Brotherly love, not Civil War
The Civil War was has been called the great American War, pitting brothers against brothers.
When the University of Nevada, Reno battles its Rebel rival Saturday, two brothers will play on opposite sides of the field.
“It’s a game over a cannon,” University of Nevada, Las Vegas kicker Ben Jaekle said. “It’s North versus South. It’s a pride thing.”
Jaekle was recruited by UNLV three years ago, but his brother, Brett Jaekle, attended the University of Nevada, Reno for the last four years. Both are kickers and both attend their university’s rival.
“It makes the game a lot more interesting,” Brett, a senior, said. “We really don’t give each other a hard time about it.”
While the brothers say it isn’t hard to deal with the in-family rivalry, Brett’s mom, Kristal Jaekle, finds it difficult to attend a game that one of her sons is guaranteed to lose.
“I wish it could end in a tie,” she said. “No matter what happens, the game will end and one of my sons will be very upset.”
Kristal copes with the upset by turning the game into a family event. Relatives from Maryland, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and California will be at the Jaekle’s Las Vegas home this weekend after attending the game and rooting for Ben and Brett.
“We have 24 T-shirts made for the game,” she said. “My mom and sister took red and blue T-shirts, cut them in half, left and right, and sewed them together, and you will see (the family) in the stands Saturday.”
Kristal said the T-shirts help keep the Jaekle family unbiased, which is difficult outside the rivalry game.
Last season, Ben was redshirted so Kristal and husband George Jaekle attended the game on the Reno side.
“This upset Ben,” she said. “We say we don’t support either team. We support the kids.”
When Nevada played Missouri two weeks ago, the Jaekle parents went to Arizona State to watch the UNLV game.
“We had our nieces representing the family (in Missouri),” Kristal said of her relatives who play tennis at Missouri. “We didn’t feel as obligated to go because we knew we had at least some family watching (Brett’s) game.”
Kristal and George Jaekle made a rule to attend every home game their sons play. Nevada and UNLV both play home
games Oct. 18 this season, so George will take a flight to Reno to watch Brett while Kristal will stay in Las Vegas for Ben’s game.
While Kristal and George try to stay unbiased, there will always be a family member other than Brett who will root for Nevada.
“I’ll be going back and forth in the stands (from Wolf Pack seating to my parents),” said Derrick Jaekle, the oldest brother in the family. “I’ll always root for Nevada.”
Derrick, 26, went to UNLV for a semester but spent most of his college life at UNR. He said he will root for his brothers first and Nevada second.
“If Ben kicks a game-winning field goal I’ll be ecstatic,” Derrick said. “I’ll also root for Brett. It will obviously make it a little better (for me) if Nevada wins.”
Derrick loved soccer, but was forced to play football after his school dropped the sport. He then transferred those skills onto the football field as a place kicker for Bonanza High School in Las Vegas. Three years later, Brett became a place kicker at Bonanza and Ben soon followed.
Derrick was offered a walk-on position as a kicker at the University of Alabama, but he suffered a right hip flexor injury, which forced him to end his kicking career.
“We’ve been so involved in sports forever,” Derrick said. “It’s never been a vindictive thing. It’s more about motivating each other.”
After the game, Kristal plans on hosting a family party. Regardless of who wins, the Jaekle family will still be happy together.
“(My boys) are my world,” Kristal said. “I was in the Red Rock Mountains with my husband recently and I felt the urge to thank him. I wanted him to know how happy I was for him giving me the three greatest sons I could possibly have imagined having.”
Emerson Marcus can be reached at emarcus@nevadasagebrush.com.
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