The notion of a football player competing with an artificial leg is a bit hard to fathom. Yet, the idea becomes somewhat credible if we imagine the player as a sort of “honorary member” of a team - an athlete whose love of the sport runs so deep that everyone wants him to be part of the scene, even though he rides the bench and may even be a hindrance to teammates during his brief appearances.
Nevertheless, if we are forced to throw out this image, and try to visualize this player as a gritty, highly capable starting lineman on both offense and defense, we are faced with a much bigger challenge. Yes, Brandon Kline, a ninth-grader at Pierson Junior High School makes it tough on us - and on opposing linemen -because he undeniably is the “real deal.” And the 14-year-old not only established himself as an anchor on the school football team; he has racked up an overwhelming list of athletic and academic accomplishments, and seems to be getting better all the time.
He was born into the family of Larry and Karen Kline in the Highland Crest area of Kansas City, Kan. Karen is a para-educator at Pierson and Larry works as a car man for Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. Brandon's sister, Melissa, is an 18-year-old student at Kansas City Kansas Community College, while his brother, Mark, is a 16-year-old student at Turner High School. Brandon's parents and siblings helped to inspire his avid interest in sports, but his ability to participate was dealt a potentially devastating blow five years ago, when he was in fourth grade. A tumor was discovered in his right foot, and his family set up an appointment to have it removed at Shriner's Hospital in St. Louis.
“I thought that I was just going there to have surgery on the tumor,” Brandon says. The tumor was removed, but doctors found cancer in the foot, and had to amputate the leg beneath the knee. “We thought that doctors would just remove the tumor and do a skin graft,” Karen says. “This threw me for a loop. Other members of the family had a harder time than Brandon with it.”
When doctors told Brandon that he would be receiving an artificial leg, he was remarkably composed. His first question was, “What if the leg goes flying when I'm playing kickball?” He initially wondered if he would be able to participate in sports at all. Brandon says that his hopes were lifted after a visit at Shriners' Hospital by a boy who kept playing several sports after a leg amputation. Brandon later met a boy whose leg was amputated above the knee, but managed to win state wrestling titles four years in a row. This further convinced Brandon that his athletic days were by no means over.
“It took time for me to get used to walking with the new leg, but I still thought that I would be able to play sports again,” he says. Brandon managed to play baseball that summer, but this simply was a foreshadowing of much bigger things to come. He took up the shot put and discus, and garnered a school “letter” in track and field while in the seventh grade. He earned his way to state wrestling tournaments three times. He resumed bowling, and won several first-place trophies. Brandon participates in local tournaments, and sports a whopping 188 average. And, perhaps most miraculously, he was a stalwart fixture on the Pierson football squad, which just completed its season.
“Brandon always has been very determined,” Karen says. “He's an inspiration to everybody - he thinks he's pro at everything.” He surely has been putting up some “pro-like” numbers as a bowler. Brandon took up the sport when he was four years old, and had made very steady progress.
“It's really hard to tell what kids will do from one year to the next, but Brandon has been improving every year,” says Sandy Butcher, executive director of Young American Bowling Alliance. “He has a super attitude, and although I don't think he has the stamina to become a professional bowler, he might be able to do very well in the adult and scratch leagues,” she says.
“Brandon's just phenomenal - nothing gets him down,” says Peggy Wells, the manager of Tower Lanes, who has known him his entire life. “During his first day of the bowling year, he averaged over 200. If he's serious about it, he might be able to become a pro some day.” While it may be more difficult for Brandon to ascend to such heights in football, he is certainly is holding his own.
He played defensive tackle and offensive guard on this year's Pierson team, which won three of its final five games to finish 3-5. “The leg doesn't really cause me many problems,” Brandon says.
“I treat him just as I did everyone else,” says Pierson Football Coach Rusty Debey. “At times, he has to hold back, but generally, he isn't limited more than anyone else. Brandon never quits or says he can't do something. He always gives 110 percent - he works harder than most people on the team. He has a heart of gold.”
“Brandon's a really good player,” says teammate Matt Steineger. “He works around any problem that he might have with the leg. No one treats him any differently at all; he's a regular guy.”
But unlike other players, Brandon occasionally loses part of his anatomy. “When he was in eighth grade, he was playing in a game in which someone stepped on his right toes, and his leg came off, “ Karen says. “This scared the referees and coaches more than anyone else.
“Brandon started laughing, and then picked up the leg and carried it off the field. I wish I could have caught this on videotape.
“On another occasion, he slipped on a pool cue at a bowling tournament, and his artificial foot became loose. Larry borrowed an Allen wrench from a maintenance man to tighten the foot up, but this didn't work, because the screw was stripped. So, we ended up using ‘Super Glue.'”
Brandon has broken his artificial foot three times in the past six weeks, and when this happens, he often enjoys amusing people. “He broke it when he went bowling last month, and twirled it around in a circle for everyone there. Brandon came back to Pierson and did the same thing for the coaches. He had them rolling,” Karen says.
Clearly, Brandon - who in 1997 was honored as the “Shrine Child” at the Shrine Bowl football game in Topeka - is able to be lighthearted about his artificial limb. “Brandon wants to put ‘PEGLEG' on his license plate when he gets a car,” Karen says. “He has gone through seven artificial legs during the past five years, and we have kept the old ones.”
“He likes to torment people with these legs,” Karen says, laughing. “He makes use of them on Halloween. Once, Brandon laid a leg out on the floor with an axe going through it.”
“Brandon has a great sense of humor about the leg,” says Leslie McGinnis, who was his physical education teacher last year. “And he doesn't use the leg as an excuse to get out of things. He doesn't let it slow him down. Sometimes, I can tell that it is hurting him, but he literally ‘ran circles around' some of the other boys last year. Because of his leg, he wants to prove himself more than the others, so he works extremely hard.”
Brandon receives checkups on the leg at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Three years ago, tumors were found at the bottom of his leg stump, but they were not cancerous, and were surgically removed. His recent visits at Shriners' Hospital with children, who have health problems similar to his have helped lift his spirits, and for several years he has traveled to northwest Missouri to attend a cancer camp for children.
“Larry and I were afraid to send him, because it was his first time away from us, but he looks forward to going to the camp. He has met several girlfriends there, including one who was 17 when he was only 12. This was kind of strange,” Karen says.
For the most part, however, Brandon doesn't like to call attention to the leg. “And it's good that nobody really treats him as if he is different,” Karen says. In fact, according to some of his teachers, by far the most unique thing about Brandon is his exceptional schoolwork. “The leg doesn't even come into play,” says David King, who was Brandon's algebra teacher last school year. “No one ever talks about it.” “He is a very motivated and conscientious student,” King says, adding that last year, he was selected as the best algebra student in his class.
Brandon received all A's and B's last year, and is a member of the Science Club and National Junior Honor Society. “He is one of the best students that we had last year,” says Lisa Price, the sponsor of the honor society. “When he misses classes, he catches up right away on the work he hasn't done. Brandon is a very determined, excellent student.”
He has his sights set on ultimately becoming a doctor, and is intent on continuing his football career well into the future, although he confesses, “I need to become a better blocker on offense.”
For now, he is deeply imbedded in life at Pierson, though - his schoolwork is piling up and wrestling practice starts tomorrow. But you get the feeling that he will meet these and other challenges that come his way.
Reprinted with permission from The Kansan.
