Members of the Anderson family gather for a photo at the Columbus East homecoming game against Bloomington North Sept. 16, 2022 at Columbus East High School. Pictured are, front, Mayda Menefee. and back row, from left, Kathy Anderson, Nate Anderson, Tommy Anderson, Brad Anderson and Cam Herron. Submitted photo
Brad Anderson was on the first Columbus East football team in the fall of 1972. A half a century later, he is enjoying football again through the lives of his grandsons.
Senior Tommy Anderson, junior Nate Anderson and sophomore Cam Herron are playing on the field for the Olympians this season. Brad Anderson’s granddaughter Mayda Menefee is on the freshmen cheerleading team at East.
When Brad Anderson stepped on the field for East in 1972 with John Stafford as the head coach, he said he learned a lot from Stafford about football and life in general.
“It’s about going out and working hard in something that you do,” Anderson said. “Everyone talks about work ethic, and that’s a good place to develop it. With hard work, you get better, even if you’re not doing well. It’s persistence and teamwork. I think it’s one of those foundation elements that carries us through life.”
Anderson and his wife of 48 years, Kathy have three children — Amy Menefee, Laura Gerth and Adam Anderson. Mayda Menefee is the daughter of Amy, Herron is the son of Gerth and Tommy and Nate Anderson are the sons of Adam.
Brad Anderson’s brother Frank was a longtime assistant and “Blacksmith” for the East program until he passed away earlier prior to the start of the season. The Olympians are donning an “FA” on their helmets to pay respects to someone who has been supportive to the program since its inception.
Brad Anderson introduced his son to football as he was growing up, but Adam also excelled at another sport — baseball. Adam played football until his eighth grade year before focusing more on baseball.
Even now as an adult, Adam is still active in football. He has been the seventh grade coach at Central Middle School the past two years and spent two years prior as an assistant.
“Football is always big in our family,” Adam said. “I always watched football, studied football. That was really a big part of my life growing up. Dad was really a big influence on that.”
The grandchildren of Brad and Kathy Anderson gather for a photo together at the Columbus East homecoming game against Bloomington North Sept. 16, 2022 at Columbus East High School. Brad Anderson was on the first Columbus East football team in 1972. Pictured are, from left, Tommy Anderson, Nate Anderson, Cam Herron and Mayda Menefee. Submitted photo
Brad Anderson has passed along his love and passion of football down to his grandsons. He’s out at Olympian football games to watch them play. He’s also passed along words of wisdom to his grandsons from time to time.
“He’s always at my games. He’s always there to support me,” Herron said. “He’ll always tell me stuff that I did good and sometimes stuff that I did wrong. He’s always watching me and always caring about me and me playing football. He’s one of my biggest supporters when it comes to football.”
“After every win or loss, they come down and talk about how the game went and what they saw,” Tommy Anderson added. “I trust his judgement because he’s been around football for a very long time, whether watching it on TV or when he played it.”
Mayda Menefee is on the freshmen cheer team at East. She cheered at a couple of the varsity football games this season against crosstown rival Columbus North and at homecoming against Bloomington North.
The Olympians open their postseason with a home game against Bloomington South on Friday. Aside from playing on the gridiron together, Tommy Anderson, Nate Anderson and Herron spend a lot of time together away from football as a family.
The family will spend many weekends, especially in the summer, at Brad Anderson’s home by Schaefer Lake near Hope. They’ll go out and ride the jet skis, do some boating and swimming. When they’re not out on the lake, they’ll go inside and watch some TV, with the main program being football.
Nate Anderson mentioned that they’ve gone to Notre Dame football games together as a family.
“We always have family gatherings all the time. It’s what keeps us really close,” Nate said.
Team picture of the inaugural 1972 Columbus East football team, of which Brad Anderson was a member.
Brad Anderson has lived in the house at Schaefer Lake for 12 years. He got a home there for one big reason — family bonding. He wanted to find a place where his entire family can enjoy more time together.
“It’s wonderful,” Anderson said. “Kathy and I are really blessed to have all three of my children and grandchildren living in Bartholomew County, which is very unusual today. They’re a huge part of our life. We follow them in sports and in school. They spend a lot of time at our house. It’s worked out really well.”
