Baltimore Ravens’ O.J. Brigance battles ALS, serves as inspiration

Baltimore Ravens' O.J. Brigance battles ALS, serves as inspiration

When fans think of their beloved Baltimore Ravens, what first comes to mind is Ray Lewis and later the team’s hard hitting defense, hard-nosed coach and bad boy image. Few followers recall the name, work and spirit of O.J. Brigance. But they should.
Brigance currently serves as the Ravens’ director of player development. While the former star of the Canadian Football League (CFL) is paralyzed and cannot talk, insiders know him as the hidden leader of the team.
Before Ray Lewis, Baltimore had O.J. Brigance. As a star linebacker on the now defunct Baltimore Stallions Canadian Football League team in the early ’90s, Brigance brought the CFL Grey Cup with his teammates to the city in 1995. This some six years prior to Lewis bringing the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl XXXV to Baltimore.
But Lewis has attributes Brigance does not. In 2007, Brigance was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. First he lost the use of his arms, then his ability to walk and finally the ability to speak.
But present circumstances don’t change history. Brigance is one of the few players to have won both the Grey Cup and Super Bowl and the only player to have won CFL and NFL championships, representing the same city. He was an All-Pro and the city’s face of professional football.
His NFL career reads like a fairy tale. After reaching out to 28 other teams, which expressed no interest in him, Brigance finally got a chance with the Miami Dolphins, who signed him as a free agent. He was twice voted team captain and named recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award by the Dolphins in 1999.
After four years as a linebacker in Miami, he signed with the Ravens prior to the start of the 2000 season. The captain of the special-teams unit, he was a leader in the locker room for the first Ravens Super Bowl team.
Ironically, Lewis and Brigance played together in their Super Bowl win of 2000. In 2004, Brigance joined the front office of the Baltimore Ravens.
Brigance, who communicates through a high-tech computer device called a DynaVox machine, once said, “Would I have chosen ALS? No. However, I have been given the opportunity to do my life’s greatest work because I have chosen to fight and impact my circle of influence for God’s greater good despite my circumstances. We all have a circle of influence that we can impact no matter what the circumstances in our respective lives.”
Brigance is constantly leading the charge to promote awareness of ALS, a disease that impacts more than 30,000 American families by some estimates.
Yes, the Raven players on the field will be receiving most of the attention on Super Bowl Sunday, but men like O.J. Brigance really show us what life is all about.


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