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Famous LDS People: Athletes

Fittingly, the BYU quarterback who led the championship campaign became the first member of that 1984 team inducted into the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame.

In his two years as a starter for the Cougars, "The Rocket from Roseville" (California) compiled a 24-3 record, breaking nine NCAA records and tying another. Among the most impressive of Bosco's accomplishments as he rewrote the NCAA record book were his 8,148 passing yards over two seasons and the 338 passes he completed in 1985.

The crowning performance of Bosco's career came in 1984 at Holiday Bowl VII; the game featured a gimp-legged Bosco, a fuming Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler, and two BYU fourth-quarter touchdown drives that staked the Cougars' claim to the national championship. After the first non-New Year's Day bowl game ever to determine the nation's number one team, the Cougars were 13-0. And the 1984 season ended much as it began, with an aching Bosco lying flat on the airplane floor, just as he had on the flight home from Pittsburgh after BYU upset the then third-ranked Pitt Panthers, 20-14.

No other season has been more chronicled than 1984, with Bosco trying to live up to the just-completed legends of All-Americans Steve Young and Gordon Hudson. In 1984 and 1985 Bosco emerged from the shadows and took his place among BYU gridiron greats; he was selected All-America by Associated Press, United Press International, The Football News, and The Sporting News during his junior and senior years. The 1984 WAC Player of the Year, Bosco finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting in both 1984 and 1985.

At least two of Bosco's 66 career touchdown passes are indelibly etched in the memory of every loyal Cougar fan - the 50-yarder to Adam Haysbert that beat Pitt and the 13-yarder to Kelly Smith with 1:23 remaining against Michigan - but there were numerous others to David Mills, Glen Kozlowski, Mark Bellini, and Lakei Heimuli.

Bosco opened his senior season by guiding BYU to a 28-14 victory over Boston College in the annual Kickoff Classic. The Cougars went on to an unprecedented tenth consecutive WAC Championship and an 11-3 record; the three losses during Robbie Bosco's starting career (UCLA, UTEP, and Ohio State) were by a total of 13 points.

Green Bay's third-round draft pick, Bosco played two years for the Packers before his NFL career was shortened by a shoulder injury. He now coaches BYU's quarterbacks.

Among BYU's great quarterbacks, Robbie Bosco will always be remembered as the one who brought the national championship home to Provo.

*Information for these biographies came from the following sources: rulongardner.com, Sports Gallery, Latter-day Heroes by Chad Hawkins, BYU Cougar Club, Lordly & Dame, Inc.