Condolences are going out to the family and friends of a longtime Kingston football coach Berk Brean, a former Queen's Golden Gaels assistant coach who died Saturday after a lengthy battle with cancer.
I had the chance to know Berk a little a few years back when he was a Gaels assistant and I was covering the team for the campus media. The man never stopped teaching; you'd chat with him for a few minutes at a post-game reception and come away having learning something about life, or yourself. He always made the person he was chatting with feel appreciated, and that's something you don't always get when you're a student journalist.
My favourite Brean anecdote comes from an article Claude Scilley wrote in the Kingston Whig-Standard when he first became ill. Gaels running back Michael Navo related how in one of his first practices as a rookie, he messed up in a drill and started swearing.
Always an English teacher, Brean didn't berate Navo for his error but said: "Michael, the first thing we're going to have to do is work on is the language you use."
He'll be missed, and certainly the Gaels don't need any prodding from this corner to honour his memory next season.
Related:
Berk Brean Photo Gallery (Jeff Chan Sports Photos)
Back with more later. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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