Brothers in uniform: Scott City's Brawley looks forward to a true homecoming game

After each one of his high school football games, senior Austin Brawley makes an important telephone call to his half brother, Cpl. Richard Rupert of the United States Marine Corps, to discuss in detail how Scott City played.

Rupert, 26, has never seen Brawley, 17, compete in a football game.

The two brothers, who share the same father, have met face to face briefly only five times. And Brawley was too young to remember the first time he met Rupert.

Distance has made it difficult for the two to spend much time at all with each other.

Rupert was raised by his mother in New Jersey. Brawley grew up in Missouri and was raised by his father and his own mother.

Rupert's five-year service in the Marine Corps, including two seven-month stints as a machine-gunner in Iraq, also has kept the brothers from seeing each other much.

Their main method of communicating always has been conversing over the telephone. They love talking football.

"We talk pretty much as much as we can, but we always make it a point to talk with each other every Friday night after games about how things went," Brawley said. "He likes to talk with me about sports."

Rupert, who lettered in five high school sports, including football, said he certainly enjoys the telephone conversations with Brawley after games.

"Every chance I get I want to know how he did," Rupert said. "I remember how much fun I had when I played football. And he's a talent. He's not just a kid out there putting on the pads. He's actually really good and that makes it more exciting."

The traditional phone call between Rupert and Brawley will take place again tonight after Brawley and his Scott City teammates (2-2) finish playing rival Chaffee (2-2) in a 7 p.m. contest at Scott City High School.

But Rupert said tonight's postgame call would be the final one this season.

Rupert said he is looking forward to being in the stands watching his brother compete for the first time when Scott City plays its next game against Hayti on Oct. 10.

Rupert also plans on attending Brawley's other football games after Oct. 10 because he will not be visiting just briefly this time. He will be here to stay.

Rupert is scheduled to be finished with his military service in six days. And he said he will be moving to Missouri on Thursday to spend more time with his family and to study for an education degree at Southeast Missouri State University.

Brawley, who has three other older half-siblings who all live locally and who he regularly has seen all his life, said there is no better time than football season for Rupert to come to Missouri. He is looking forward to his brother watching him play live rather than just passing along updates to him by telephone.

Rupert certainly is excited about his new life in the Midwest. He said he had hoped to be at Brawley's game tonight against Chaffee, but he learned late Wednesday that he would be needed by the Marine Corps to serve for another week.

"I've got a family in Missouri that I've had for 26 years, but I've only seen a handful of times," Rupert said. "Being out there with my dad and my sisters and watching my little brother play football is the No. 1 thought on my mind every night when I go to bed."

The five visits

Rupert was born in Cape Girardeau. He moved with his mother to New Jersey, where his mother has family, when he was 18 months old.

Rupert visited his dad in Missouri when he was 10 years old. It was the first time he met Brawley, who was only about 1 at the time.

The second time Rupert and Brawley met was when Rupert was 17 and Brawley was 8.

They did not see each other again for another eight years when Rupert, then 25, visited his family in Missouri the summer before Brawley's junior year of high school in 2007.

Rupert visited twice that summer, and again four months later for Christmas.

Brawley and Rupert began developing a closer relationship during the three visits.

The two had talked on the phone over the years and weren't unfamiliar with each other at all. But Brawley said he still did not know much about Rupert.

Brawley described getting to know Rupert better as a learning experience.

Brawley has one other half brother and two half sisters living in Missouri. Rupert has one half sister in Missouri along with Brawley being his half brother. Rupert also has a half brother, half sister and two step brothers in New Jersey.

"It was kind of weird at first," Brawley said about spending time with Rupert. "He's my big brother and he comes down here last year and I don't know a lot about him. I didn't know how to act toward him."

Both brothers wanted a better relationship with each other. And they soon learned they shared not only a passion for sports, but also an equal love for their family.

Rupert and Brawley attended a St. Louis Cardinals game, played golf at Bent Creek, hosted family barbecues, swam and played video games.

"And there would be nights where we'd just drive around and just talk," Rupert said.

"Austin, just like myself, loves the family. They are No. 1 in his mind and his heart."

Richard Brawley, Brawley and Rupert's father, said he was happy to see Brawley and Rupert want to spent time together that summer.

