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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 6, 1983)
Texas A&M The Battalion Sports Friday, May 6,1983/The Battalion/Page 13 'orkstudj city for pn ile immei ie at 845-; 3RA0UiIi ! ieeds roo wea, 3-lu 'ormer Aggie player Brown says eck injury put his ‘life in order’ m by Rusty Roberts Battalion Reporter I November 21, 1981, Chris n got his first start at free lerooi» et ) f° r Texas A&M. In the droom id r tli quarter of theTCU game Rent thy, Brown moved left to campus eak up a pass play. The ball nals. Ca jated just inches over the re- r’s outstretched arms as ti crushed him, with his , into the astroturf. Twen- ive seconds later, Brown re- Jiered the tackle. Chris Brown had broken his "7 ~ Brown still can’t remember happened immediately af- ———ftlie tackle, but he knows it DOfcafccd his life. Only the game films can re- Oj Alpture the 25 seconds that are ^^"■uablur to Brown. They show j feg ett ' n § U P quickly af ter the wandering around and M ^y returning to the huddle. “I remember the tackle,” ervice jnvn says, “and then I go ia B: Btk. The next thing I remem- ways. fr ere t ^ ie S u y s * n t ^ e huddle asking me if I was all right. I answered yes — almost mecha nically. “It was kinda like semi-shock. I remember walking off the field very slowly — almost gingerly — like (I was) walking through a mine field. Everybody sensed something wasn’t right.” Brown said when he was in the ambulance he thought he had pinched a nerve because he hadn’t lost any movement in his arms or legs. But the diagnosis was more traumatic than a pinched nerve. Brown was placed in traction for almost two days and was forced to drop out of Texas A&M for almost two years. The neck injury forced him to wear a protective halo brace — an awkward brace designed to keep the shoulders, neck and head moving as one unit. The metal halo is held tightly to the head by four spring-loaded screws and supported by two bars connecting to braces over each shoulder. Brown said that having to wear the brace and feeling out of place was more painful than the injury itself. “A lot of people aren’t famil iar with halo braces,” Brown said. “I can understand them looking once, maybe twice, but the thing I couldn’t take was the staring. They weren’t discrete about it at all. “You want to be different, to be an individual, but people made me feel like some kind of freak.” Brown wore the brace for ex actly four months and 13 days — a time in which he said he has both fond and bitter memories. “I was bitter because I couldn’t play football again and because people stared when I wore the brace,” Brown recal led. “But the bitterness left me after the first week or so.” Brown described a day at the shopping mall as the most miser able day with the brace on: “It was two days before Christmas and I was home in Houston. My brother talked me into going and getting a gift for my parents. We went to the mall and not a single person passed by without looking at least twice. I was miserable. I felt like telling them, ‘Hey I’m strong, I can do a lot of stuff and I’m gonna be alright.’” Brown said that he always stayed positive by simply looking forward to the day he could once again run. He said he also looked forward to driving his car, turning his head without turning his shoulders and being able to lie comfortably in his bed at night. s For Brown, however, four months and 13 days was almost too long to wait. “I did a lot of stuff maybe I shouldn’t have done,” Brown said. “I just wanted to show peo ple I was still strong.” Brown did things like play pool and shoot baskets, activities the doctors warned him against. He also danced by himself at a party one night because others were afraid he wouldn’t want to dance. “All the stuff I did was diffi cult,” Brown said, “but I told myself that I wasn’t gonna let that brace hold me back or hold me down. “When the brace was on, I made a promise to myself that I was gonna be all right. I con quered the brace and the adver sity that came with it and there isn’t anything now that I don’t think I can do.” Brown said the change from ‘maybe I can’ to ‘I know I can’ improved his confidence tremendously. Now, Brown said, he carries his 