Brian Brummond

This past week has been a tough one for me.  Last Saturday night I got a phone call that a friend of mine had taken a turn for the worse with his battle with liver cancer and was not given much time to live.  On Wednesday morning I received the call that he had passed away.  A sad day for me and many that knew Brian Brummond. 

I first met Brian when he was working weekends at KFGO radio.  In 1987 he joined me at KMAV radio in Mayville where we spent several years together doing ballgames on the radio.  Brian moved on to Redwood Falls, MN and then settled in at Morris, MN where he worked in radio and then later became the Sport Information Director at the U of M Morris.  Brian was highly respected by coaches and fans for his hard work and his easy going personality.  I would say that you would have to look awful hard to find anyone who did not like Brian.  My wife and I made the comment several times in the last few days, "who would not like Brian?".  Brian and his wife Diana had four great kids, the kind of kids that you hope your own children would grow up and be as good as they are. 

Brian’s funeral was yesterday (Saturday) in Morris.  I was honored to be a pall bearer along with another good friend, Scott Berry, baseball coach at Mayville State University.  The funeral was sad but very nicely done by Father Tim Baltes at Assumption Catholic Church.  His words were very assuring and his description of our grief was right on the money as he called it "the desert of our sorrow".  I could not say it any better than that.  We left the church and headed to the cemetery only to find that the cemetery was right across the street from the University.  It was the perfect final resting place for Brian, to be across the street from a place he loved so much. 

We headed back to the church for some lunch and a chance to visit with the family.  Everyone who knew Brian had a "Brian Story".  Brian was an easy going guy and no one loved a good laugh better than Brian and no one had more jokes pulled on them than Brian.  There was one story that I felt I had to share with Brian’s sons, I was sure they had not heard it before and they needed to hear a story about their Dad and one of the better jokes I have ever heard pulled on him. 

It was the 1992 Super Bowl at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.  Washington vs. Buffalo.  All of the sports guys from around the region were trying to get press credentials to the Super Bowl, but the NFL was waiting until all of the "Big Boys" got theirs first before handing out any credentials to the "smaller market" sports reporters.  I was Sports Director at KFGO and Brian was doing sports in Redwood Falls.  After several tries we were both successful in getting our credentials and we were very excited to both be going to the Super Bowl.  Then it happened, just days before the big game, Brian had an uncle that passed away and he was not able to go to the Super Bowl.  He felt bad that he would not be able to go but he hoped that he would be still able to get his press credentials mailed to him anyway.  There was an 800 number that the press could call if you had any questions.  Brian decided to call it and see if they would mail him his press pass, etc..  Here is the way the phone call went:

NFL Press Hotline – "SuperBowl, can I help you?"  Brian introduces himself and starts to describe his situation, his relative passing away and his need to have his credentials mailed to him, when about 20 seconds into his phone call the NFL representative stops him and says "Buddy, I don’t have all day, what do you need?".  Well, Brian gets a little stunned by the bluntness of the NFL rep. and forgets where he is with his story so he starts from the beginning.  Now, this time, about 15 seconds into Brian’s story the NFL rep. stops his again and says "Buddy, like I said, I don’t have all day, what is it you need?"  Well, now Brian is just flustered, he has lost his train of thought completely, and forgets where he was at with his story so once again he starts over.  This time, a short 10 seconds or so into the third time of trying to explain his situation, Brian is again stopped cold by the NFL rep. with "Buddy!  I haven’t got all day, what do you want!?"   Well now Brian is lost, he can’t say a word.  That’s when he hears the NFL rep. start laughing, and he says "Hi Brian, it’s Tom Coyne".  For those that remember Tom, he was the guy who replaced Jim Adelson on KXJB when he retired.  Tom later moved to the Twin Cities and was a volunteer worker for the Super Bowl.  Tom sure pulled one over on Brian but they both had a good laugh about it afterwards.  I told that story to Brian’s sons yesterday and we all had a good laugh. 

In closing, one of the comments made yesterday by one of the coaches from the U of M Morris was that they were going to look into naming the press box at the fieldhouse in honor of Brian.  I hope they do, and I want to be there that night when they do it.  That would be a special honor for a special guy.