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John Smallwood | Haunting memory for Jerome Brown's niece

Baylor's Mosby finds comfort in basketball, God; still reels from death of uncle, Brown, and brother

CLEVELAND - Sometimes, Bernice Mosby says, she is still overcome by grief. It can happen in quiet moments, when she's sitting alone and the emotions come sweeping back.

She was 8 years old when the news first came. She said she remembers standing in a window, seemingly all day, praying that her older brother, Gus, and uncle, Jerome, would be OK.

Mosby is the daughter of Gloria Brown who is the sister of late Eagles defensive tackle Jerome Brown.

On June 25, 1992, Gus, 12, went with his uncle to purchase a new Corvette. Neither returned.

At some point, Jerome Brown lost control of the car while traveling at a high rate of speed. Both he and Gus died in the crash.

"I remember a lot," says Mosby, a basketball star at Baylor, who is projected as a first-round pick in today's WNBA Draft. "I remember somebody coming by our apartment and telling my mother what happened.

"I know I stayed in the window all day praying, 'Please don't let them die, please don't let them die.' Later that night, I found out they were dead."

But death isn't an easy concept for an 8-year-old to fully comprehend, and Mosby says it wasn't until high school that she started to experience the complete impact of her loss.

"I would just be sitting in my room reminiscing," she says, "thinking about the fun times I had with my brother and uncle and sometimes it would just come back. It still does, but I'm doing better with it now."

In an ironic coincidence, WNBA director of communications Ron Howard was working for the Eagles back in 1992.

When Mosby met Howard at the WNBA Predraft Camp this past weekend in Cleveland, Howard told her of their connection and she asked him if he was at the funneral.

Howard explained how then Eagles owner Norman Braman had sent him to Florida early to be there to meet anyone associated with the team. He told her when he arrived at the church, the only ones present where him, the priest and Brown's body.

It's been an interesting and sometimes trying journey for Mosby. Her father was stabbed to death while trying to break up a fight when she was 18 months old.

She excelled at basketball at Hernando High in Brownsville, Fla., but occasionally had discipline issues with her coaches.

A 2002 McDonald's All-American, Mosby verbally committed to Florida, Louisiana State and Connecticut before finally signing with the Gators.

She played 2 1/2 seasons in Gainesville before being dismissed from the team in March 2005.

A story in the Gainesville Sun reported that Mosby had gotten into a fight with a teammate and then walked out on the team.

She says that only she and former Florida coach Carolyn Peck know what really happened and leaves things at that.

Peck told reporters at the time that she and Mosby parted on good terms.

"Bernice made good decisions," Peck said. "I'm proud to say Bernice is where Bernice is because of Bernice."

Despite Mosby having just one season of eligibility left, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey accepted her as a transfer.

Mulkey, who had guided the Bears to the 2005 NCAA title, told Mosby upfront that she didn't need her, and if she came to Baylor she would do so agreeing to play under the coach's terms.

"Any transfer that wants to come here, I try to scare them off," Mulkey told the Waco Tribune-Herald. "I tell them they can't play for me, that I'm too hard, too much of a disciplinarian.

"People transfer for different reasons, but I will never take a transfer that's going to create a problem in my program."

Mosby didn't.

In her one season in Waco, Texas, Mosby became an honorable-mention AP All-America, leading Baylor in 11 statistical categories including scoring (17.6 a game) and rebounding (9.1).

"I needed something new, something fresh," Mosby says. "I was just at a point where I wasn't happy.

"I was young-minded, but I just grew out of it. It was just a matter of growing up. I think everything happens for a reason."

Mosby had to be questioning what the reasons were on March 18, the day her home in Florida burned down. Mosby received the tragic news while the Bears were preparing to play North Carolina State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Fortunately, no one was killed or injured.

"I lost everything," says Mosby, whose family initially did not tell her about the fire. "My trophies from when I was little. Everything I owned. It was just another tragedy, but I feel it's really making me a stronger person."

Baylor set up a fund to help Mosby and her family.

With her mother encouraging her to stay with the Baylor team instead of coming home, Mosby scored 26 in the Bears' 76-72 overtime loss to the Wolfpack.

Today, Mosby is in Cleveland - one of 22 prospects invited to attend the WNBA Draft. She is listed on WNBA.com as the top power forward in the draft.

"I didn't really know I was a WNBA-type player," Mosby says. "During my senior year, I was told over and over that I was a top prospect so I started thinking maybe I was.

"It's something that as a girl growing up, I always wanted to play in the WNBA. It's a dream come true, really.

"I think basketball is sometimes an outlet for me to get out all my frustration and not think about stuff. It's just holding me together right now."

Mosby says her faith in God has often been tested but it has never wavered.

"Sometimes it may seem like he's not there when everything is going wrong," she says. "But in the bad times, he's always there. I always have that in the back of my head that when people let you down, God is always going to be there for you." *

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