Posted by Cubicle QB
Features on the Sept. 30 (7pm ET) edition of ESPN’s sports newsmagazine series E:60:
Brian Kajiyama’s “Heart of a Warrior”: Brian Kajiyama was born with cerebral palsy, which stripped him of his ability to speak and confined him to a wheelchair. However, his affliction has never been an impediment for the Hawaii native. Instead, it has propelled him to break as many barriers as possible. As a boy, he dreamed of playing football for the University of Hawaii Warriors. And while he knew this would never happen, Brian did become the team’s biggest fan. By the time he was a student at the university, he was not only at every home game but every practice, rain or shine, sitting in his wheelchair on the sidelines. Everything changed for Kajiyama in the summer of 2005 when a new coach for the Hawaii defense, Jeff Reinebold, noticed Brian watching practice and introduced himself. Reinebold and Brian developed a deep friendship and soon Brian was helping the Warriors prepare scouting reports on their opponents. In 2007, Kajiyama was named a graduate assistant football coach for the team by then-head coach June Jones and helped the Warriors go on to become the only undefeated team in Division I in the 2007 regular season. When June Jones and Jeff Reinebold accepted coaching positions at SMU in Dallas, Brian, now a doctorate student, thought he would continue as the team’s graduate assistant. All of that changed this fall when he was removed. E:60 correspondent Lisa Salters tells the story of Kajiyama’s “Heart of a Warrior.”
[Read more →]
Tags: Sports, TV News & Program Updates by Cubicle QB
No Comments »