Essay Sample about Brandon Burlsworth
Brandon Burlsworth was an amazing man who fought his way to the top to achieve his dreams. When no one believed he could do it he believed in himself. Ultimately all the hard work paid off in his journey to play football with the razorbacks. Brandon worked from a young age till the day of his passing with a purpose. Although this all sounds great Brandon Burlsworth had to go through many obstacles in his path. Family issues, fitness struggles, financial problems, and much more.
Brandon was faced with many adversities but one was his family issues. Brandon didn’t really have a father growing up. His father was a raging alcoholic and couldn’t be trusted to take care of Brandon as he should. Brandon’s male role model in his life was his older brother Marty. Marty was 17 years older than Brandon and cared for him as such. Although Brandon didn’t have much of his father around he had a very loving mother named Barbara who always supported him. When Brandon was older his dad ended up passing away from lung cancer that had spread to his brain which had a big impact on the family as a whole.
Another one of Brandons adversities was his fitness struggle. Brandon wasn’t the most active kid and spent a lot of his younger years eating snacks and watching tv. Even though he was nowhere near fit he decided he wanted to become a football player. He played football in middle school but was never really any good. The high school coach saw him play and assured him that when he went to highschool he would be better and ready to play for him and when he went to high school he was. Brandon played throughout high school but his main dream was to become a razorback at the University of Arkansas. Brandon’s highschool football coach got him a tour of the school and a chance to meet the coach. When he talked to the coach he said that Brandon would probably never be able to play and he needed to be at least 300 pounds if he even wanted a shot to play. Later that year Brandon reached that weight and continued to work.
One of Brandon’s main struggles was that he struggled financially. Brandon’s family was never well off but now that he wanted to go to University it became even harder. Brandon was set on going to the University of Arkansas and no other schools. Brandon was offered a full ride scholarship to Arkansas Tech University but he refused; he was set on being a razorback. His mother, supportive as always, somehow managed to get enough money to pay for a year of college so that he would get to become a razorback but if he wanted to stay at the school he would need to earn a scholarship before the next year. Brandon didn’t make the football team at first and was just a walk-on and had no chance to earn a scholarship. Brandon proved his worth and ended up becoming an offensive lineman for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
All of this is really inspirational and I myself can’t imagine how hard this all was. In my position, I believe the things that will be the hardest for me will also be financial struggles along with keeping the grades I need to get into a good school. I believe Brandon was in a tougher place than I am right now which is why I think it’s amazing to see his story.
Financially Brandon was able to get enough money to pay for a year and then earn a scholarship which is amazing. I plan to first go to a community college for 2 years as it is the same education as a University but less money. When I am done with those 2 years I plan to apply to a 4-year university and finish up college then. I’m not sure what exactly I want to major in but I do want to be an interior designer right now. I will hopefully be able to apply for some scholarships and I’m not expecting to get a full ride but anything helps. As for getting my grades up I just plan to spend more time actually doing my homework and putting in effort.
In conclusion, Brandon Burlsworth's story was inspirational not only to me but many other people which is why I think it’s such a great story to tell. He went through so much and still managed to follow his dreams with everything he’s gone through.
