Remembering a life draped in Burroughs red and white

Jeff Tully

BURBANK -- It’s almost impossible to talk to anyone about Ralph Brandt

without hearing recollections of colorful stories or a humorous antidote

about the venerable Burroughs High coach.

Brandt, a longtime Burbank resident and Burroughs coach, will likely

be remembered not only for his expertise and love of coaching, but for

his sense of humor and his positive influence on thousands of students.

When Brandt died April 2, the community not only lost a rare coaching

icon, but it also lost an individual who was admired and respected by

friends and former athletes. He was 82.

The quips about Brandt bring to light the life of a man engulfed with

family and friends, and dedicated to helping mold young lives.

There are also stories that highlight Brandt’s unique, humorous side.

“When Ralph stopped coaching at Burroughs he used to serve as clerk of

the course for our track and field meets,” longtime Burroughs coach and

administrator Brian Hurst said. “He had such a booming voice that we used

to say you could hear him all the way across the city of Burbank.

“And he used to really give Burbank High a hard time. He would yell

out on the loud speaker ‘The Burbank four-by-400 relay team, if you don’t

check in now you’re going to be scratched.”’

Gino Barragan, one of Brandt’s former players, recalls a familiar

refrain the coach would belt out when one of his Indians used salty

language during a match.

“If one of us cursed, it was always the same line, he would say ‘Don’t

talk like that, I have a picture of my wife in my pocket.’ And you know

something funny? Now when I’m coaching I catch myself wanting to say the

exact same thing.”

Mike Kodama, who worked closely with Brandt as varsity boys’ soccer

coach at Burroughs, said he has countless stories and insights about his

colleague. However, his favorite story involves a turkey.

“You never heard about Ralph and his turkey?,” Kodama said.

“Every year we would start the soccer season around Thanksgiving time.

And it seemed like every year we would be on a bus coming back from a

game the day before the holiday. Well, Ralph was in charge of preparing

the turkey at his house. So we had to listen to him go on, and on about

how he was going to cook the turkey, how he was going to baste the

turkey, how he was going to stuff the turkey. He was the king of turkey.”

Born in Waltham, Mass., Brandt was a Burbank resident for 50 years. He

started working at Burroughs in 1953, and along with teaching world

history and psychology classes, he was also a counselor and helped run

the student store.

With a wealth of sports knowledge, Brandt also served as a basketball

official.

However, what Brandt is probably best known for at Burroughs is his

coaching. Before retiring in 1996, he coached football, track and field

and soccer. He was a junior varsity boys’ soccer coach for 15 years,

leading the Indians to three Foothill League championships in 1989, 1991

and 1994.

He is so loved and well respected in the Burroughs soccer community

that the program’s annual boys’ tournament -- the Brandt/Burroughs

Tournament -- held every winter, was renamed in his honor.

Kodama said the tournament name was changed in 1993 to pay tribute to

Brandt for very specific reasons.

“Before I even got to Burroughs, the soccer program here was in really

bad shape,” Kodama said. “Ralph was the one who held it together and

enabled the program survive. What we have today with Burroughs soccer is

directly attributed to Ralph Brandt and all of his efforts.

“So we wanted to do a little something to pay him back and that’s why

we named the tournament after him. So even when I’m not here any more,

his name will remain.”

For players and coaches, many say it was Brandt’s indomitable

personality and his fairness that made him popular with students.

“Ralph was the kind of coach who players wanted to play for,” Hurst

said. “He could get the most out of his players and they just loved him.”

One of the players who Brandt had the biggest influence on is

Barragan. Barragan played for one of Brandt’s championship junior-varsity

teams and is now following in his mentor’s footsteps as the Indian boys’

JV coach.

“I can’t say how much he has meant to me in my life,” Barragan said.

“He really cared about us players.

“A lot of players we had on our teams came from low-income families.

But coach Brandt would do whatever he could to help them get uniforms and

things that they needed. He did a lot of things like that.

“I just hope I will be admired and respected as a coach, even a

little, as much as coach Brandt was admired and respected as a coach.”

Fittingly Barragan, who said Brandt helped carry him through his four

years at Burroughs, will be a pole barer at his coach’s funeral.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Jan, son, Carl, daughters,

Dana and Lori, brother-in-law, Ed, sister-in-law, Leigh, and

grandchildren, Kayla, Taylor, Courtney, Erin and Logan.

Services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Forest Lawn Hollywood

Hills. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to a Burroughs

scholarship set up at the Ralph Brandt Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 4151,

Burbank, CA 91503.