Bland…
November 1996 Chris Bland joined our wrestling team at Bel Air High School. He may have started a few weeks late which adds to the challenge. Our team was stacked with tough kids and talent and practices were excruciating. You would be hard pressed to find a tougher challenge than wrestling. Chris was walking into a room stacked full of talent, experience, and tough young men. We found out quickly how tough and resilient Chris was. It was impressive. As a new wrestler you have a large bullseye on your back, you are going to be tested and hit harder than any other person in the room over and over again. It was a right of passage and he never gave up. Every day after school for two long hours Chris would take the punishment with a smile on his face. He was like a piece of iron, a compact funnier version of ROCKY! Blood and sweat all over the room, he would pop back up again and again and again. This work ethic and toughness won all of us over quickly and forever. We knew he would always get back up and be a great teammate. He was just that and more.
On the funnier side of things, I can remember walking into the old dark foul-smelling team room after a practice and the stereo was blasting DMX’s new album. There he was on top of the lockers, big smile on his face dancing like Michael Jackson or Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, yelling every word to the song. Pretty sure he growled at me. I am laughing hard writing this. He was one funny dude and no matter the challenge or setback he brought our team together with his humor and toughness.
Years later Chris would be our left wing attackman on our varsity lacrosse team. It was the same work ethic that secured him that spot. As a fellow vertically challenged lacrosse player I respected the people he out-worked and the time he put in to start in that spot. We all did. He was scrappy as hell and we could count on him. He would pick the biggest guy on the field and go after him. It was so much fun to watch and inspiring to be a part of. We may have also engaged in some joint trash talking to our opponents here and there, just to keep them honest.
These are just a few of the many memories we have as teammates of Chris. From day one we respected his hard work, toughness and humor. We always knew that he would do anything for us. Chris, you made many of us better and for that, thank you buddy. See you again.
-Pat Rose