6-foot frame smoothly across campus keep ing his head held high and a smile on his face. His well- defined physique is proof that he has regained confidence and is once again a ‘regular’ student. At 21, Brown said he feels there was a reason for the acci dent — a reason he attributes to God’s will. see BROWN page 14 TRAVEI 12-4560 arfa ’ fa vored in 109th Derby United Press International ISVILLE, Ky. — A maximum three-year-old colts will run in ay’s 109th Kentucky Derby with d Marfa drawing the No. 18 post n. 20 run, the purse will be worth 00. , the frisky grey son of 1975 winner Foolish Pleasure to be rid- Jorge Velasquez, is trained by D. Lukas, who will also send Balboa and Total Departure in the run roses. Iboa Native, with Sandy Hawley drew the No. 3 post today with Total Departure, to be ridden by Pat Valenzuela, getting the No. 9 post. The three-horse Derby entry — the first since 1946 — is listed as the 5-2 betting choice by oddsmaker Mike Battaglia. Play Fellow, the surprise winner in last Thursday’s Blue Grass Stakes, was the second betting choice at 4-1. The Harvey Vanier-trained colt, to be ridden by Jean Cruguet, drew the No. 2 post. A mild surprise entry was Country Pine, who drew the No. 7 post and will be ridden by Mike Venezia. Country Pine, second in a division of the Wood Memo rial, was listed at 20-1. In 1974, a 20-horse limit, based on career money-earnings was imposed, and although it appeared more than 20 horses would go, that was not the situa tion today. Completing the field, from the rail out, is Slew O’ Gold (Angel Cordero Jr., 6-1); Chumming (Eddie Maple, 5-1); De sert Wine (Chris McCarron, 15-1); Law Talk (Carlos Marquez, 30-1); Freezing Rain (Bill Gavidia), 15-1); Sunny’s Halo (Eddie Delahoussaye, 5-1); Explosive Wagon (Charlie Mueller, 30-1); Current Hope (Alex Solis, 12-1); Parfaitement, (Herb McCauley, 201); Pax in Bello (Jeff staff photo by Michael Davis Former Texas A&M football player Chris Brown says he’s learned a lot from going through the experience of recuperating from a broken neck. Fell, 151); My Mac (Don MacBeth, 301); Paris Prince (Terry Lipham, 30-1); Luv A Libra (Julio Espinosa, 30-1); Highland Park (Don Brumfield, 121); and Caveat (Laffit Pincay Jr., 5-1). The Woody Stephens-trained duo of Caveat ahd Chumming are coupled as are Tony Basile’s Highland Park and Freezing Rain. The field horses are Law Talk, Explosive Wagon, My Mac, Paris Prince and Luv A Libra. The 20-horse field is one of the largest in Derby history. In the 100th Derby, a record 23 horses competed in the race won by Cannonade, the sire of Caveat. Oilers sign Ag Jackson United Press International HOUSTON — Robert L. Jackson, a six-year veteran linebacker with the National Football League and a former All-America from Texas A&M, signed a free-agent contract Thursday with the Houston Oilers. The Oilers declined to dis close terms of the agreement. Jackson — from Houston Smiley High School — played linebacker for Texas A&M in 1976 and was Cleveland’s first-round draft choice in 1977. A knee injury, however, kept him from playing his rookie year, but he spent five more seasons with the Browns as a starter. In 1981 he was traded to Denver, and the Broncos him. Jackson then signed with Atlanta, playing seven games with the Falcons. The 6-foot 1-inch, 230- pound Jackson had his best season in 1981 with the Browns when he was credited with 73 tackles and 37 assists. 0ME E FREE* CHURCH Gary Tura lervices ol 9:45# lip 11:00* hip 7:00* be ArwJ Idle Seta eria ff Jersey hone M 12-9 p 9p.m, i.-8 pi 1220 md Hwv ?lng Sotf >8. HIS SI# id Ameiif eat travd cal G# ED )LDG0i ngs, ww id Roof lopping Ce? St., B(| 708 LE ycleJl' 1 ; metal re« 19. de Ville. [ 4651, 6P Kra- Tv .«r! Jk- " - -4 Pi Midi.itit ? Vi.T-Trf, 4 er t - I&IiIm'® BALLOON BONANZA! zzt/c; Celebrate summer and fall preleasing with. Metro Properties. We’re liaving a balloon bonanza! f x Come by from 1 to 4 p.m. Satnrday^^ i^ May 7 to any of our Metro Properties. Pick a balloon and win Prizes!! We’re giving away $30,000 in free rent. To liven up the party well have live remotes from WTAW and KTAM./pt ""*^1 Well also be giving away free cokes^pgi r ^ so come by and join in the 'PABTY! Sevilla Brownstone TA0S Aurora Gardens
