Former Clinton football coach and teacher Jeremy Fielder (left) stands with former Ithaca football coach Terry Hessbrook, founder of the B4 Foundation. Fielder, now a principal at Whiteford, invited Hessbrook to speak about the tragic death of his son. In addition to students from Whiteford, students from surrounding schools were invited as well. Photo by Doug Donnelly

By DOUG DONNELLY
The Advance
OTTAWA LAKE – “I’m Daniel.”
Terry Hessbrook believes those two words could have saved his son’s life.
The massively successful Ithaca High School football coach has made it his mission to tell the story of his son Brady’s life in hopes of reaching – and saving – anyone with a mental health concern who is desperate to talk to someone.
“Poor mental health, anxiety, depression they are real,” Hessbrook said. “They are a disease, and we need to treat them like they are a disease.”
Hessbrook was invited last week to speak at Whiteford High School by Principal Jeremy Fielder, who coached against Hessbrook while a coach at Clinton. Hessbrook held the audience’s attention for an hour, going through the excruciating timeline of Brady’s life and death.
“I drove 2 1/2 hours here and if we can reach one student, just one, it’s worth it,” Hessbrook said.
Hessbrook and his wife founded the B4 Foundation to reach out to teenagers and anyone struggling with mental health and, just as important, to fight the stigma associated with it.
“It’s okay to not be okay, but tell someone,” Hessbrook said. “Tell some you are struggling in your relationship with your boyfriend or your girlfriend. Tell someone you are struggling with math or the pressures of playing college football. Tell somebody you are struggling with an injury. Tell someone. It’s okay.”
Brady Hessbrook committed suicide 24 months ago, shortly after injuries ended his college football career. His parents and everyone around him missed the signs that he was suffering from depression.
Brady grew up in Ithaca, a city of about 3,000 people. His mom was a kindergarten teacher and his dad the football coach.
Brady was around Ithaca’s football team from the time he could walk. He was water boy and manager and helped his dad with everything from carrying first aid kits to balls. At practices, even as a young kid, he would make his way through the cones during drills and played catch on the sidelines with the older players.
He lived for Ithaca football and the community embraced him along with every other Yellow Jacket football player. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a role model, his dad says.
“He wasn’t the perfect kid,” told the audience. “He gave his mom and dad a run for their money, just like you do. Just like all the adults in this room did. Just like I did when I was a kid. But he certainly didn’t look like someone who was depressed.
“Brady had a college football scholarship. He had a beautiful girlfriend. He had friends, a job and was a pretty good student. He wasn’t a great student; he was a pretty good student. He was a good-looking kid. He had a smile that could light up the room. He had faith in God. He read the Bible on a regular basis. He had a family that loved him – a sister, mom, dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandma, grandpa, the whole tree. Everybody loved him. He had all of that.
“He had a car, had a phone, a job. Brady was a role model among his peers. Brady had a future. It’s one of the most painful things in the family – that future is no longer there.”
He was a four-year starter at Ithaca, carrying on the tremendous tradition of Ithaca football with an All-State career. As a senior, the Yellow Jacket quarterback was the statewide player of the year by The Associated Press despite multiple injuries during his career. He earned a scholarship to play football at Wayne State University, about two hours from Ithaca.
“He kept everything inside,” Hessbrook said. “He was often the happiest guy in the room. He was hiding his depression. He was hiding his anxiety and that he was suffering from poor mental health. It’s so difficult as a parent to stand up here in front of you today to tell you we didn’t know. We had no idea that our son was struggling with any of that stuff.”
Brady hid the signs with his smile, a mask during COVID, and behind his football helmet.
When Brady was a high school freshman, his dad brought a football coach he met from the Upper Peninsula to talk to Ithaca High School students about his own son who had committed suicide.
Brady sat in the bleachers, listening along with hundreds of other students. The coach told the story of his own son, named Daniel, who was part of that school’s football team and was a hero in his small-town football community.
Brady leaned over to a girl he was sitting next to and whispered, “I’m Daniel.”
Hessbrook heard that story about three weeks after Brady was buried, when the girl who was sitting next to Brady that day came to his house and told him and his wife.
“That’s how we found that out,” Hessbrook said. “I have nothing but admiration for her for the strength that she showed to come and do that so that we knew that part of the story. Only how I wish she would have been stronger as a freshman. Had she been strong enough to come forward. Had she told somebody, he might be standing here today. That’s how important it is to tell someone.”
Whiteford was the 76th time he has made his presentation, which has been heard by more than 23,000 students. Hessbrook has multiple stories of how the B4 Foundation has helped change people’s lives, of people coming forward after his presentation and seeking help.
“Brady didn’t reach out. He didn’t get help. He’s no longer here,” Hessbrook said. “We decided as a family we are going to talk to as many people who will listen to us.
“If this could happen to Brady Hessbrook, this could happen to anyone in America,” Coach Hessbrook said. “He’s just a normal kid growing up in a rural community playing multiple sports, just like many of the people who are in this room right now.”

This story first appeared in The Advance, a weekly newspaper based in Blissfield, Michigan, covering Blissfield, Whiteford and Britton Deerfield schools and several communities in southeast Michigan.