Published Nov. 7, 2012."Read a book excerpt about Tom Brady, BA '24, for whom Brady Commons was named."By Norm Benedict

Benedict, Norm

English

University of Missouri: MOspace

4/6/2021 Meet Mr. Brady | MIZZOU Magazinehttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/11/meet-mr-brady/index.html 1/5University of MissouriIThumbs Up “V” for Victory, ILove You by Norm Benedict, Arts’61. (AuthorHouse, 2011)Meet Mr. BradyRead a book excerpt about Tom Brady, BA ’24, forwhom Brady Commons was named.By Norm Benedict Published Nov. 7, 2012n Thumbs Up, “V” forVictory, I Love You(AuthorHouse, 2011), authorNorm Benedict, Arts ’61, recountstales of growing up in Columbiaduring the 1940s and 1950s. Heattended University Laboratoryand High School and later Mizzou.Among Benedict’s childhoodfriends was Tom Brady, whosefather, also Tom, was the eponymof Brady Commons (now MUStudent Center). The elder Bradygraduated from MU in 1924, latertaught at MU and worked as an administrator. Here’san excerpt from Thumbs Up that sketches the wellknown MU figure.The Magazine of the Mizzou Alumni AssociationMIZZOU4/6/2021 Meet Mr. Brady | MIZZOU Magazinehttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/11/meet-mr-brady/index.html 2/5Of all my friends’ parents we were getting to knowduring this period, it was Tom Brady’s father Iremember most fondly. A vice president of theuniversity and a Greek scholar, he looked like agood old boy farmer from the Missouri boondocks.Of Scotch-Irish descent and very much agentleman, he chewed tobacco and, with his jollyIrish face leading the way, peered at you over hissimple and somewhat bent spectacles — the typeof fellow you’d normally expect to see loungingaround a wood stove in the general store, ready toshare some time with just about anyone passingby, a regular member of the “spit ’n whittle” club,as we used to say.A master storyteller, Tom Brady had firstappeared on the Missouri campus back in themid-’30s, a handsome young man with all thepositive facets of his heritage etched on his face.Many young women “set their caps” (as I’m toldthe saying went then) for him, but he wound upmarrying a pretty, dark-haired young womanfrom Colorado, after spending a summer there.Thomas Allan Brady Sr. later switched whatreligious allegiance he had to Catholicism, tomatch that of his new wife, and remained devotedto this conversion for the rest of his life. As TomJr. and I became better friends, we beganspending more time in each other’s homes — Tomhaving lunch or dinner at my house, and me doing4/6/2021 Meet Mr. Brady | MIZZOU Magazinehttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/11/meet-mr-brady/index.html 3/5the same at his. I can’t speak for him, but it musthave been something of a shock for Tom to share ameal with my family, with only my parents, meand my younger brother, then around six, withwhom to share the meal. When I did the same athis home, I faced a formidable gathering; eightchildren and two parents – eleven people,counting me at the table. I was pre-warned tostand my ground or risk going without food, andwhile it was an eye-opener for me, it wasengrossing at the same time.The Brady clan — all ten of them — lived in anaverage sized two story (with basement) home onWest Rollins Road, on a rise as it came out of the‘quarry’ area, making the location of the home inwhat became known as ‘Quarry Heights’ section,the name given to the then-new developmentbuilt around these digs, but which came with aclear (and deep) good-sized swimming andfishing area. The home next door, where WillJohnson, another classmate, and his familyresided, was an exact floor plan of the Bradyhome. Susan was the oldest of Tom’s siblings,whom he followed. The others (I can remembertheir names but am not sure of the birth order)were Bob, John, Sally, Margaret, Theresa — andthe baby, Bill.After a meal at the Brady’s, “old” Tom wouldsometimes hold forth, while we sat on the floor4/6/2021 Meet Mr. Brady | MIZZOU Magazinehttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/11/meet-mr-brady/index.html 4/5around him, and listened intently as he took offwith a few of his yarns. The University of Missouri,the oldest university west of the Mississippi River,had been founded in 1839 due largely to thegenerosity of one man, James S. Rollins, a wealthyfarmer, landowner, member of Congress duringthe Civil War, and the fellow so many streets andbuildings had been named for. As the yearsbeyond that founding year began to pass, thename Rollins became almost god-like; without theactions of him and his family, Columbia mighthave floundered or returned to dust, and, likemany other upstarts that sprouted in the early19th century only to wilt later, never to be heardfrom again.So it was alarming (and hilarious) when Tomrevealed to us that an old acquaintance of his oncetold him that “The last male Rollins to do anhonest day’s work in his life was born in 1858.” Healso told us the uproarious anecdote about a timein the late 1930s when the city fathers decided tochange some of the house numbers in town and, insome cases, the name of the street on which youlived.One of the Rollins descendants lived in an areacalled Grasslands — actually a subdivision built onwhat had been (and named for) the farm of theoldest of founder Rollins’ sons. Most, if not all ofthe streets in this expanding and pleasant4/6/2021 Meet Mr. Brady | MIZZOU Magazinehttps://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2012/11/meet-mr-brady/index.html 5/5Published by MIZZOU magazine, 109 Reynolds Alumni Center, Columbia, MO 65211 | Phone:573-882-5916 | Email: mizzou@missouri.eduOpinions expressed in this site do not necessarily reflect the official position of MU or theMizzou Alumni Association.© 2019 — Curators of the University of Missouri. All rights reserved. DMCA and othercopyright information.  An equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.neighborhood had been given the name ofsomeone from the Rollins family. The Rollins inquestion lived on the corner of Wayne andBingham roads – but had a Bingham address.When the Rollins in question received his newhouse number from the city, he found they hadalso changed his address to Wayne Road.The Rollins descendant stormed down to City Halland complained mightily. “Why are you upset?”came the reply. “It’s not as if we moved yourhome; it’s just now known by a different numberand different street name — Wayne Road. Howcan that be such a problem?” the person in chargeinquired. “Because,” the Rollins family memberreplied, “Uncle Wayne was a b—–d, and I neverliked him.”Topics: Alumni, History, Web ExclusivesTags: Alumni Bookshelf

Meet Mr. Brady

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Meet Mr. Brady

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