Football offers emotional
lift for Shenango’s Brown
Written: Sep 23, 2011
  By Joe Simon
New Castle News
Joe Brown came whistling into the Shenango High locker room before football practice on Thursday.
A smiling Brown immediately said hello to coach Ryan Mayo and seemed to have some pep in his step. Mayo said Brown, a senior lineman for the Wildcats, broke his finger a few days ago and was disappointed because it appeared he would be out a few weeks, so he was confused as to why Brown was so upbeat.
“I said, ‘What’s up, Joe. Did you get cleared (to play) or something?’ ” Mayo recalled.
“Sure did,” Brown responded.
Football has meant more than most can imagine to Brown.
The sport is a coping mechanism, a stress reliever and most important, an area of happiness in what has been a saddening five years for the offensive and defensive lineman.
His grandma died when he was in seventh grade, and he was just a 14-year-old eighth-grader when his mom, Patricia, suffered a major heart attack and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Brown, now 17, said he doesn’t know anything about his father, who hasn’t been around since his birth. He’s been living with his aunt and uncle, Paul and Gloria Bollinger, since his mom passed. Gloria, Patricia’s sister, and Paul, have helped Brown deal with the many difficulties he’s faced.
“He had times when it was bad and when it was good,” Paul said. “He focused on football and took a great interest in it.”
One of his only constants during the past few years has been football, a safe haven where the 5-foot-11, 300-pound Brown can take out his frustrations and forget about his worries.
“I just don’t have any of it on my mind (when I’m playing),” he said. “It’s a time where I don’t have to think about it, where I can just block it out. I do what I need to do at that time and I don’t have to think about anything sad or anything bad or anything along those lines. I can focus on something happy, something fun.”
Enjoyable times have been hard to come by.
As he still was getting over his mother’s death, complications with her will led to him having to fight for her belongings.
Going into his junior year, Brown lost an uncle, John Brown, whom he was close to. He didn’t allow it to bring him down. Again, he found solace in football, something he’s enjoyed from the time he started playing as a noseguard in fifth grade. He dedicated himself to weightlifting during the trying times and stayed focused on an area of his life that’s always been uplifting.
Brown’s been part of the Shenango Ironmen, the Wildcats’ offseason workout program, since he was a freshman. He missed joining the 1,000-pound club, which combines a player’s bench, squat and dead lift, by just 10 pounds.
“He’s definitely one of our strongest kids,” Mayo said. “He’s been one of the guys who’s been there all the time; just super dedicated. Some guys just love it, and other guys you have to chase around. He’s one of the guys who loves it.”
When the downtrodden days continued, Brown stayed strong.
Mayo said Brown didn’t allow his anger to affect the way he went about his business. He didn’t lash out at teammates or mope around during practice. He used the hard times to fuel his passion for the sport and escape from the sadness that often surrounded his life.
“I usually use it to block out any of that stuff,” Brown said of football. “I’ll take it in a little bit at a time, and I’ll use football as a way of taking out any anger that I have from it by just using my aggression on the field.”
That’s why finishing his senior year on the football field is so important to Brown. The sport has provided an emotional lift for years, and losing that in his final high school season would have been devastating. He went to three different doctors to find out if he could play through the injury, and when the news came, his excitement was off the charts.
“It was like you handed him a million dollars,” Paul said. “He lit right up. He loves the sport.”
It’s easy to see why.
(E-mail: j_simon@ncnewsonline.com)
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