BMOC, huh?

Brian Ainsworth was the Baddest Man on Campus at New Mexico Highlands University in 1987.

Really.

Ainsworth was a senior and an All-American quarterback.

So why, was Melissa Ainsworth convinced his first name was Brad?

"I had a crush on Brad Pitt at the time and I thought he was name was Brad," Melissa says. "I told my roommate that he asked me out, and she said, 'His first name's Brian.' And I said, 'No, his first name's Brad.' I love telling that story."

That makes one of them.

Here's Brian's recollection.

"I was the senior All-American football player scoping out the incoming freshmen," he says. "I knew everybody at the school, so I asked my friends in the female athletic world who she was."

Brian Ainsworth, the cocky football player.

Melissa Vigil, the down-to-earth volleyball player.

Hmmm. A match made in ...

"It was a challenge," Brian says.

In a good way.

Mr. BMOC became so enamored that he would get in his pickup and follow the team to its matches in Colorado.

"You know how those matches are," Brian says. "There are very few that go watch you play."

Cindy Roybal, then Highlands head coach, took pity on him.

"She allowed me to sit on the bench," Brian says.

Brian got off the bench. But only to call lines. It wasn't his finest moment.

"Here I am, this big guy, 225 pounds, calling lines," he says. "Well, someone shanks a spike and the ball is coming right at me. I catch it and hand it to one of the girls."

Wait, it gets better.

"Everybody died laughing," Brian continues. "I was so embarrassed that day."

BMOC, huh?

It wasn't long before Brian asked Melissa to teach him the game.

"I wanted to do some of the things she liked to do," Brian says. "And the perfectionist that I am, I took it from there."

Brian and Melissa were married two years after they met and have celebrated 20 — and counting — anniversaries. Brian replaced Melissa as head volleyball coach at McCurdy when Melissa became pregnant with Briana, who's now 13.

Brian and Melissa helped return the glory to McCurdy School, which was started by Sally Shockey, Melissa's head coach. They also built Pojoaque Valley into a state champion, with Brian as head coach and Melissa as his assistant.

"God has given him a lot of great gifts," Melissa says of Brian. "And he has a passion for whatever he does. He always gives 100 percent."

First, it was football.

Then, it was Melissa.

Now, it's Melissa, Briana, 9-year-old Justin, volleyball and the fight against breast cancer. Melissa was diagnosed in August.

The Ainsworths returned to Highlands in September, when Brian was inducted into the school's Hall of Honor.

"I'm sitting there with a bunch of my former teammates and they ask, 'Are you coaching football?' I said, 'No, volleyball,' " Brian says. "They say, 'Volleyball? What got you into volleyball?' "

Just the love of his life.

BMOC, huh?

He got the girl, didn't he?

Contact Pancho Morris at pmorris@sfnewmexican.com.