Bryan was a standout athlete on the Cross Country and Track teams during his four year career at Bennett HS. Bryan was All-High In Cross Country three times, placing 3rd as a sophomore, winning the title as a junior, and 2nd as a senior, even though he was hampered that season by illness.
As a freshman, Bryan won the freshman league title and set the freshman record for the race. In Bryans’ sophomore year he qualified for the National AAU Cross Country race in Raleigh NC, finishing 27th in his age group in the country. His junior year was Bryan’s best. Bryan twice broke the course record during that season, bettering it by an amazing 30 seconds. Bryan seldom had any runners within 150 yards of him that season, capping it off with a win in the All-High Championship. Bryan finished the WNY Regional meet in 2nd place, at that time, the best finish ever by a Buffalo Public High School runner.
Bryan led the Cross Country team to undefeated Columbia Cup seasons during his junior and senior years, with the team winning the Section A championship his senior year, a feat never before accomplished by a city high school. Bryans’ accomplishments in Track were no less impressive. He won consecutive 2 mile All-High Championships as a junior and senior, going undefeated in the 2 mile those years in City High School competition. Bryan set the Nicholls Track Invitational Meet 2 mile record his junior year. He helped lead the Bennett Track team to four straight undefeated Scalp and Blade championship seasons. The team won the Class BB sectional championship his junior year.
Bryans’ proudest achievement is that during his 8 varsity letter seasons in Cross Country and Track, his Bennett teams won 6 League championships, going undefeated in those championship seasons in City competition. Scholastically, Bryan was a member of the Student Council, National Honor Society, and a Regents Scholarship winner. Bryan attended SUNY at Buffalo, receiving a BS in Physical Education in 1981 . Knee and ankle injuries kept Bryan from continuing his running career at SUNYAB, but he did run in an occasional local race, such as the annual Buffalo Turkey Day race. Bryan now lives in Rural Hall North Carolina, where he is the Safety Manager for Sonoco CorrFlex’s, Rural Hall Plant. Bryan has two sons, Keith 23, and Justin 18.
After 8 years of dialysis, Bryan received a Kidney transplant in 2001 and urges everyone to become an organ donor.