Al Brenner

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
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[url=http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/sbt-20110721sbtmichb-06-04-20110721,0,5977276.story]http://www.southbendtribune.com/sports/ ... 7276.story[/url]

Ex-player Bill Shoumake wrote a football history book about
his Niles High School team in/or near South Bend Indiana

“Only three players from the school went on to play professional football,” he said.

One was a team-mate of his in the mid 1960’s, former Tiger Cat , Al Brenner.

Here is what else Shoumake says about him.

Al Brenner "was by far the best high school football player I've ever seen."

"Al Brenner is the only guy who could have been All-State

at all 22 positions on the field," Shoumake said.


Here is what he did in 1964-65 his senior year.

Al was all-state in football, All-American in basketball

and drafted as a catcher in baseball by the Chicago Cubs.

He then went on to play football at Michigan State,

then he played for the New York Giants in 1969 and 1970

then he went on to a great career in the C.F.L.

His 15 interceptions in 1972 with the Tiger Cats

still stands as a league record.


P.S.

Al Brenner’s whereabouts were unknown for many years.

He left his family in Burlington one night years ago and never returned.

A recent CBC documentary revealed that he has re-connected with them.

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Al Brenner was a favourite of mine, Ron. As a defender in our secondary, he was not only fast, he was tough as nails.

I was unaware that he fled from his family in Burlington so many years ago, but I do take solace in the fact that they

are trying to reconnect.

His 15 interceptions in one season will like stand up for some time to come. Seasons were shorter in those days too.

(16 Games as opposed to today's 18 games, I believe).

Thanks for another great post, Ron.

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He was my favorite back in early 70’s. Since I originally read about his disappearance decades ago I always wondered what happened. As a teen I went to the “Jon Hohman Football Camp” at Ivor Wynne, he was a guest coach and was great with us. In the early days of this discussion board I threw up the “what happened” question a few times and got nothing. I remember him saying he wished he had focused on hockey as a kid…he would have been a good one for sure. I wish him well. :thup:

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actually it was in 14 games. which makes the record more outstanding didn’t increase schedule to 16 games until 1973 or 74, but in 1972 they only played 14 games and the west played 16 games

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[url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011/presumeddead/albrenner.html]http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2010-2011/presu ... enner.html[/url]
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15 interceptions in 14 games-- that's better than one a game, a record I don't expect to see broken for a very long time, if ever.

I remember watching Al play. That special year, people used to expect him to snare one, and he would often oblige. When the opposition QB dropped back, they'd say, "Here it comes.. the Brenner pass." And it did.