Blogs > Cliopatria > On Football, Friendship and Loss

Nov 11, 2004

On Football, Friendship and Loss


by Cliopatria


Today's Baltimore Sun sports section has a feature about my friend and Williams track teammate Ethan Brooks.

Ethan plays offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens. His story is a remarkable one. He was a dozen-or-so-time All American (and multiple National Champion) as a thrower (35 pound weight, shot put, hammer throw, discus) and defensive lineman (He was the DIII player of the year his senior year) at Williams. He was drafted in the seventh round by the Falcons, where he switched between defense and offense so many times his rookie year, including playing both ways in a preseason game against the Rams, that his teammates took to calling him"Deion." I was able to see his first game as a rookie against the Carolina Panthers when I was living in Charlotte. It was the first game at the new stadium in the Queen City and as a rookie, Ethan sat the bench. Still, I could tell that he was happy to have me there and I have subsequently gone to a handful of his games.

In the last few years Ethan has been a starter as well as a backup for several teams. This last weekend he got the game ball for shutting down Kenard Lang of the Browns, who had earned three sacks against Ethan in the opening game of the year. That first game Ethan started at left tackle for the Ravens' all-world tackle Jonathan Ogden despite having practiced as a right tackle all preseason. He also had an injury that week that had apparently gone undisclosed. This past weekend E was far more comfortable and played a great game, including making a key block on Jamal Lewis' touchdown to put the Ravens ahead for good. (For a picture of the run and block, see here.)

This story is remarkable enough -- great athlete and student goes to Williams College, plays Division III sports, goes to the NFL, changes positions rather dramatically, and after seven years is still in the league and indeed is playing some of the best football of his career. But the part that makes the story so profound is the personal element of the story. Ethan is a gentle giant. He is enormous -- 6' 7" 300 pounds and with less body fat than any Rebunk reader, I'd be willing to bet. (I challenged him to wrestle once when the track team was on spring break in South Carolina and a group of us had a house together. I lost.) And as the Sun story indicates, he is very quiet. He is tough to get to know (which makes my friendship with him all the more remarkable). Just three years ago, Ethan's young wife, Jackie, died of cancer. Even as Ethan went through the motions of practice, film, weight lifting, and the like, he spent many nights on the floor of her hospital room.

This is not something about which Ethan has talked much in these past three years. But it has been a burden he has carried all along. Since Jackie's death he has quietly (of course) become active in a range of community service activities, particularly related to cancer. In 2002 he was one of the recipients of the NFL's Ed Block Courage Awards. Ethan is my friend, and so I have rooted for him everyplace he has gone (An itinerary that has included Atlanta, St. Louis, Phoenix, Denver, and now Baltimore), making his team my second favorite with each stop. But after reading his story, I hope you will be rooting for him too.


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Derek Charles Catsam - 11/11/2004

Maarja --
Thanks for your comments. I am sorry for your loss. As one who periodically postures on HNN, your comments reminded me of the perspective that Ethan's experience offers. In any case, thanks for reading, and i hope I made Ethan a few fans. He's #77 in your program, but #1 in our hearts!
dc

Maarja Krusten - 11/11/2004

Obviously there is a typo in the above, "died of cancer in 2001" should read "died of cancer in 2002." Sorry about that, I really have to learn to proofread better.

Maarja Krusten - 11/11/2004

I finally had a chance to register with the Baltimore Sun site and read the story on Ethan Brooks. Sorry I couldn't do it earlier when you first posted it. Wow. I certainly will be rooting for him when I catch the Ravens on TV. Just from reading about him, I really admire the way he has handled adversity. How sad that his wife was diagnosed with cancer when they had been married a mere year. And to die at 34. Tragic. My twin sister Eva (a records declassification archivist at NARA) died of melanoma cancer in 2001 at the age of 51, after bravely battling cancer for 18 months after her diagnosis. I went with her to all her med appointments, chemo, etc., I wasn't going to let her go through any of that alone. She had chemo every third week for 5 days from May through September of 2002. But she knew from the start she would die, she was diagnosed too late. But she was so very very brave and showed immense grace. On the day she died, as a nurse attended her in the emergency room, she was asked if a medicine that had just been administered was helping. Eva, already fading, looked up and managed gracious smile, "Yes, thank you!" She was unfailingly gracious to the medical staff who assisted her. I also came to admire the people who work with oncology patients, here are some wonderful nurses and doctors out there.

I thought of that when you mentioned all the time your friend spent at the hospital. I was comforted by the fact that I was lucky enough to have my sis in my life for 51 years--my whole life, as we were twins. How much more painful even must have been Ethan's experience, to lose a beloved wife after so short a time together. As he does, I look at life differently since I lost Eva. Perhaps that is why I shake my head over some of the posturing shown by a few HNN posters (fortunately only a few). Life is too short, why all the rage. Thank you so much for sharing this story with us and reminding me of how brave and courageous people can be in the face of adversity.

Maarja