The Inspiration of Brian Simmons

This is a two-part series on Oklahoma offensive lineman Brian Simmons. The redshirt freshman from Raleigh, N.C., has overcome a birth defect and personal difficulties to earn his way to the Sooner football roster. His story of triumph is an inspiration and one that will have OU fans cheering for his first appearance in a college game.

Part I
You might say it was a spring of tumult for Brian Simmons.

First came a position change, then a weight-lifting accident that will sideline him for August practices and an undetermined number of games.

A real gut check, right? For many, yes. For Simmons, hardly.

Simmons, now an offensive lineman after moving from defensive tackle, was born with Club Foot Deformity in both feet. The left was corrected with a cast.

Brian Simmons Bio & Photos | Part II

Corrective attempts on the right, including three surgeries by the time he was three, were less successful and while the deformity is far from incapacitating, it has left Simmons, a native of Raleigh, N.C., with a right leg that is several inches smaller in circumference than his left. He wears a size 15 shoe on his right foot, a size 18 on his left.

Clubfoot is the most common congenital disorder of the lower extremity in newborns. One or both feet turn downward and inward due to tendons that aren't the proper length. The cause of clubfoot is not well understood. While it can be associated with other congenital malformations, it may also occur independently.

Simmons wore braces and orthopedic shoes that he compared with those depicted in the movie, “Forrest Gump,” but despite numerous attempts to address the ailment, doctors finally told Simmons' parents that any hope of participating in sports was lost. That was at age seven and it was one of several blows he would endure through childhood.

“The foot has six scars on it and it can really scare people,” Simmons said. “When I was a kid everyone always wanted to go swimming. When I would jump into the pool, the other kids would get out.”

There were other cruel reactions, but even when those subsided in the teen years, Simmons still had to overcome skepticism in others. Despite an accomplished high school career at Raleigh Southeast, the doubters remained when he enrolled at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

Learn More About Club Foot Deformity

“People would first see me and think, Oh, he's the weakest link,” said Simmons. “I'm real quiet when it comes to that. I just show them on the field. I went through all kinds of things as a kid. It pushes me.”

If the physical issues weren't enough, Simmons endured family hardship in his teen years too. That sent him into a tailspin.

“I was real low,” he said. “I didn't care about anything and I would only go to school when I felt like it. I was a real mopey bear.”

His mother, Jackie, helped pull him through that time and so did a Raleigh Southeast counselor, Debbie Kellogg.

“Nobody had ever believed in Brian and he didn't believe in himself,” Kellogg remembered. “When I was introduced to him, I was told that he was dumb and that I just needed to keep him eligible for football. Then I met him and I thought, Wow, this kid isn't dumb at all. He's intelligent.'”

Simmons set his sights on college and regaining his academic standing.

“He told me that he wanted to do something that would impact the lives of other people,” Kellogg said.

When others students were playing video games, Simmons was applying himself to getting his grades in order and training for sports.

Simmons, a 6-4, 295-pound redshirt freshman, said Kellogg's correction was invaluable.

“She made me believe in myself,” he said. “I owe a lot to her. am thankful for everything she did to get me right in academics and athletics.”

End Part I. Next: The recruiting process. Jackie Shipp pops in a tape, finds a gem.

- By Kenny Mossman, Sr. Associate Athletics Director/Communications

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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