess this guy brought several things to autograph because there was an announcement or something that Tony was going to be at the game. He had tons of Cowboys apparel that he wanted Tony to sign, so Tony did that.'' * n n Roy Wittke, a 1977 Horlick High School graduate, was Eastern Illinois' offensive coordinator during Romo's years at the school before leaving after Romo's senior season to become passing game coordinator at Arkansas.

What struck Wittke was a profound sense of love between Romo and his parents, Ramiro and Joan. Wittke personally witnessed that in December 2002 when he accompanied the Romos on an eight-hour van ride from Charleston, Ill., to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Walter Payton Award ceremonies.

Romo won the award - which is the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy for NCAA Division I-AA football.

"I just remember how family-oriented the guy is and how close he is to his mom and dad along with how little he thinks of the notoriety he's gotten,'' Wittke said. "On the trip we took to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Walter Payton Award banquet, it was myself, coach (Bob) Spoo, Dave Kidwell, our sports information director, and then Tony and his mom and his dad.

"It could be said that was the biggest moment in his life, but you would never know that on the way down. Being in a van with them for seven or eight hours, you could really see the deep feelings that they have for each other. There was really a deep sense of family and a tremendous amount of warmth between the three of them.'' * n n While Ramiro Romo has always had an extremely close relationship with his only son, that doesn't mean he was afraid to admonish Tony. That became evident to Wittke early in Romo's senior season, when Eastern Illinois opened its season by playing Hawaii and Kansas State, both Division I-A schools.

"You could also tell his dad was in charge there,'' Wittke said. "In Tony's senior year, we opened up against Hawaii and Tony threw two or three interceptions, I think one or two of which were returned for touchdowns. He threw another one or two interceptions against Kansas State, one or two of which had been returned for a touchdown. We were outmatched talent-wise.

"His mom and dad had flown on our charter flight to Kansas State and his dad comes up to me before we get on the plane (for the return flight) and says, `Hey, I need to talk to you when we get back. Will you have a few minutes?' "I'm thinking, `Is he mad? Is he upset because we left Tony in for too long or took him out too soon? Is he upset that we're playing this level of competition?' "I'm not necessarily nervous, but just a little concerned that there might be something wrong. We get off the plane in Charleston, he catches me in the airport parking lot and he says, `Hey, can I have your permission to rip the son of a gun? He's throwing the ball all over the damn field and he's trying to do too much and I want to get after him, but I want to make sure I have your permission before I do that.' "That just floored me, because you hear so many stories about moms and dads interfering and demanding this for their son. And here's a guy asking my permission to get after his son because he thought his son was being selfish and trying to do too much when it was actually just the opposite.'' * n n During the 1996 season at Burlington, Romo's favorite target was Steve Tenhagen, who earned second-team All-State honors after catching 56 passes for 933 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Considering Romo had never played a down of organized football prior to that season, it was remarkable how rapidly he was able to create chemistry between himself and Tenhagen. But there was a reason for that instant success, Tenhagen said.

"His dedication and attitude about winning and being the best is far and above beyond anyone I have ever been around,'' Tenhagen said. "And it's with everything, not just football. It's in golf and basketball and even tennis. It just didn't matter.

"In high school during the basketball season, he would come in and play morning basketball in open gym - during basketball season. We'd practice for two hours after school and he would be in playing an hour and a half before school three days a week.

"And in football, he would always want to throw after practice. Always. And even when he would be home from Eastern and I would be home as well, he would always want to throw. And I think that's what separated him - obviously separated him. It was never-ending with him. He just wanted to be the best."

What's perhaps most remarkable is that eight years later, after Romo became one of the select few players to make an NFL team, that work ethic only intensified.

"The thing that's great about Tony is when you see your quarterback put in extra hours in the summer and you see him begging you to come throw with him just because he wanted to have someone to throw with,'' Witten said. "He does such a great job of setting himself apart because he puts himself in a position where nobody is going to outwork him.

"When you do that, you get respect not just from the coaches, but your teammates as well and that's exactly what he's done.'' * n n Carlos Mireles, perhaps best known in Racine County as coach of the South Shore Breakers wheelchair basketball team, saw Romo's strong competitive desire emerge against Mireles' son, Carlos.

"He would always come over challenge my son,'' Mireles said. "My son is two years older than him. My son is really good in basketball and Tony, even though he was younger and smaller, would always be challenging him.

"Even though Carlos would beat him, he would come back again and again until he got bigger than my son. Then he got my son pretty good.'' Let it never be said that Romo won't help out a friend. In this case it was Gerber, the man who was the first to recognize Romo as an exceptional talent eight years ago.

"In 2003 I finally hooked up with a friend I graduated from high school with (Marge Mytych, at Lake Geneva Badger in 1972),'' Gerber said. "We talked on the phone a couple of times and once it came up in our conversation that I was fortunate enough while coaching in Burlington to coach a current member of the Dallas Cowboys. She didn't believe me.'' "I call up Tony and tell him, `There is this female friend of mine, working as a para-legal for a law firm in San Francisco ( for Townsend, Townsend and Crew) who doesn't believe I know you or coached you in high school.'

"I said to Tony, `Call her for me and introduce yourself and tell her some real good stuff about me.'

"He calls her cell and gets her as her law firm is in the middle of a rather significant meeting in Washington D.C. She has to excuse herself from the meeting to talk. And obviously, she was very surprised about my claim.

"That was very cool of him to do this. And Marge and I met at Miller Park this summer after not seeing one another for 30 some years.

"I never thought one of my former players would assist me in my social life, so to speak.''