Namesake's story touches Brennan

06.26.2008

Right from the very start when he arrived in 1984, it wasn't easy at all for Brian Brennan.

He didn't seem to be big enough or strong enough to make it, andthe odds were stacked overwhelmingly against him making it in the NFL.

What Brennan really needed then was a little luck -- a lot of luck, probably. He needed things to break his way.

They did.

Then he supplemented it with his own contributions of grit, determination, fortitude and perseverance. And in the end, he proved everyone -- all the doubters, at least, which, in essence, was just about everyone -- wrong. Ol' No. 86 did indeed make it.

But that's old news. What you may not know is that, 24 years later, Brian Brennan is doing it all again. He has no choice.

Only this time, it may be even more difficult, the challenges more daunting and the stakes greatly increased.

Is Brian Brennan up to the task?

Absolutely.

In fact, they both are.

Sorting it out

Confused?

Sure you are. But don't be. This is a story about not one, but two Brian Brennans, indelibly linked all these years but, in another sense, total strangers until meeting recently. What they've discovered is that they share not only the same name, but many other qualities as well.

The Brian Brennan Browns fans know -- the small, crafty 1984 fourth-round draft choice who played through '91 and, through sheer hard work and determination, worked his way among the giants in team pass-catching history like Ozzie Newsome, Paul Warfield, Gary Collins and Dante Lavelli to fourth on the club's all-time receptions list with 315 -- recently traveled on his own dime with his wife, Bethany, to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. to meet, present some special gifts to, and offer support to the other Brian Brennan, the 23-year-old wounded soldier.

The younger Brennan is recovering now -- at the James A. Haley Veterans Administration Hospital in Tampa, Fla. for at least a couple months before he returns to Walter Reed -- after having lost both his legs and suffering trauma to his brain when the Humvee in which the Army 1^st Lieutenant was riding was hit by an IED while on patrol May 7 near the town of Koost, Afghanistan. He was commandeering a convoy of five Humvees as part of a project where the Army works with sociologists to bring the country's people together to understand the role of the military. He was sitting in the front seat next to the driver, who also survived but, like Brennan, lost both his legs.

In addition, Brennan had to have his spleen removed and sustained shattered bones in his forearm, a pelvic fracture and a broken femur.

The three soldiers riding in the back of Brennan's Humvee were killed. Brennan and the driver were saved by quick work of Army medics and doctors, who were able to stem the tremendous blood loss they were experiencing and stabilize their condition.

"As bad as all this, at least I can still hug my son," Brennan's father, Jim Brennan, said.

Someday, dad and son should be able to share so much more again. Slowly but surely, Brennan is getting better. Soon he will be fitted for his prosthesis and he should regain his memory and normal brain function.

"Doctors are never going to paint too rosy of a picture because they don't want to take the chance of something happening and the patient and his family being let down in the end, but they are pretty optimistic that Brian will have a full recovery," Jim Brennan said.

But it will take many months -- or longer -- for it to happen

That's OK. The Brennans -- wife Joanne and children James, 30, Jasen, 28, and Kerri, 20 -- are more than happy to wait as long as it takes as long as they get their Brian back.

Naming rights

So how does all this involve Brian Brennan, the former Brown?

It's not just a coincidence that the two men share the same name, for the younger Brian Brennan was indeed named for the football player. The Brennans live in Howell, N.J., in the central part of the state. Jim Brennan, 52, who is on disability after working 30 years as the manager of a parking garage in Manhattan, is a big football fan who greatly admired the Boston College football teams of the early 1980s.

"I've always enjoyed hard-working football players, guys who were more interested in the team than themselves," he said. "I like players who aren't maybe the biggest, fastest or strongest, but still find a way to get the job done."

All this came to mind when his Brian Brennan was born on Sept. 30, 1984, the same day the Browns, minus rookie Brian Brennan, a starter who was sidelined with a broken bone in his hand, were being edged 10-6 by the Chiefs in Kansas City.