"They jumped in the truck to go up town messing around and hanging out with Austin's buddies from school," Richard Brawley said. "Austin was pretty proud to take his brother up there and let his buddies see that [his brother] is a war hero. He was real ecstatic."

Rupert also was able to watch Brawley practice football at Scott City's preseason training camp during a visit that summer.

"I just enjoyed getting to see how the team looked," Rupert said. "I've heard him talk about the team but to actually get to see it, it put everything together."

When Rupert revisited in December 2007, he continued to bond with his brother and the rest of his father's side of the family, playing Guitar Hero and card games along with other activities. Rupert said it was the best Christmas of his life, and Brawley loved having his brother there.

"All the family was there and it was even more special to have my brother there," Brawley said.

When Rupert visited twice in that previous summer, he and Brawley exchanged cell phone numbers. That was when the communication between the two brothers became more frequent.

Before that, Rupert typically spoke with Brawley by phone when he called home to speak with the family. Rupert said he tried to keep frequent contact with his father's side of the family via the telephone as much as possible.

During Brawley's junior football season, the two brothers started calling each other separately by cell to discuss football games and life in general.

"He's busy and I'm busy, but it seems like we both make it a point if something big in our life happens or something interesting happens to call the other person and let them know," Rupert said. "Or if it's just been a couple of weeks, one of us calls the other just to be like 'Hey, I haven't heard from you. How are things going?'"

A new life

Rupert said he often thought about his dad and half siblings when in Iraq from September 2004 to April 2005 and September 2005 to April 2006.

Rupert served as a machine-gunner on a small unit riverine craft and on a Humvee. His duties included deterring insurgents trafficking weapons across the Euphrates River. He also said he has been to and been shot at in almost every major hot spot in Al Anbar and he was in the Battle for Fallujah in Nov. 2004.

He said that while overseas he often thought about how he had not seen his family much during his life and how he wanted to see them more.

"A lot of times when I would get off of a patrol and get done with doing some crazy stuff, the first thing I would do was find a phone and call [home]," he said.

Rupert said he is more proud about his military service than anything else he has ever done. Simultaneously he feels like he has missed out on spending time with his father and siblings in Missouri. And he said he has missed out on watching Brawley play high school football.

Rupert said he liked the area during his visits in 2007 and started to think about moving to Missouri once his military service ended.

"I'm 26 years old and a single guy," he said. "If there's ever a time to make a big move in my life, this is the time. I've got nothing holding me down."

Rupert said he thinks the best part of seeing Brawley play in a football game will be watching his brother play defense. When Rupert saw his brother in 2007 training camp, the Rams worked on only offense. He said Brawley's favorite part of football is playing defense. So Rupert wants to see his brother play defensive back.

"I want to see him stick people [on defense]," Rupert said. "I want to see helmet to body. And I want to see him have fun. He loves it."

Rupert is just excited about spending more time with Brawley whether discussing football, playing golf or partaking in some other hobby they both enjoy.

"The crazy part is that I'll be starting college eight months before he starts college," Rupert said. "So we'll pretty much be freshmen together. ... If per se he did go to SEMO, there's probably a chance that we'll have classes together."

Brawley said he would like to play football at a smaller college, but he also is considering applying to Southeast.

Richard Brawley said he is impressed with the way Rupert maintained phone contact with all his Missouri siblings while in the military. Rupert has been stationed mostly at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Richard Brawley added that Rupert's contact with the family made it feel like Rupert had grown up with his half siblings and seen them on an everyday basis.

Richard Brawley said that he thinks Brawley and Rupert will become even closer in the coming months with Rupert moving to town.

"I think they're going to get together and do a bunch of golfing, and I think everything is going to be real cool between all of us," Richard Brawley said.

Scott City coach Ronnie Jones said Brawley, a starting wide receiver and defensive back, has a strong, humorous personality and seems right at home with all his teammates.

Brawley said Rupert shares that same personality as him. He likes how his brother has a strong sense of humor.

Rupert added that Brawley, like him, is confident in everything he becomes involved with and that is something Rupert enjoys the most.

With their many similarities both brothers are excited to build their bond. And it all starts with a live football game rather than a phone call afterward.

"No matter what, I'm going to go out there and give it 110 percent and do as best as I can," Brawley said about having his brother watch him play. "But if I have a great game, it's just going to feel that much better knowing that my brother is there watching me."