Walk-on Larry Brister tackled every obstacle thrown his way to play football for Portland State.
LARRY BRISTER III didn’t draw any collegiate football offers when he graduated from Portland’s Jefferson High School despite a host of league and team honors. Rather than looking for a lower division school, he decided to take the academic scholarship offered by Portland State and try walking on to the Viking football program.
One problem: the coaches weren’t interested.
As a freshman, one coach told him he needed to gain weight. He did, but was turned down again as a sophomore.
“I kept trying to play, but they wouldn’t give me a shot,” said Brister. “I wondered if I’d ever get a chance to prove myself. I kept watching practices and thinking ‘I can do that.’”
A year later as a junior, he gave it one more try. “He kept coming back, so we let him on the team,” recalled offensive line coach Matt Leunen.
Being away from competitive football for more than two years required a lot of catching up, but getting in shape and learning plays and footwork weren’t the only obstacles Brister faced. In addition, he would have to negotiate a disability that he’d had since childhood—a legally blind right eye.
He was up front with the Viking coaching staff, but Leunen said he didn’t think the disability would be a problem. Still, the Portland State coaching staff never discussed Brister’s visual impairment publicly. They felt it was important not to let an opponent learn of a potential competitive advantage.
Brister worked his way onto special teams that first year, starting on the back line in kick returns during the Northern Colorado game. “I was very nervous on that first play, but I also was really excited. On that play, I knocked my guy over and my teammates were just yelling and cheering me on,” he said.
A turning point in his Viking football career came during 2019 spring ball.
“Spring is a big evaluation period. After getting used to our system he played really well. Although he’s a bit undersized for an offensive lineman [6’2” and 285 pounds] he’s very quick and aggressive,” said Leunen, who began considering him for a starting position.
Hard work over the summer earned him that starting position against Arkansas in the season’s first game. And that summer produced another memorable event.
It was the Fourth of July and a party was in full swing at the Brister home in North Portland. Viking head coach Bruce Barnum called to say he needed to drop by. “I was extremely nervous to hear what he had to say,” said Brister.
“It looked like the whole neighborhood was there for the Fourth of July,” Barnum recalled. “The porch was covered in red, white and blue flowers.”
He was there to tell Brister that his play had earned him an athletic scholarship.
“I was speechless and very emotional,” Brister said. “It made me realize all that hard work I put in the weight room, on the field and on film meant something.”
“His reaction was something money can’t buy,” Barnum said. “At that moment, his grandfather was the proudest grandfather in America and that was the best Fourth of July party in the country.”
Brister and his grandfather told the rest of the party guests after Barnum left. “I’m told they didn’t need any fireworks to heighten the celebration,” Barnum added.
Besides rewarding Brister’s persistence and efforts, Barnum had another reason for making his summer announcement.
“He was having a little difficulty affording a summer class he needed to graduate. If he hadn’t been able to take that class, it would have delayed his graduation,” the coach said. “I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted him to graduate this year.”
The moment was doubly sweet because it also confirmed to Brister that he was successfully working with his disability.
On the offensive line, Brister said it was sometimes hard to see when linebackers were blitzing, “so I needed to study film as much as possible so I could recognize when a blitz was more likely to happen.”
“During his career, he played both sides of the line,” Leunen said. “He never used it as a crutch. When I asked him to do a job and it was difficult because of his sight, he took that as a challenge. Even if he thought it might be a problem, he’d always find a way.”
It hadn’t always been easy. As a child, when Brister realized people could tell he was blind in one eye, it made him uncomfortable and he would try to avoid eye contact. This led people to think he was anti-social. And, it kept him from trying sports.
“I had a lot of anxiety in middle school. I was just stressing about everything. I wanted to play football to make my dad proud,” he said. His father played as a fullback and linebacker at Jefferson.
“Once I started playing, I liked it and the anxieties began to drift away,” he said. “After coming to terms with being legally blind in one eye, I realized I couldn’t let it stop me from accomplishing anything.”
Brister started all 12 games this year and was also successful in the classroom, carrying a 3.4 GPA in applied health and fitness. He earned Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors and graduates this spring. He will be only the second person in his family to earn a college degree, joining his grandmother.
His college years have been quite a journey. “I never gave up on playing and I felt proud for making it. I tell people, ‘If you have a dream, don’t give up. Be persistent.’”
JOHN L. WYKOFF ’65 started writing sports stories for PSU 11 years ago after a long career as a public relations consultant. In his student days, he was a Vanguard editor.