Crimson and Gold Connection; Brian Moorman

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected to the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. This is Trent Johnson. Thanks for joining us for Crimson and Gold Connection. Today, our guest is 2015 Outstanding Alumni from Pittsburgh State University, Brian Mormon. Brian, thanks so much for joining us today. What was your area of study at Pittsburgh State University and when did you graduate? I graduated in 1999 and graduated with my education degree, and it was a great time. What are who influenced you to attend Pittsburgh State University? Well, I was recruited by Coach Rustuot, a track team, quite honestly. I really didn't know where Pittsburgh was until he gave me a phone call and living north of Wichita, typically your year of Emporia State or KUK State, that kind of thing. And got a phone call from Coach Rustuot, told me a little bit about Pittsburgh, wanted to bring me down and bring me on a visit. And as soon as I stepped on campus and met a few people and walked around a little bit, I was so... During your time on campus, what was your favorite part about attending PSU? Oh, just everything. I'm in the town, the atmosphere, everything from obviously I was supposed to be able to play athletics.

So I was involved in the athletic department, but just the atmosphere at the game. And then just academic in general, I mean it had great professors and it was just a great experience all the way around and a beautiful campus to boot. You said that you came to Pittsburgh State, recruited by Coach Jewett longtime track and cross-country coach here at Pittsburgh State University. You also played football, how did that become about? We were not, wasn't my goal an ambition to run track in college, but I had a lot of success in high school. Like I said, I got the opportunity to meet Coach Jewett and we talked and I really respected him and had seen what he had accomplished there at the college at the time. And I mean that's nothing compared to what he accomplished at this point. But I was very impressed with the program and then obviously the university itself. So I decided to put football on the shelf essentially and not play. So since I accepted the track scholarship at that time, the rules were that I couldn't play football that first year. So I sat out a year and then I decided that I'd had some success in track and I thought well maybe I just kicked field goals in high school.

I just want to be on the team. So I walked on as a field goal kicker and there happened to be like eight or nine guys that walked on at the same time and one scholarship guy and they didn't have a punter. And I said well I just want to play all Pontman and kick off. So that's how it kind of came about and I ended up punting that first year and I guess it was 95. Whenever I first started because I came over and 94 and sat up the first year. So that's how it started and it was a great run. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed being part of the program but it was great to be able to do two sports and be allowed to do that. In the fact that Coach Jewett was let me do that was awesome. You don't find that at a lot of schools and I think it benefits seeing a lot of athletes that do that even now. There at the college if you get some of the guys that are sprinters and they're able to help them on the field in the fall as well. You were lucky enough to continue that punching career in the professional ranks. Just talk about that a little bit and the time that you spent playing football professionally. Yeah, lucky is a good word.

I mean a lot of times it's been in the right place at the right time and I only got a couple opportunities coming out of college. The Seahawks gave me the opportunity to go over and play in Europe and I played two years over there with the Berlin Thunder. That experience that I got over there was paramount in fact giving me the opportunity to play in the NFL. For kickers and punters at that time that league was amazing. It was still the same football and the same hundred yard field and everything else so teams were able to see, okay, yeah, you really can't play at this level. That gave me an opportunity to come back and get a workout with the bills at the time and at that time they had no punter on the roster. They had kind of went through a salary cap purge and gotten rid of their veteran punter and there was one rookie sign. They ended up releasing him signing another guy and we competed for the job and I want it. So the rest was in history I guess as you say and I just had a great career there and like I said, it's just a good experience and it's funny because I think I feel like Buffalo is a lot like Pittsburgh. It's a small town, small city, very college type atmosphere and I think that's why I succeeded there because I was able to come from a place like Pittsburgh too. It felt like home and such a good experience when I was in Pittsburgh and I was blessed that same experience in Buffalo.

Brian, you had a great run with the Buffalo Bills multiple time pro-bola and all pro a couple of your accolades while playing in the NFL. You've recently been named one of the 2015 outstanding alumni from your alma mater, Pittsburgh State. What does that mean to you personally maybe in a different regard than some of the other awards that you got over your playing career? It's always great to be honored by your former college because you know that they appreciate what you've done being able to represent the university and anytime I have an opportunity to come back to the campus, it's always a great chance to come and see it and see what changes have been made and especially the changes have been made for the good. And there's so many things going on there that are so exciting to see and get that honor is just that. It is a great honor and I appreciate it and I'm thrilled to be coming back and accepting this award. Is there any one thing that you're most looking forward to seeing while on campus when you return? Believe it or not, I'm one of the lucky ones. I married one of the girls from Pittsburgh. So I married a town and I'm lucky enough to come back and see my in-laws all the time.

So I get to come back and see campus and see how things change more often than a lot of alumni. And so I get to go and do the things that I like. You've got to go to Mall Delhi and those types of things and I always come up and see the coaches and say hi and that's always great. And then just kind of walk around campus and see it's a beautiful time of year. And obviously I'm thrilled to come back for a football game. I don't give a chance to come back to too many of them. I came back I think maybe for one last year. And before that it was maybe one on a by week. So don't see too many of those and that's always nice. I'm always thrilled to come back to Pittsburgh and see everybody. And they were always so good to me and I'm just glad to be back. You have founded the Punt Foundation. You're the president and founder of that. Tell us what that is and talk about that a little bit as well if you would. I'd say it's probably one of the proudest things that I've done. Amber and I formed that back in 2004 to benefit children with pediatric cancer. And at the time we didn't realize how long it was going to go. Obviously, you know, I never do anything without the thought that it will be successful. And we've got some great people around us and surrounded ourselves with those good people to help it succeed.

But our vision at the time was just to do some things for kids that we saw a need for and talk to the doctors and the nurses and the parents. And thanks from the times that we'd go up and just visit them in the hospital. And the time we came in in 2001, which I got to give credit to the University there in Pittsburgh too. At Pitt State, they got their athletes and the students involved in community relations. And I think anything from Red Ribbon Week to the Great American Smoke Out things like that. I always enjoyed getting involved in the community. And I just thought, you know what, I enjoyed that so much. I want to remember where I came from. And when I got the Buffalo, it was the first thing I did. Went through the community relations director. It said I want to be involved. And they had this little Christmas card gathering with the kids from Roswell Park Cancer Institute there in Buffalo and met a young man. And we hit it off and came friends. And I started visiting other kids up at the hospital on our days off. And just got to know all those families. And we started to see those needs three years later and put together some programs. And those programs are still in place along with some of the other ones that we've added to it. Now we're on six different programs through our foundation. The money we raise goes directly to those social programs.

It's not that we don't believe in research, but we believe that these programs are just as important as medicine sometimes. And we get that straight from the doctors. So, like I said, it's one of the proudest things we've accomplished. And I'm thrilled that it's continuing to go. And right now we're just on a real push to make sure people understand that even though I'm not an active player anymore, we're still active helping these kids. So just that everything's going well with that. And I'm really proud of it. I hope that we continue to get the support to the community because these kids deserve it. They just want to be kids. They just want to smile. And they want to be healthy. All right, Brian. Well, thanks so much for your time today. And again, congratulations on being named one of this year's Outstanding Alumni. Appreciate it, Trent. Thanks very much. Again, today our guest has been 2015 Outstanding Alumni from Pittsburgh State University. Brian Mormon. For KRPS and Crimson and Gold Connection, this is Trent Johnson. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350.