Date: Fri 06-Oct-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KIMH

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Gleason-Football-Captain

Full Text:

B Y K IM J. H ARMON

There was a time when Brian Gleason, a co-captain with the University of

Connecticut football team, thought about giving up, a time when the pressures

on the football field and the pressures in the classroom almost became too

much to handle, a time when he thought about turning his back on a football

career that really hadn't even started.

" It was pretty close, " Brian recalled. " My girl was far away and I wasn't

doing well in school. I went from being star in Newtown, playing in a state

championship, almost going to West Virginia, and (then) being redshirted and

playing on the scout team (running the other team's offense during preparatory

practices). It was tough, but I got a lot of support from my brothers, Bob and

Jeff, and my parents. "

Brian fought through the tough transition period in his life and now, as an

academic All-American, he is in his final year of a solid career with a

Huskies team that, after beating Yale in New Haven last week, boasts an

undefeated 4-0 record.

" It was the best learning experience I have ever had, " Brian said of his

early troubles. " It was like one of our coaches has said, `what do you do

when you are faced with adversity? You surround yourself with people who

care.' "

Football And Life

- Football is a real life lesson. You have to learn how to deal with failure,

with success, with authority and discipline. I think in life training, it's a

great, great tool.

Brian had seen enough failure and enough adversity in his first three years in

high school and was ready to face success, but after the Indians finished 3-7

in Pete Kohut's final year (Brian's freshman year) and struggled through 3-7

and 4-6 years under Zig Olbrys, there was a lot of uncertainty hanging about.

Enter Bob Zito.

Coach Zito recalls meeting his new captain for the first time, " He was the

first kid I met when I came here. Bob Sveda was showing me around and I'll

never forget this sight - there was Brian sitting in the coaches office with a

box of doughnuts on his lap, eating away, and Bob said, `There's your captain,

coach.' "

Coach Zito added, " He's just a great young man. He's so personable and to see

him where he is right now just tickles my heart. You like to see good things

happen to good people and there's no better person than Brian. He's also a

good football player. He worked his tail off to get where he is. "

Zito and Gleason went on to guide the 1990 Newtown Indians to a 10-1 record, a

Western Connecticut Conference and a CIAC Class MM state championship.

" We always had the talent in Newtown, always had the ability, " remembered

Brian, " but we never won. Coach Zito came in and turned it around. We lost

the first game, but we went on to win the state title. He's a great guy and we

always keep in touch. "

Coach Zito may have helped Brian's development as a football player along and

he also helped the lineman deal with the attention he had attracted from the

collegiate programs and helped his young captain make a decision that would

affect the rest of his life.

" He was very realistic, " Coach Zito said. " Brian was wined and dined by

some big-name schools, but he wanted to go where he could play, and I think he

made the right choice. "

I-A Or I-AA?

- On offensive line, I could have played I-A, but on the defensive line I

think I'm a little slow for I-A. But I'm happy with my decision to come here

(UConn). I've played for four years and you can't ask for anything more.

As a senior, Brian was an All-Western Connecticut Conference defensive end and

an All-State offensive tackle and his success with the 10-1 Indians attracted

scouts from Division I-A schools Syracuse and West Virginia.

Both offered full rides.

But the University of Connecticut, the only Division I-AA school he looked at,

was where he ended up and it's a decision he hasn't regretted.

" To tell you the truth, " Brian said, " I definitely thought I was going to

go I-A. I went to Syracuse, my first visit, and they talked about me playing

o-line. At the time, I was about 225 pounds, and I'm going, `O-line? I'm not

big enough.' I was going out with All-Americans who were 6-6 and weighed 280.

" When he met former UConn coach Tom Jackson at a Husky recruitment camp,

though, scuttlebutt had Brian playing defense and shifting from the end inside

to the tackle position.

He had a tough decision to make. Division I-A schools get more exposure and,

in general, get more money than Division I-AA schools. But Brian weighed that

against the realities of his own abilities and the realities of big-time

college football and decided that he may be better off at UConn.

" There was a little intimidation factor, " Brian admitted. " I saw a lot of

big guys, but I knew, here, I could play. Going to defense was good, too. I

never played in the three-point stance before, but I like it in the trenches.

There's a lot of banging going on. It's fun. "

He didn't get to the fun part, though, until his sophomore year. The Huskies

red-shirted him during his freshman year, which allows a player to practice

with a team and learn the program, but forbids him to play in any games. Yet,

red-shirting also allows the player to four years of eligibility.