As much as the Browns struggled that day, especially offensively in giving up 11 sacks, throwing four interceptions and amassing only 186 total yards, the other Brian Brennan was struggling a whole lot more. And the stakes with which he was dealing were a lot more important than a simple football game.

"Brian was born 13 weeks premature," Jim Brennan said. "He was just 2 pounds, 13 ounces at birth. He was not expected to live."

When Brian was born, nurses rushed him out of the delivery room and headed for another room where they would try to keep him alive.

They stopped by where Jim was sitting only long enough for the man to tell them the name that would be given to the boy. In case something happened, the boy would at least have had a name.

"He's such a fighter," one of the nurses said to Jim.

A name? In all the confusion, he hadn't even thought about a name.

Jim's mind was racing. Considering the boy's condition, the nurses didn't have long to wait.

The boy's "such a fighter." Those words stuck with him. For whatever reason, the B.C. Eagles popped into his head at that moment. They were fighters, too.

"I figured that since my last name was Brennan, why not name the boy Brian after Brian Brennan of Boston College," Jim said. "I admired Brian Brennan. I knew he was a tough young man. I figured if we named Brian after Brian Brennan, he would have a good start in life."

And so Brian Brennan it was, as the nurses rushed the boy down the hall.

A fighter, indeed

The traumatic start to Brian's life didn't have any long-term effects on his growth and development. The thing -- the fight, the toughness -- that got Brian through those early struggles served him well as he grew up. Like the older Brian Brennan, Brian didn't have the great physical attributes.

"Things didn't come easily to him," Jim said -- but he more than overcame that with his work ethic, commitment and drive.

When Brian was old enough to understand, Jim told him who he was named for, and why. Brian was proud of that. It seemed to make him just that much more determined.

When he got to high school and was a linebacker on the football team, he picked No. 86 in honor of the Browns receiver.

Brian was obviously too young at the time to do it, but Jim followed Brian Brennan's career with the Browns -- but only casually.

"You have to remember that this was in the mid-1980s, long before you could purchase the NFL package on TV and see all the games every week," Jim said. "All you had at the end of the day and through that next week were the highlight shows.

"If the Browns played the Jets or Giants, I watched because it was televised in the New York market where we live. And when the Browns were in those playoff games that were nationally televised -- especially those (AFC) championship games against Denver -- I watched."

But Jim and Brian Brennan simply admired the Browns wide receiver from afar.

Fate intervenes

The U.S. armed forces have long been made up of people who check their ego at the door and are firmly committed to the good of the group, so it's no surprise that Brian chose that path.

"He applied to only one college, The Citadel, and got in," Jim said.

Brian received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice and was commissioned into the Army upon his graduation in July 2006. He spent time here and there until being deployed to Afghanistan this past March, impressing people all along the way in typical Brian fashion.

Because of that, when Brian was rendered unable to serve, the Army lost one of its best and brightest -- and most dedicated.

It took the injury to bring the two Brian Brennans together, but still, some help was needed to make it happen. Call it fate. Call it the work of a higher power. Call it simply being in the right place at the right time. Call it whatever you want. But somehow, some way, two men met by chance, thus setting into motion the events that would affect lives in both Brennan families and serve as the basis for this story.

James Brennan was at Walter Reed recently to visit his brother. As luck would have it, he struck up a conversation with a man whose brother, also a patient there, who was being sustained on life-support while his family members came in from around the country to say their final goodbyes.

As nothing more than an aside, James mentioned that his brother was named Brian Brennan.

The man's eyes lit up and he smiled.

"You know, I'm from Cleveland, and the Cleveland Browns used to have a wide receiver named Brian Brennan," he said.

Now it was James' eyes that were lighting up.

"That's exactly who my brother is named for, Brian Brennan, the football player from Cleveland and Boston College," he said.

It was a nice, heartwarming -- and, of course, completely unexpected -- exchange. Maybe both men, suffering in their own way, needed the pleasantness of that little story to give them a moment of respite.

And, when they thought about it later, they were struck by the thought that they must have been brought together for a reason.

