DE PERE (NBC 26) — At 85 years old, Larry Brick is still out on the football field every day, coaching the De Pere Redbirds. After nearly seven decades on the sidelines, his passion and his impact remain as strong as ever.
“Coaching 68 years is no big thing,” Brick said. “People fish for 68 years and nobody makes a big deal about it. This is my fishing.”
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Brick grew up a football fan, listening to Packers games on the radio and playing in high school at Wrightstown. After graduating, he began his coaching career, spending time at Wrightstown, Ashwaubenon, Freedom and De Pere.
In 1992, he helped lead De Pere to a state championship, one of his favorite memories as a coach.
“Winning the state title was a real good memory,” Brick said. “Being around the kids every day is a good memory. It's fun and being around the coaches is fun. It's just a good, good time.”
These days, Brick says what keeps him coming back are the relationships. He enjoys seeing former players’ kids take the field and watching new generations fall in love with the game. Working with the offensive line, he says his top priority is keeping football fun.
“You know, it's great,” said senior offensive lineman Brady Tomlinson. “I feel like everyone just sees Coach Brick and it always just brightens their day up. Having someone here, who's been around the game for a while, it's just always been great.”
Head Coach Ben Strickland said Brick’s consistency and humor are what make him so valuable to the program.
“He shows up every single day,” Strickland said. “I don't know if at his age I'd be doing the same thing, but he's got a great sense of humor to him as well. He keeps the game light, but fun.”
Now in his 68th year of coaching, Brick has even started a new pregame tradition with Strickland, giving him a hug before kickoff.
“The very first game he did it, where he just gave me a hug and said thank you for allowing me to be here,” Strickland said. “And so we just kept that tradition going every single game.”
“We just, it just started and we just kept it up,” Brick said. “It's tradition.”
Brick says he doesn’t have any plans to retire anytime soon, and is looking forward to making more memories with the Redbirds players and coaching staff.