" That was tough year, " Brian remembered, " because I wanted to play. But I

couldn't have imagined what it would have been like in another school, not

playing until my junior year. "

Brian needed that first year, too, to work himself into shape. With a steady

diet of fluffer-nutter sandwiches at Newtown High, Brian bulked himself up

from 220 pounds to 250 - " but it was a bad 250, " he admitted - and had to

transform that extra bulk into muscle.

His work in the weight room and his work on the field paid off as, in spring

ball, he jumped from fourth to second on the coach Tom Jackson's defensive

tackle depth chart.

He was ready to play and in the fall he started three games for the Huskies,

leading off against New Haven, before coming down with a knee injury that has

bothered him from time to time ever since. But the next two seasons were

steady improvements, starting with the 55 tackles he recorded during his

junior (or red-shirt sophomore) season.

" I started reading the offenses a lot better, " Brian said. " The team didn't

have a good year, though, and I was still learning the position. I'm still

learning now, still trying to get better every time. You can never think that

you reached a plateau, where you think that you are as good as you can be. "

This year, however, it's a bit of a different story for UConn. With Brian

leading the way on defense and his fellow captain, Wilbur Gilliard, leading

the way on offense, the Huskies are off to a 4-0 start and only twice in the

history of the program - 1940 and 1898 - has that happened.

The Captaincy

- To this point in my life, it was the most tremendous honor to be elected by

your peers. It makes me very proud and it's a great deal of responsibility.

It's a nice situation, to be able to impart your goals to the team.

Brian has been the captain of every football team he has played on and upon

his fifth year with the University of Connecticut program he was honored with

the co-captaincy.

" You always have goals and dreams you hope to achieve, " he said. " To have

the season going to way its going, to think that I could have given it all up

freshman year, is a shock. "

But Brian got to this point with a lot of hard work, a lot of adjustment to

the responsibilities of collegiate life. The transition into college from

Newtown High School was a rough one, but as Brian progressed on the field he

also progressed in the classroom, bringing himself from a 1.7 grade-point

average in his first semester to being a Dean's List student and academic

All-American. It's that kind of ethic and that kind of determination which

made him a good choice for the captaincy and the kind of player that wouldn't

buckle under the pressures the position faces.

Coach Zito remembered that, back in 1990, during Brian's senior year at

Newtown High, " His work ethic, even here . . . he practiced harder than

anybody I've ever seen. He'd put his little injuries aside and gave us

everything he had. That year he just refused to lose. He got those kids to

rally around him. He's a great leader. "

Brian admitted, " The pressure of being a captain is a good kind of pressure.

I'd rather be a leader than a follower. It's a nice feeling to have 10 guys

looking at you in the huddle, looking at you to pull them together. "

Brian has gotten a lot of his own motivation this year from Coach Skip Holtz,

who moved to Storrs last season to replace the departing Tom Jackson. With the

advent of a new coaching staff, Brian has taken a step forward not only on a

skill-level but also in focus and attitude.

" Coach Holtz is a tremendous motivater, " Brian said. " He has brought a lot

to the program. All we have to do is win ball games. He has stressed

discipline within the program and has stressed what it's like to have a

tradition and to have a winning program. "

At 4-0, that attitude seems to be taking hold.

Life After Football

- I will breathe a little easier, but I'll tell you, when football season

comes around next year I'm going to be looking for something to do. Its tough

to get away from the game. I enjoy it and enjoy the camaraderie of it.

One of the toughest parts of heading into college for Brian was the fact that

he would be away from his girlfriend, Sarah Marsh Dunn, who he met back here

in Newtown.

But after five years of college, a lot of long distance telephone calls, and

summers that went by too quickly, the couple will be married next June. Miss

Dunn is a graduate of Newtown High and while here, her father was an

Episcopalian priest at Trinity Church.

Miss Dunn presently is working for a school doing missions counseling. Brian,

now 23, is not only working on the football field and in the classroom, but he

is also working on finding himself a job.

Brian is majoring in design and resource management in relation to textiles

and apparel technology.

And with his brother, Bob, doing well with his real estate business in Newtown

and his other brother, Jeff, doing well with computer software, Brian has a

strong idea of what he wants to do once the final whistle blows on UConn

football. " I'd like to get into sales of some sort, " Brian said. " Bob and

Jeff are two of the most influential people in my life. Just to see them, see

them be successful, has given me something too look forward to. "

He has a lot more to look forward to this season, however . . . winning

football games and maybe - quite possibly - helping the University of

Connecticut win a conference championship.

It would be the perfect closure on a fine collegiate career.