Continued from part 3…
Though the game of football brought Ottawa REDBLACKS quarterback Dru Brown into the limelight, it is merely a single piece of his intricate life.
Those around him shaped his formative years: his mother, two sisters, and his father, Dave, with whom he was particularly close. Brown fondly remembers those car rides to practice, or looking up into the stands during high school games to see his dad watching intently.
With a football background, Dave is the reason Brown got into the sport initially, teaching him the basics in the backyard from a young age.
“He’s one of the main reasons I’m here,” Brown said of his father in an article by Ed Tait in the Winnipeg Sun. “He pushed me, but not in that overbearing dad way that you picture in your head. He kept his distance, but he played at a high level, and he knew what it took to play at a high level. So, it was just subtly holding a standard for me and learning that standard from a young age.”
Brown says that in a time of need, there was never a question of who he was going to turn to, no matter what the situation was.
In 2016, in Brown’s ninth game with the University of Hawaii, the Rainbow Warriors travelled to Southern California to face the San Diego State Aztecs in front of 41,644 screaming fans at Qualcomm Stadium, the largest crowd on hand to witness a Brown start in his sophomore season.
In only his fifth FBS start, Brown had a day that made him question not only himself, but his football future. Completing just 22 of his 35 passes, he threw three interceptions, two of which were taken to the house for majors, in Hawaii’s 55-0 loss.
“I called him, and I was like, ‘Hey, this is tough. Where do I go from here?’ He was like, ‘What are you trying to say?’ And I told him, ‘I don’t know if I like this.’ He said, ‘You can come home and work for UPS.’ It gave me some perspective that I should be grateful that I get to play this game.”
The rest, of course, is history. Times like those signify the importance of Brown’s father in his life, but suddenly, in 2023, the then 26-year-old’s life was turned upside down when Dave passed away unexpectedly.
“It was very hard when he passed away,” Brown’s mother said. “It has been tough on all of us. It’s been two years, but it just doesn’t go away. You know, there’s kind of that hole there.”
For a handful of days, Brown left the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to return home and process his new reality, reflecting on the bond he built with his father.
“We were very open with each other,” Brown said. “We exceeded the father-son (relationship), and for the past two or three years, it was like we were really good friends. He was my best friend, and it was really cool to be able to get to that point with him. I really appreciate what he meant to me, and my family and I like to think moving forward, the goal is to honour him, his name, and keep doing what I’m doing.”
“He loved his family, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. He lost his dad when he was 10, so I feel really lucky that I had him for 26 years and some change. I find a lot of peace, my family finds a lot of peace, in that. We know where he is, and we know that we’re going to see him again one day.”
Brown’s glowing father figure will never be forgotten, and the many photos of the two still remain on his Instagram page. Between those photos with his parents and the smattering of pictures and videos from the football field, you’ll find plenty of imagery of one of the most important people in his life, his wife, Meghan.
The pair met when they were young, and according to the story, Meghan began crushing on Brown in the sixth grade. For years, he brushed her off. When they were around 18, she told him that they would one day get married, as if she knew the future.
Brown says Meghan appreciates him for who he is as a person, and not for what he does on the football field. Without her, there’s simply no way he’d be where he is right now.
“She speaks life into me,” he said. “That’s something that I love about her. To do what we’re doing, living this lifestyle, you have to be very unselfish. The things that she does for me, her family, and my family, you can’t really put it into words. She is very special, and I knew that with what I wanted to do, I needed someone like that.”
Coming to Canada with Brown in the first place was a leap of faith for Meghan, who had to postpone personal plans to accompany him. She had her own goals and ambitions, which included returning to school, but Brown asked her to completely interrupt that and move north with him.
“I love that man, and I would do anything for him,” she said through tears of joy, reflecting on the lives they’ve built for themselves. “I always knew that I wanted to be with this man, and I was like, ‘You know what? It just feels right, and he’s telling me all the right things. He’s telling me that he’s going to take care of me and be a good husband to me,’ and so I was like, ‘Fine, let’s do it, let’s conquer the world together.”
Engaged in early 2022, Brown and Meghan were officially married in April of 2023, and have been doing everything they can to serve one another.
During the season, Meghan helps Brown with his diet and with his rehab when it’s needed, but when he comes home, she describes him as a “loving and caring man” who leaves work at the stadium.
Now, the two are walking into yet another unknown: becoming parents.
“Going on this journey with Dru made me have this realization that I really wanted to be a mom,” Meghan said. “I’m very excited to finally be a mom.”
For as unknown as the future might be with the baby being born right before the start of the season, Brown knows that no matter how wild life gets, together, he and Meghan can conquer anything.
“I know that our world’s going to be flipped upside down, but this is something that I’ve always wanted,” he said. “I’m not afraid of it, which probably sounds ignorant, but we’re both full of excitement. It’s truly special. We’re not going to know how to do anything, but it’s going to be awesome because we’re going to figure it out together.”
Baby Tayson met his mom and dad on April 16th, and will bear David as his middle name, honouring Brown’s late father.
There’s no question it’s going to be hard, they both acknowledge that in plain English. In four seasons in the Canadian Football League, the pair has battled through plenty, and believe they’ll tackle this in much the same way, and Meghan will continue to be instrumental in the foundation of the Brown family.
“I think that I’m a very strong person and, you know, I feel like I can handle this,” she said. “I get to see it firsthand with so many other wives. There are so many people in this league that are in the same exact boat that we’re in.”
During the season, if she needs a helping hand, the strong contingent of REDBLACKS wives and girlfriends will be there to lend a hand as they have for years, and will continue to do for so many more.
“Having the support system of all of those women is incredible,” Meghan said. “It totally makes it feel like you’re not alone, you’re not the only one whose husband is gone for hours of the day. And then the weekends are always fun with the wives. We’re all getting together and watching the game, either on TV or at the stadium. There’s never a point where you feel like you’re alone.”
… To be continued