When the man got back to Cleveland, he contacted members of The Mike Trivisonno Show on radio station WTAM-AM, a broadcasting partner of the Browns, and told them of his encounter with James. The man said it would be nice if Brian Brennan, the football player, knew about this. Maybe, he suggested, Brennan could call young Brian. The station agreed.

WTAM called Brennan, now an executive with KeyBank Capital Markets in Downtown Cleveland, and relayed the story. Brennan was getting ready to head to the state high school track meet in Columbus, where his daughter would be competing. So he contacted his longtime friend, Clevelander Bob Lintz, to see what he could find out. Lintz is on the board of the Cleveland Clinic, and thus knows how hospitals operate and what you have to do to piece together information from them.

Lintz called Brennan back and filled in the blanks. When he did, the tale was even bigger and more interesting than first realized.

"It's the kind of story that tears your heart out," Lintz said. "I get choked up just talking about it."

Going the extra yard

The ex-football starplaced a call to young Brian and his family and let it go at that. It would have more than sufficed, and, in fact, the Brennans were thrilled when the ex-Brown called.

"It was amazing to answer the phone and hear Brian Brennan, the football player I had followed all those years, on the other end," Jim Brennan said.

But Brennan got to be a football star by doing a little more than was required. He knew he needed to do more once again. His heart told him so -- emphatically.

So while Brennan was on the phone with Jim, he asked if it would be OK if he came to the hospital to visit the wounded soldier. Was Brian up to a visit, does he need quiet rest?

Really? Brennan wanted to come all the way to Walter Reed? Yes, Jim said, the family would be thrilled to see him.

So, at his own expense, Brennan hurriedly booked a flight for himself and his wife to fly to Washington to visit young Brian. Early on the morning of June 8, just hours after returning to Cleveland from the track meet, the Brennans boarded a plane, not knowing what they would encounter.

Jim Brennan said his son was probably not aware that the other Brian Brennan and his wife visited for about an hour.

But the family was aware. And more appreciative than you could ever know.

"It just blew us away when Brian and his wife showed up," Jim Brennan said. "It was amazing, just absolutely amazing."

And to top it off, the Brennans arrived bearing gifts for young Brian. With some quick help from the Browns, Brennan was able to get a No. 86 Browns jersey with his last name on the back, and a Browns helmet that he signed with this inscription, "To Lt. Brian Brennan, a true hero. Go Browns."

The fifth quarter

Brennan knew right then and there that while it wasn't easy putting it all together, he had done the right thing by making the trip. The looks on everyone's faces were his proof.

Even his own face. He got plenty out of the experience, too.

"I was moved to tears," he said. "Anyone, especially with my name, who is overseas risking his life for our country as a soldier in the military, is indeed a hero."

Lintz chuckles when he thinks about the visit.

"Brian has a heart of gold," Lintz said. "He's what you want your sports heroes -- or really, a representative of any organization -- to be.

"But he doesn't want any credit for the things he does in the community. That's just his way. It's like I always kid him, though, 'You're a god, man.' These players are so lucky to be in a position where they can immediately and dramatically affect someone's life."

And Brennan did exactly that.

But it doesn't stop there. Brennan promised the family he would stay in touch, help them see this thing through for as long as it takes. Maybe that will end up being for as long as they all live. Brennan would have no problem with that.

No matter what happens from here on out, however, the Brennans of New Jersey already have memories that will last a lifetime.

"It was such a pleasure to meet Brian," Jim said. "He was such a gentleman -- such an amazing individual and so kind, and such a common man, if that's the right term, because he didn't think that having been a football star made him special."

That ego-less attitude is what helped make Brennan a good fit for the Browns. And it's what made young Brian a good fit for the Army.

"Our Brian is such a fighter," Jim said. "He's so strong or he wouldn't have survived his injury.

"And he has so much heart.

"Such a fighter."

That birthing room nurse was right.

And Jim was right as well in giving his son the name that he did, for the two Brian Brennans really are alike. They are indeed clones of one another.

Now, a quarter century later, Jim Brennan knows that for sure.