Winning and losing are things every athletic staff members is expected to handle and learn to deal with within the team and athletic department setting. We learn this at an early age. Some people handle losses well and some do not. But seldom is the adversity of winning or losing what sets athletic staff members apart. It is the stuff you deal with outside the competition world that makes or breaks many of us. It defines your character and your true measure as a human being. It is the culture and the program you develop into your own.
In the summer of 1995 I was coaching a collegiate summer league team in Columbus, Ohio that was part of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League sponsored in part by major league baseball. The team was made up of players from around the nation that we had recruited to come play for us in a wooden bat baseball league. The league was full of major league baseball prospects and our team was one of the best. We took an early season trip to Cape Cod and played several Cape Cod league teams to good success. We were a favorite to win the league.
On the weekend of the summer league’s all-star game I received an early morning call telling me to get to the fraternity home located on Ohio State University’s campus because there had been an incident. Brad Harker, a towering 6-5 first baseman from Kansas State University had been savagely attacked in his room at the fraternity house over night and beaten almost to death. Injuries sustained in that attack would eventually end his promising baseball career. It was a medical miracle it did not end his life.
Brad spent three months in rehab in a Columbus hospital after the attack. He underwent tremendous amounts of physical therapy, three major surgeries and several minor ones. Blinded in his right eye, Harker was the victim of an attack by an unknown assailant that has never been solved.
The morning I arrived at the fraternity house from my home in Powell, Ohio, the police had sequestered all team members inside the house. Brad was being brought out on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance headed to the OSU hospital. I followed to find out what information I could and to check on Brad. Once I learned the seriousness of his injuries and the incredible destruction the attacker had inflicted on Brad, I returned to the fraternity house to address his teammates.
The Columbus police were still not allowing anyone inside the residence until they finished their questioning. After what seemed like hours, the owner of the team Jerry DiCuccio and I were allowed into the fraternity. The players said Brad was alone in a room in the front of the house, separated by some distance from the other’s bedrooms and a television room where many players had been the night before. The room Brad was in was a new one for him. He recently switched rooms at the request of a teammate. No one heard or saw anything that night. The thick concrete walls and distance from others in the house provided cover for the attacker.
Brad was an extremely well liked young man who was a great person and a player. He suffered incredible damage to his face and body. His family soon arrived in town and Brad was given the best of care thanks to a connection with a prominent Columbus businessman through one of his family members. It undoubtedly saved his life.
We met with the team shortly after getting details on Brad’s injuries and an update on the investigation. The team was in shock. We brought in psychiatrists to meet with the players as a group and one on one. I remember the conversation I had with the team a day or so after the attack. I told them that Brad was in bad shape and in a coma. We had no idea when he would come out of the coma if ever. But if he did, I would be here for him. As individuals the players needed to make up their own minds as to whether they would stay and finish the season or if they wanted to return to their homes around the country. No one would blame them if they did.
I told them I had faith Brad would come out of his coma and start to heal. I wanted to be there for him. If they could not, I would explain why. To the credit of these young men, every single guy on the team chose to stay and be there for Brad. We moved the team into a hotel on Olentangy River Road for the rest of the summer. We played the rest of the season. This was not an easy summer of baseball for any of these young men.
Guilt felt by them for not hearing the attack was overwhelming. Seeing Brad at the hospital fighting for his life was tough. Dealing everyday with the press who would ambush the guys as they loaded the team bus or arrived at our home facility. We slipped from first to second. From second to third. Winning was not important, Brad was. We went to the hospital every day as allowed. Eventually Brad came out of his coma and his teammates greeted him as he recovered.
Time eventually came as the summer season ended for the majority of the players to return home for school. I told them I would keep them informed on Brad. They promised to stay in touch. Brad faced months of rehab and eventually got to a point after some fantastic medical care that he could be released from Doan Hall for a few hours to get fresh air.
Brad was a huge Notre Dame fan. He was also a huge Lou Holtz fan. And as luck would have it, Lou Holtz was bringing his team in a couple weeks to play Ohio State at Ohio Stadium, located just a stone throw from the rehab center. His aunt asked if it was possible to get Brad into the game for the first half. I told her I would try.
I called the Ohio State football office and asked if it was possible to get Brad into the game for a half. I explained he was a huge Notre Dame fan, a Lou Holtz fan and this would mean so much to him. I got a call back saying it was all set. Later that week, Jon Cooper, the Friday before his biggest game at Ohio State University as head football coach against Lou Holtz and Notre Dame University, made the trek to Doan Hall and visited Brad. He spent time with a young man from another university, fan of his opponent and brought hope and compassion to a wonderful family.
Brad attended the game that Saturday. He sat in his wheelchair on the Notre Dame sideline. Ohio State won that day. Brad met his idol Lou Holtz and saw OSU and Notre Dame and was thrilled thanks to Ohio State. He eventually was released from the hospital several months after the summer baseball season had concluded.
What this event taught me as a young coach was that no matter how hard we try, how hard we prepare, we are never ready for the things life throws at us. But thanks to the generosity and kindness of strangers we can all get through the adversity that life hands us. Brad Harker and his family did not deserve what happened to him. The kindness and generosity of his teammates, our coaching staff, owner Jerry DiCuccio, Les Wexner, the OSU hospital staff of doctors and nurses, GLSCL league members, Coach Cooper and his staff and the Harker family taught me lessons not taught in text books.
I had several life altering events during my time as a head coach and Director of Athletics. I have witnessed men and women rise to the moment or shrink horribly from it but in every situation I learned life lessons. Every day thousands of coaches, athletes and staff go out of their way to make a positive impact in someone’s life. We all need to use the lessons we have learned from the adversity we are experiencing to make someone else’s life better. That seems so important today!
Oh Geez Sports 