A dream shattered by tragedy (2024)

JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

Kind words One player with the colts said it's his loss he won't get to be friends with Brandon Burlsworth

Brandon Burlsworth dies on Arkansas highway after head-on collision with tractor-trailer.

Brandon Burlsworth's first act as a wealthy NFL offensive tackle was going to be to buy himself a bigger car.

``I used to kid him about being the only guy on campus who wore his car on his back,'' said Russ Brown, who played on the Arkansas Razorback offensive line with Burlsworth for four years.

``When he got in, he'd get in sideways. Half his body was in the passenger seat before he swung his legs in.''

On Wednesday, driving his white Subaru home to Harrison, Ark., from Fayetteville, Ark. -- a drive he had made hundreds of times -- Burlsworth was killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer.

A silent, somber pall hung over the Fayetteville campus on Thursday.

``We're in a rah-rah business, and I can put no enthusiasm in my voice,'' said UA sports information director Rick Schaeffer. ``It's hard to smile. Time and the Lord take care of those things, but the immediate aftermath is very tough to deal with.''

Burlsworth, 22, was a third-round draft choice (63rd overall) of the Indianapolis Colts just two weeks ago and he and his brother and agent, Marty Burlsworth, were negotiating a contract.

``He had a lot of plans,'' said Brown, a native of Bristow and now a Tulsa resident. ``The only way I could explain Burls is from the outhouse to the penthouse, and he was knocking on the penthouse door.''

Funeral services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at the gymnasium at Harrison High School. The University of Arkansas is also planning a memorial, and the Colts have similar designs.

``(Colts owner) Jim Irsay made it clear to me last night when I delivered the sad news, that Brandon was a Colt and we are going to honor his memory in the appropriate fashion,'' Indianapolis general manager Bill Polian said at a press conference Wednesday. ``There will be a delegation from the organization going to the services (Saturday).''

Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt, who coached Burlsworth for just one season, said ``several things'' are being discussed to memorialize Burlsworth. Among the ideas: retiring his No. 77 jersey, naming the weight room after him, and permanently encasing his locker.

``There's going to be an award named after him,'' Nutt said, ``but I don't know if anybody could live up to it. I don't think so.''

Said Brown, ``He's put on a high pedestal, and he's going to be taken care of.''

Burlsworth was lauded by those who knew him as a tireless worker, a perfect gentleman and a strong Christian. He never drank, smoked or swore.

``Brandon did everything perfectly,'' Nutt said. ``He was the first in the weight room and the last off the field. It's just hard to believe this happened. We tell our players that every day of life is a blessing and never take it for granted. An incident like this brings that message home. We are heartbroken.''

Accident investigators indicated that Burlsworth was trailing another semi-truck rig on the winding, two-lane highway toward Harrison when he veered left just slightly to check oncoming traffic. The accident occurred near Carrollton, Ark., on U.S. 412 and Carrollton Road at approximately 4:15 p.m.

Burlsworth had been expected to attend a 4 p.m. ring ceremony in Fayetteville -- awarding players and coaches with their SEC West Champion and Citrus Bowl rings -- but decided to skip the ceremony to attend Wednesday worship services in Harrison.

Brown said his skipping a ceremony of self-gratification to attend church was ``typi cal Burls. He never even got to wear his Citrus Bowl ring. Probably wouldn't have anyway.''

``From everything we could see,'' said Polian, ``Brandon represented everything we want in a Colts uniform.''

Burlsworth attended the Colts' rookie camp last weekend, where he met briefly with a few Indianapolis veterans. One was center Jay Leeuwenberg.

``He was the type of person that you didn't get to know, but you knew you wanted to get to know him,'' Leeuwenberg said. ``It is my loss that I could not become friends with him.

``We just hope that there is something the players or this organization can do to help ease the pain of Brandon's family.''

Burlsworth is survived by his mother, Barbara Burlsworth of Harrison; and his brothers Marty, of Harrison, and Grady, of Ohio.

According to a report in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 10 was scheduled as ``Brandon Burlsworth Day'' in Harrison, with a ceremony on tap at Northwest Arkansas Community College. Tickets numbering 800 were offered and sold out quickly, and another 200 were quickly sold as well.

``Around here in this town, he was the man,'' Marty Burlsworth told the paper. ``He was the local star. He couldn't go anywhere without signing autographs, which never bothered him. He liked doing it.''

Lightly recruited out of Harrison, Burlsworth chose to walk on at Arkansas. His unrelenting efforts in the weight room were legendary, and he shaped himself into an All-American and consensus All-Southeastern Conference guard, starting each of his last three seasons. He graduated last December, in just 4-1/2 years, with a master's degree in business administration.

At the annual college scouting combine last February, he ran the fastest 40-yard dash of any offensive lineman (4.88 seconds) and had the second-best vertical jump (31 inches). He was projected to compete for a starting job next season.

``He was so good and so perfect,'' said Nutt, who met with the team Thursday afternoon. ``There's not a better person. It goes beyond words.''

Said Schaeffer, ``He's in a lot better place than the rest of us. He's in paradise now.''

John E. Hoover can be reached at 581-8384.