Five New Board Members Join Monogram Club Administration
Newcomers include Dave Bossy (hockey), Jim Brocke (football), Liz Bathon Brown (fencing) and former Irish baseball players Dick Nussbaum and Rick Pullano.

Five new board members have been named to the Monogram Clubadministration and will serve three-year terms to 2005. The new boardmembers include: Dave Bossy (hockey, ’77), Jim Brocke (football,’65), Elizabeth (Bathon) Brown (fencing, ’80) and former Irishbaseball players Dick Nussbaum (’74) and Rick Pullano (’79).

BOSSY is nearing the 20th anniversary of co-founding Mid-America RealEstate Corporation, with the company growing to dominate theChicagoland market (100 employees in Illinois and Wisconsin) whileexpanding to include an investment and development company and anasset management service.

As president of Mid-America, Bossy works primarily in the acquisitionand development of shopping centers throughout the Midwest. He alsohas helped develop and execute the expansion plans of severalnational chains (most notably OfficeMax and CompUSA) and has beeninvolved in the marketing and property disposition for severalnational chains, including The Home Depot.

A 1977 Notre Dame graduate with a degree in finance, Bossy worked forColdwell Banker Real Estate Services from 1977-83. The ChicagoSun-Times named him its “retail broker of the year” for 1997.

The Montreal native – who also was a two-year football team walk-on -left Notre Dame after his junior season to pursue a pro career withthe WHA’s Quebec Nordiques, before returning after his only proseason to complete his degree requirements.

Bossy recently served as grand marshal for the city of Homewood’sFourth of July parade, in recognition for his work in coordinating amassive redevelopment of Washington Square Mall.

Cousin of hockey legend Mike Bossy, he married the former DeborahMcNamara (Saint Mary’s ’76) and the couple resides in Hinsdale, Ill.,with their five children – including Saint Mary’s senior Lauren and11-year old Sean (who just attended his first Notre Dame hockey camp).

BROCKE completed a standout prep career at Crown Point High School inNorthwest Indiana, after moving from his native Wilmington, Del. BobMcBride, former offensive line coach under Frank Leahy, solidifiedBrocke’s desire for Notre Dame vs. the scholarship offer from AraParseghian (then at Northwestern). Brocke went on to have the uniqueexperience of playing under three head coaches – Joe Kuharich, HughDevore and Parseghian – while earning a monogram in his senior season(1964), as an offensive tackle.

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1965 with a finance degree,Brocke joined the fifth-largest member of the N.Y. Stock Exchange asa securities broker in Chicago. He and his family moved in 1980 toCarmel, Ind., where he established a fee-based financial planningfirm, filed its registration with the S.E.C. and then sold it in1985. He later purchased Mass Financial Group of Indiana, anindependent registered investment advisor organization from twoprincipals of Mass. Mutual Life (he and his partner still own theorganization).

Brocke credits his Notre Dame background as a reason for why heeducates clients on using charitable trusts and legacy planning tocare for family members. In addition to being a licensed certifiedfinancial planner, he has been a yearly qualifier for MDRT (MillionDollar Round Table).

Brocke was president of the Northwestern Indiana ND Alumni Club andwas a part of the University’s Alumni Senate when women were voted tobe accepted to the student body. He has been a Monogram Clubrepresentative for the Indianapolis ND Alumni Club and president ofthe Carmel School Board, a nationally-recognized system of 11,000students. He and wife Marianne have two sons, one daughter and twogranddaughters.

BROWN – a 1980 graduate in pre-professional science – attended NotreDame Law School for one year before transferring to Iowa, where herfuture husband and fellow 1980 ND grad Stephen Brown was enrolled inmedical school. The couple was married in 1982 and she received herlaw degree in ’83, two weeks before the birth of her son Patrick (afreshman at Notre Dame in the fall).

Brown taught courses at Iowa and went on to pass the bar in Iowa,Ohio and Indiana. The Hanover, Pa., native has served on variousschool boards, the Fort Wayne-South Bend Diocesan Endowment AdvisoryBoard, and is a past president of Boys and Girls Clubs of Fort Wayne.

A three-time letterwinner as a walk-on foilist in the early days ofthe women’s fencing program, the former Liz Bathon and her teammatesshared the gym with some of the most accomplished men’s fencers inNotre Dame history – under the watchful eye of legendary coach MikeDeCicco. She travelled with the Irish women’s team to the 1979national championships in San Jose.

Liz and Stephen Brown reside in Fort Wayne with their five sons andtwo daughters, ranging in ages from nine to 19.

NUSSBAUM was a four-year baseball letterwinner before graduating in1974 with a degree in English, and again in ’77 from the Notre DameLaw School. He has been a partner since 1996 with South Bend-basedSopko, Nussbaum and Inabnit, a general practice firm in which hehandles the majority of the real estate transactions. He also hasserved since 1998 as the general counsel for Indiana lieutenantgovernor (and former Notre Dame catcher) Joe Kernan.

The Pittsburgh native previously worked in 1998 for the city of SouthBend’s Corporation Counsel, as the head of the city’s department oflaw. He also signed on in 1991 (and remains in the capacity) assecretary and league counsel for the Midwest Baseball League. Heworked for the St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office from1979-88, as a felon trial deputy and lead counsel for 60 widereachingtrials, and was a 20-year partner of the general practice firmKrisnor and Nussbaum (’77-’96).

Nussbaum led the 1973 Irish baseball team in batting as a junior(.333) and totaled just four career errors while patrolling centerfield. He is part of one of the most successful father-soncombinations in the 110-year history of Notre Dame baseball, as hisson Matt played a number of positions with the Irish and was atwo-year starter, in addition to serving as a senior captain in 2000(when he also received Notre Dame’s Francis Patrick O’Connor Award,see p. 10).

Nussbaum has served as chairman of the Drug Free Council of theHealthy Community Initiative and was president of the ND Club of St.Joseph County in 1995-96. He and wife Pat are the parents of sonsMatt and Dan and daughter Kathryn.

PULLANO also has parlayed his undergraduate experience – includingsuccess on the diamond – into a legal career. A 1979 graduate infinance, he earned his law degree from DePaul in 1982 and has been apracticing attorney in Chicago for nearly 20 years, concentrating hispractice on civil jury trials in the last 14 years.

Pullano – who opened his own law firm in 1998 – has successfullylitigated and negotiated a number of multimillion-dollar verdicts andsettlements. He also has served since 1990 as an adjunct professor atDePaul and he lectures extensively on topics relating to tortlitigation – even appearing as a guest speaker on the Oprah WinfreyShow. His career began in the Cook County State’s Attorney Office,where he tried over 100 cases in the felony trial courts and gangcrimes unit.

Pullano was the first player since 1904 to captain the Notre Damebaseball squad in consecutive years, also earning team MVP in those’78 and ’79 seasons. As a junior, he struck out just three time in132 at-bats – still good for first in the ND record book with a ratioof 44 ABs per strikeout. A .338 career hitter, Pullano started thefinal 150 games of his career (all at shortstop).

He received seven letters in baseball, basketball and football atHoly Cross High School in River Grove, Ill. As a little leaguer, hewas featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” afterstriking out all 18 batters he faced in a no-hitter.

Pullano and his wife Candace are the parents of son Michael (11) anddaughter Olivia (6). He is the manager of Michael’s baseball teamthat recently qualified for the National USSSA World Series inOverland Park, Kansas. The family resides in Glenview, Ill.