Texas A&M
The Battalion Sports
Friday, May 6,1983/The Battalion/Page 13
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'ormer Aggie player Brown says
eck injury put his ‘life in order’
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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.
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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