2 West Chester Grads Get National Spotlight In Super Bowl

WEST CHESTER, PA — The Super Bowl features some of the greatest athletes on the planet on one of the biggest stages in sports every year. But the game and all its attendant fanfare, the finished product, is merely a very visible and small part of a much larger and more complex machinery.

Two West Chester University grads played very significant, if very different roles as key cogs in Sunday night's event.

Class of 2005 graduate Julie Frymyer served once again as the assistant athletic trainer for the Kansas City Chiefs. This was her fourth Super Bowl as part of the NFL's new dynasty.

As part of her numerous duties, she arrived at the stadium early in the morning with the team's equipment. Then, hours leading up to kickoff on game day are spent working with athletes to keep them on their A game, and responding in real time to any incidents on field. Frymyer was featured by numerous national outlets last year for her quick work in patching Patrick Mahomes' injured ankle.

"My job is to help (players like Mahomes) be ready to go out there able to perform — not only for himself, but for his teammates," Frymyer told People Magazine during a recent interview. "And then to be able to stand up there when (he won) not only the MVP for himself, but the Lombardi for all of the team and all of Kansas City, I really don't know how to put into words how that feels to be able to help somebody do that."

But on the field work is only a part of what the Super Bowl is.

Another West Chester alum, Courtland Bragg of the class of 2014, is on the artistic side of things. He directed this year's "I'm going to Disneyland" commercial that aired during the game.

Bragg works with NFL Films on similar content and has won an Emmy Award as a producer and field director. In addition to the Super Bowl commercial, he's the creative force behind a new ESPN "30 for 30" program on NFL legend Reggie White.

His path was not an easy one.

"Nearly 10 years ago, I was a substitute teacher with dreams of being a Film Director. During my lunch breaks I’d apply to hundreds of TV/production jobs only to be denied time and time again," Bragg said. "I was drowning in student loan debt, living paycheck to paycheck, fighting depression and the feeling I’ll never be someone."

Then his breakthrough came, and he joined Frymyer as one of many distinguished Rams leaving their legacy on the biggest stage in sports.