Hall of Fame
Brian Zickefoose found the news of his induction into the Bridgeport High Athletics Hall of Fame “extremely humbling.”
“I was just shocked,” Zickefoose said. “Just with the whole lineage of the Bridgeport football program, it’s an honor to be considered. Thinking about the whole program and history at Bridgeport, it made me nostalgic, going back to practice and my high school years and spending time with Coach (Wayne) Jamison and my teammates and assistant coaches. It’s hard to believe I’m almost 30 years removed.
“Even though I’m completely honored, it’s a team game. That’s why football is so amazing. It’s a team game where everyone has to do their job. I want to make sure to say that the only reason I’m there is because of my team and my teammates.”
A two-time all-state selection after a stellar career at running back and defensive back, Zickefoose played on legendary coach Jamison’s last three teams, with the last two winning nine games.
“Coming off junior year and going to senior year, we just had a great team. We were one of the smallest AAA teams at that point, but we had a great unity. All of us were really close in the locker room, which was very common with the program that Coach Jamison build and the culture he cultivated.”
Bridgeport started the year 6-0 before a one-point loss to Grafton and finished the regular season 9-1 before a playoff loss to Greenbrier East.
“Our line just played magnificently,” Zickefoose said. “That gave me the ability to run wild….we worked really hard as a team and we were able to decisively win consistently throughout the year. It was a hard end to the season, but I always go back to that locker room and those relationships.”
Zickefoose, a 1997 BHS graduate, went on to West Point, where he was a captain of Army’s football team and made the Butkus Award watch list for the nation’s top linebacker as a senior.
“I was fortunate when I was at Army that one of the sportswriters did a piece on me, and I thought back to Coach Jamison and how he created a culture of a quiet professional. He didn’t talk a lot, but he demanded respect in the room because of the legacy that he created. His programs were simple but effective,” Zickefoose said. “I took from that, your work and your play on the field do the talking, which was very much the culture that Army facilitated and communicated: Do your job, bear the responsibility that you’ve committed to, whatever position you’re doing, and look at it as a privilege.
“That quiet professional persona and that philosophy, that hard work ethic, I carried that forward.”
