This is where Hartline must show his heart
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 SPORTS SPOTLIGHT Todd Porter Repository sports writer
PLAIN TWP. -- After Dr. Anthony Pentz finished drilling a rod into his broken leg Saturday night, Brian Hartline lay in a hospital bed dreaming.
He was doing what he loves, playing football. He was on an open field making the kind of moves that attracted Division I college scouts to his doorstep.
Brian Hartline, a senior at GlenOak High School, woke up each time he made a move on a defender. The dream jolted his body, causing pain in a left leg that hours before had looked like a mangled piece of aluminum.
All he could think was this had to be a dream. He would wake up and Dr. Pentz would tell him his leg was fine, that it wasn’t broken after all, and he’d be playing this week.
The dreams weren’t real.
This wasn’t Hartline’s nightmare. Nightmares aren’t real, either.
This is just his hurdle.
“I was in denial big-time at first,” Hartline said Monday. “I think I’m out of the denial, but I’m really not out of it. ... I’m sure, in the whole scheme of things, this will seem like a road bump. It won’t even matter. It will be a blurb.”
It wasn’t that way Saturday afternoon. Hartline was dazzling GlenOak fans and befuddling Akron Central-Hower players. In an instant, one freak play ended his senior season.
Hartline was returning a punt and a player was blocked into him, landing halfway up Hartline’s left leg. Both bones in the leg snapped in two.
This wasn’t a sight for the squeamish.
He raised his leg, its lower half dangling at an angle that legs aren’t supposed to bend.
The sight turned even Golden Eagle head coach Jack Rose’s stomach.
“He was in a lot of pain,” Rose said. “It could’ve been much worse. There is no injury to his knee or ankle. Both bones broke cleanly. In that respect, he was lucky.”
Lucky?
Yes, lucky.
Not only did Hartline’s surgery go better than expected, he already has a football scholarship in hand. Hartline verbally committed to Ohio State the day the Buckeyes offered him a scholarship.
One of the state’s best football players and a viable candidate for Stark County Player of the Year, Hartline called Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel and Offensive Coordinator Jim Bollman and told them of the injury.
They wished him well.
And they reminded him their scholarship offer still was strong. He still was very much in their plans.
Those were the words an 18-year-old kid who has made a name for himself with his legs needed to hear.
“It dawned on me pretty quick when I was on the ground that I already committed to Ohio State,” Hartline said. “A month and a half of big events in my life could have changed a lot of things. ... You still go through the doubt and wonder if they will still want me because I’m broken. They reassured me.
“In fact, they said even if I hadn’t committed, they made up their minds on me a long time ago and everything still would have been taken care of.”
And Tressel reminded Hartline he is not the first high school football star to break his leg and miss most of his senior season.
In 1972, Glenwood graduate Tim Fox missed most of his senior season, went to Ohio State, became an All-American and played in the NFL. Woody Hayes didn’t offer Fox a scholarship until after he broke his leg. Back then, players didn’t verbally commit before their senior season.
It is a good thing they do today. Less than seven hours after his high school season opener, Hartline was coming out of surgery.
“I think I was meant to be at Ohio State,” Hartline said. “It goes to show you, you have to expect the worst. I’ve been playing football seven or eight years. Why does this happen now when I’m at my strongest and my best? It happened for a reason. I don’t know the reason yet, but I know it happened for a reason.”
Maybe the person who comforted Hartline most was Dustin Fox. The GlenOak graduate was at the Golden Eagles’ season opener. Tim Fox is his uncle.
Dustin Fox was one of the first people on the field.
“Dustin came over, held my hand, told me to calm down and prayed,” Hartline said.
On the field, Hartline bit his lip and took the pain. It was excruciating. His mind raced.
Was his football career over before it really started?
No.
He will play again.
“There is no doubt I will play again,” Hartline said. “This isn’t a compound fracture that came through the skin. That’s the first thing I looked for. I knew what happened as soon as it happened and I was wearing white Under Armor pants. I was looking for blood and there wasn’t any.
“I don’t want people to exaggerate this. It was a bad break, but I’m going to be out and about. I’m going to our game Friday night against Mentor and I’ll be at Ohio State’s game Saturday in a wheelchair. It’s just a bone. It broke. It will heal. It’s not like my knee blew out.”
The best part, Hartline said, was he learned the difference between being injured and having pain. “It was a good experience to know what pain really is,” he said.
According to Hartline, the surgeon was able to fit the bones back together without a problem. The surgery went well.
The recovery probably will, too — at least physically.
Now Hartline’s battle is mental.
Every goal he set for himself this fall on the football field is wiped away.
Mentally, the toughest part is ahead. Fox’s No. 37 Ohio State jersey hung in his hospital room over the weekend.
“I kept staring at his jersey just to keep my head straight and to remind myself what’s ahead for me,” he said.
What is ahead is hours upon hours of physical therapy. In fact, no high school football player in the county may work as hard preparing to play again as Hartline.
But the tough part is while no one is watching, he will have to work his hardest. He won’t gain a yard or score a touchdown. No one will know how hard he is working. There won’t be any newspaper stories or fans lining a tunnel to the physical therapy room.
“That’s kind of how I wanted it in the first place,” Hartline said. “I always worked hard, but in a quiet manner. I’m not a flashy guy who draws attention to myself. People say your character is measured when you’re leaping your biggest hurdles with no one watching. Well, I’ve got some hurdles to get over. It’s something I have to do. There is no point in whining about it.”
He took the pain once. Brian Hartline seems like he’s ready to deal with it the next three to six months, too.
It is the only way he’ll be back.
