Walker finds a true brother in Cieslak
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M’s Hardreck Walker figured there would be similarities when he met his brother, North Dakota’s Austin Cieslak, for the first time this fall.
Morgan Hall had given up her fourth child, Austin, to adoption in 1996, and the two colossal college defensive linemen finally came eye to eye 19 years later.
“It was shocking how much he looks like me and acts like me,” Walker said. “He walks the same, he runs the same …”
But there was one match that floored both young men, showing automotive inclination owns no geographical or cultural border.
“We actually had the same first car,” Walker said. “A black Chevy Impala.”
Never a secret
The budding brotherhood of Cieslak and Walker is an encouraging tale of how adoption so often is a beautiful, bountiful thing — how a young woman’s oft-wrenching decision can bring joy and completeness to another family, and sometimes create an incredible reunion years or even decades later.
“I knew about him my whole life,” said Walker, 20, a Westfield High graduate. “As a kid, my mom made sure we knew who he was. And she made sure we kept him in our thoughts and prayers.”
Hall had three children by the time she was 18, and found out she was pregnant with Austin a short time later. Her husband had left her, and she turned to adoption in a time of desperation and financial hardship.
“A lot of times when children are put up for adoption, they think it’s because they’re not wanted,” Hall said. “I can’t speak for every mother out there, but I want to say 90 percent do want our children and love our children, and love them enough to let them go.
“That way they don’t have to suffer whatever consequences you’re living in at the time.”
Through an adoption agency, Hall narrowed her choice of families to two, and noticed that the Cieslaks of Hazen, N.D., already had adopted a black baby girl, Kamaria, from Houston.
“That really stood out to me, I wanted him to have someone he could relate to,” Hall said. “And when I saw her pictures, she was a happy little girl. That’s what I wanted for Austin: happiness. And I wanted to put him in the best situation possible.”
Hall also insisted on an open adoption, and the Cieslaks obliged with pictures and updates on his growth. When he turned 18, the Cieslaks provided Austin with his biological mother’s information, and he read a unique name as part of it ideal for a Google search: Hardreck Walker.
Up popped a Texas A&M defensive lineman, a year older than Cieslak, a massive young man who looked an awfully lot like him.
“When he finally reached out to us, it was overwhelming at first,” Walker said. “He was a guy who I knew was my brother, but I had never met him. I didn’t know if he was going to be angry or happy to see us. He was happy.”
Together at last
The two finally met on an October trip to North Dakota by Hall and Walker, on the Fighting Sioux indoor football field. The Grand Forks Herald captured the uplifting moment on video.
“It was a big shock at first,” Cieslak said of being surprised by his Texas kin before practice, adding of his blood ties to Walker, “football runs in the family.”
“That moment was a long time coming,” Hall said. “I was really happy and completely overwhelmed. I thought I would be able to keep it together, but to lay eyes on my son after 19 years — that took an emotional toll on me.”
Now, a joyous Hall is embracing for another emotional toll — a wonderful one. Cieslak intends to be in College Station this weekend, with North Dakota not playing Saturday. Following Austin’s adoption, Hall later remarried and had three more children, and for the first time all seven will be together, when the No. 25 Aggies host Auburn on Saturday at Kyle Field.
It’s a reunion that likely will involve a spin around town in a black Impala.
“It’s like we’ve been together all of our lives, after talking to him the last couple of months,” Walker said. “We’ve grown so much closer together, and we realize that despite the situation, we’re still brothers. And that will always be there.”