Brian Dooley, an offensive lineman for Eastern Michigan University’s football team exhibited all leadership and humanity in an instance that his teammates will never forget. When Brian realized that one of his teammates, Zack Conti, had to donate his plasma to afford school expenses, he went as far as to give away his free scholarship for Zack.
Fourth-year walk-on Zack worked in landscaping jobs to earn money for his bills, education, and other expenses while being a full-time student-athlete. In 2019, Brian offered his scholarship to Zack. After talking it over with his family and gaining their full support, the wholesome gesture brought Dooley’s mother to tears as she heard that he wanted to give up his scholarship for the sake of another player. According to the school’s newspaper The Eastern Echo, Dooley said, “I’d do it again in a heartbeat. If it helps him more then by all means, I’m gonna give it to him and hopefully, I can later down the road help him out even more.”
Following this instance, the head football coach, Chris Creighton, announced the news during a meeting as the team wrapped up its first day of fall camp. The video has garnered over 439,000 views on Twitter. In the video, the coach describes, “We’re at 85 scholarships. And no matter how many times or how many years I go to the NCAA and say … ‘Man, we need 86, and is there any way that we can have an exception to this deal,’ the answer is no.” That’s when, he said, Dooley stepped forward and said he would give away his scholarship for Zack. After the announcement, Dooley and Conti give each other a tight hug, while the team cheers and applauds in the background.
Having received the scholarship, Zack was overwhelmed with joy. Talking about his feelings, he told ABC News, “Football is something I love, so ever since I got to school, I’ve had to do whatever it takes to stay here and stay in a good position with academics and football and everything.” He continued by saying that he worked in several odd jobs including ripping out carpets, doing demos of tile floors, and what not. “It’s been a grind my whole life but, I mean, when you really want something, it’s like you do what you need to do to keep it going.”
As for Dooley, he is pleased to be able to support his teammate, “It was the smile; it was awesome for us. We’re all like a family and that’s how we react, nothing was fake about it,” he said, as per the school newspaper. He continues by sharing the biggest lesson he learned from this deed, “You really got to dive into people’s lives to see how they really work.”
