He was a senior, was getting drafted for the NFL. Was killed a few days before that. Not a factor in the timeline you are thinking of.
I knew him pretty well, he was good friends with my best friend on the team, and also a teammate of mine. We hung out and went out a decent amount over the years. Brook was a quiet guy, low key. Good guy.
I remember clearly when I got the call the day he died in that plane crash. I knew the field/area he went down in, had driven that area quite a bit. I always have wanted to fly, probably would have gotten my pilots license, but his plane crash actually was a main reason I never did. Plus my dad got scared out of his wits when he was doing the final solo for his pilots license. He got caught in total whiteout, didn't know up from down, declined to take the pilots license and said he'd never fly a small plane again. Also a couple people from my small home town have died in small plane crashes over the years, so enough evidence it is a very dangerous hobby.
On a side note, T.O. always told him he shouldn't fly small planes, it was too dangerous. He also told me I shouldn't ride motorcycles (I often rode mine to campus and parked it under the bleachers in the stadium in a place campus police wouldn't be looking because you weren't supposed to park in or under the stadium). T.O. was right on both accounts - planes and bikes are damn dangerous activities. I'm about to sell my bike, think it is time I quit tempting fate riding. I can't ride again this summer anyway - shoulder and torn bicep tendon surgery on July 19th on my right shoulder/arm. Had snapped the bicep tendon on my left arm last summer, took two surgeries to fix it. So that took out last summer and now this summer for riding. Bike is still worth 12 grand or so, think I will cash that chip in.
