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Brent ran the season with a leg injury. He never complained about it, but you could see the discomfort and pain on his face when it acted up. Brent was a great example of running through adversity. I would often ask him if he needed to sit out part of the workout, as I know he needed to in order to help the leg recover. But, Brent would show great courage and determination as he would grin and bear it and run with the greatest intensity.
Brent had the ultimate chiseled athletic body that came from years of hard work. He had next to no body fat. When he competed he had a face that was stoic as he was focused for battle. What his competitors may not have seen is a softer side that I think is important to share. Some may remember Brent as a warrior, a fierce competitor or as a iron man. Brent was all of these, but he had a caring and kind heart as well. The typical high school male athlete has social pressure to act and be tough at all times. Brent could be tough, but often showed his loving heart. He cared deeply about his family and friends. Brent was not afraid to be vulnerable as he constantly talked about his family. He spoke of how much he loved his parents and what a special bond he had with his mom. Brent constantly talked about how important his younger sister was to him. He talked in practice about how when he got home he looked forward to spending time with his sister doing this and that. When we rode in the homecoming parade, many people saw Brent's mean looking yellow truck. What I got to see was Brent constantly looking out for his younger sister who he knew would be on the side of the road watching the parade. It was moving to see such a intense young man who wasn't afraid to show how much he loved his sister. All the attention he got for having the coolest truck in the parade didn't mean anything to him. What made his day was seeing his sister and getting a chance to wave to her.
In that same parade, Brent allowed his teammates in the back of the truck to throw out a bunch of hats he had to the younger students. Possessions didn't mean that much to him. You could see it gave him great pleasure to make some young persons day by giving them a hat.
Brent was a team player. He understood the importance of a team. He cherished it and embraced it. He cared for his teammates and did what he could to help and encourage them. Brent was given a special award in wrestling during his senior year for never missing a practice for four years. I knew he was committed to the team. One time I was so disappointed in Brent (until I realized the whole story). We had a meet at SJO. The meet was for our top 7 runners only. The whole team came along, but only 7 could race. I had stressed the importance of being on time and Brent knew this. When it was time for the bus to leave, Brent was no where around. This disappointed me for two reasons. One was that Brent was in my top 5 runners and his absence would hurt the team. The second was that Brent cared about the team and when he didn't show up it just didn't seem characteristic of Brent. As our bus started to leave and round the corner, Brent came racing up in his truck. He quickly grabbed his bag and raced to the bus. As he got on the bus, he mumbled something about being sorry for being late that he had to finish up the treat bags and quietly walked back to the back of the bus. As he walked back he handed a small treat bag to each athlete. Each bag was made with special care and had some saying on it. I don't remember the saying, but what I do remember was this tough guy was willing to be vulnerable once again and did yet another thing to be kind and caring to others. He not only made treat bags for his team, but for every single girl on the girls team and coach. I have not had too many guys willing to go that far out of the way to embrace the team and be kind. But, this was just one more example of Brent's heart. Sure, he later went on to be that intense fierce competitor. That same competitor that ran with such True Grit. He earned a trophy at SJO due to his athletic accomplishment, but what I will remember most about that day is his heart. He wasn't late out of being self centered, but because he had a loving and caring heart for others.
Some people live to be 90 or 100 years old. Brent
did not. Brent's life was cut short due to an
accident. Brent may not have lived the longest life, but
he lived a life that positively impacted others and still does
today. Brent was as intense about loving and caring for
others as he was about competing as a fierce athlete.
The way he lived his life is truly motivational to the way I
would like to live mine.
 Chrisman Classic |
 Homecoming Parade |
 Kickapoo |
 Chrisman Finish |
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 SJO Trophy Winnners |
 Peoria Warmup |
 Peoria |
 SJO Team Placers |
 SJO Pre-Race |
 SJO Mid-Race |
 SJO Finish |
 Senior Day |
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 Regional Team |