in Personal by coach mike on 27 Aug 2007

July 22nd 2007-Vicky and I were out for supper with some friends in Fairview Heights, celebrating a friends birthday. We were almost home when we passed Green Street or Selmaville road. The road was blocked off by Emergency Services. That was a very bad sign. That road had taken the life of many people over the years . We hadn’t been in the driveway 3o seconds when my cell phone rang. The ID was Mol, thats short for Mollie, a junior on the girls team. i knew something was wrong it was almost 10:30 pm on a Sunday. I have always told my kids (cross country and track) call me anytime, if you need something or have a problem. Her words sent a chill down my spine “Brandon’s been killed in a wreck.”

What do you say to a young person? Brandon was an important part of our cross country team, even though he never ran cross country in high school. He had just graduated from high school in the spring, a leader on the football team, a very popular young man. His younger brother, Jordan is a member of the cross country team and his girlfriend Lindsay is a member of team. Add to that he was a friend of mine, a former employee, and a former athlete that I coached in grade school and high school. His parents are great people, Hard working people, good parents. they supported all the kids. Brandon had worked for me at my restaurant. Brandon came to me needing a job. I wanted him to go out for track, thought he could help us with his speed, I also thought he might be able to be some type of jumper, maybe even a pole vault. He had enough speed and enough upper body strength, that he could of vaulted.

He decided he would come out for track and I hired him on his word that he would come out for track. And he came out for track, but he found out later he had hurt his back during football, I think his back ended up being fractured, so no pole vaulting. He kept working for us. The reason I’m telling this story, my business started to fail, my employees knew it, some of them started to bail, not many but some did. I don’t blame them for that. But not Brandon, he stayed, he told me he was staying until the end. Brandon was that type, loyal to the end. I enjoyed talking to him on Sunday mornings about Friday nights football game. He loved his football, he played with all his heart. He was always planning his life after high school, he was going to figure it out. And he had it figured out.

The days after the accident were tough on the community, specially the young people. the visitation was the biggest I have ever seen. The cross country teams went together, as a group.

Sometime in life there are questions without answers. Why did this happen? Why was this young person taken from us? There are no answers. Brandon was full of life, he played hard, he worked hard, he looked after his friends. I don’t know why Brandon was taken, but it was not to leave his brother heart broken, it was not to leave his girlfriend with a heavy heart, and it was not to leave his parents with so much pain. But knowing Brandon, I’m sure that he has God’s ear, as he tries to convince him to start a football team so he can run that ball one more time, just as I’m sure he’s rooting for his brother and girl friend to race like he played football, with all he had, all the time.

God bless you Brandon, we will miss you and we will never forget you!

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