Brigance returns emails from players – and media members or folks in the Baltimore business community who write to him – usually within hours. He spends his whole day communicating with everyone who was in his world when he was not immobile.
“The toughest thing for people to understand about ALS is that I am still the same person and still have all my mental capacities. I can recognize you, so you don’t have to introduce yourself every time I see you. I just can’t talk or move. Oh, and I am not deaf. No need to scream. I can hear you just fine!”
But people still scream. And people still cry when they see him. It’s complex. It’s complex for those who have known Brigance from the first day he walked into the Ravens office coming from Miami. And for those who knew him as the community relations machine for the Baltimore Stallions in the 1990’s. Or anyone who was a teammate or sought his counsel as a player development ear once he took an office job in Owings Mills.
He is always classy, always spiritual, and always spoke of God. He is always strong, outgoing in his faith, and convivial — the kind of person any NFL team would want representing their brand in the community. O.J. Brigance — the player — was a gem. Fighting this illness, he has become an institution in the Ravens organization and a living, breathing testament to daily courage.
“He’s my greatest motivation,” Lewis said. “He’s the example of the way a man should live, regardless of where you find yourself. He’s my hero.”
Brigance leans on a favorite Bible verse from II Corinthians for understanding the symbiotic nature of his past and his present: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
“The toughest part of living with ALS has been not being able to work out and be active,” Brigance told the CBS crew before Super Bowl XLVII. “Instead of getting depressed about it, I decided to praise God for the abilities I do have and keep it moving. The message I try to deliver to the players is that life will never turn out to be fair in our eyes. We must make the most of the life God gave us. Life is about being humbled through triumphs and attentive during challenges. We grow and gain greater clarity in life if we have vision to see beyond the tears.”
Billick said that it’s natural for football players to respond to people who are having difficulty.
“Every player has been injured and knows what pain is, what struggle is all about,” Billick said. “Every player had to struggle to get to the NFL because it’s not easy. And no matter their circumstance or road, they’ve all witnessed O.J. in Baltimore over the last six years and think ‘that could be me.’ Most are aware that by the grace of God that they are as a fortunate as they are because they pass O.J.’s office on the way into the locker room.”
“We’re always telling players that this game ends for everyone and don’t think that the money or the ability will last forever. O.J. is there daily, reminding all of us how tenuous it all is and to seize the day, seize the moment.”
Steve Bisciotti and the Baltimore Ravens have been very good to O.J. Brigance and have stuck by his side at every turn. His medical expenses are enormous. The amount of help and nursing he needs daily to get to work is monumental. Several of the 2012 Ravens, including Brendon Ayanbadejo and Ray Rice, were extremely close to O.J., visiting his office on a daily basis. There are a lot of people in that building who truly love him.
Head coach John Harbaugh made his feelings and intentions known right away in 2008. His first order of business was carting his entire roster off to downtown Baltimore on buses, making them run in O.J. Brigance’s inaugural 5K through the streets of the city as part of a warm up for practice. It was a team-building event. It was his first act, aligning with a player that Ray Lewis had played in the Super Bowl with and every person in the building on the business side had almost a decade of relationship with in Owings Mills.
