The phone call came on the afternoon of Sept. 25, 2004. I was working as the weekend sports anchor at WMAR TV Channel 2 and getting ready for our early-evening sportscast when the parent of a Loyola High School football player called to say one of Loyola's players was just airlifted from Georgetown Prep High School in Rockville to Shock Trauma in Baltimore.
The player was Van Brooks, a junior on Brian Abbott's Loyola football team, and one of the top young players in the Baltimore area. His life, and the lives of everyone around him, would never be the same. Continue reading...