Prolific Hawaii QB in 2005-07 suffered from alcohol issues
HONOLULU — Colt Brennan, a star quarterback at the University of Hawaii who finished third in the 2007 Heisman Trophy balloting, died early Tuesday, his father said. He was 37.
Brennan, who had public struggles with alcohol, died at a hospital in California, his father, Terry Brennan, told the Associated Press.
“He just spent one too many times on the dark side of life, and it caught up with him,” Terry Brennan said of his son.
Brennan had been living at an addiction treatment center in Costa Mesa, Calif., Terry Brennan took him to a hospital emergency room on Sunday because his son had been drinking. “I could tell he was not well and needed help,” Terry Brennan said.
But the detox facility was full, so without his family realizing it, Colt Brennan was released. He was unconscious when he was taken back to the hospital, where he later died, his father said.
Brennan transferred to Hawaii after stints at Colorado and Saddleback College in California. A certain pro prospect after a record-breaking junior season, he bypassed the NFL draft in order to play his senior year for Hawaii coach June Jones.
Brennan led Hawaii to its finest season, going 12-0 in the regular season. Georgia ended Hawaii’s hopes for an unblemished record, defeating the Warriors 41-10 in the Sugar Bowl.
He returned for his senior year, in part, to pay back a school and a coach that gave him a second chance, and he had no regrets.
“Hawaii has inspired me to do a lot of great things,” he told the Associated Press in 2007.
Jones, the former Hawaii coach now with the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL, called it sad day for the islands.
“Colt was clearly the star of our program and what he did after the 2006 season by staying in school said a lot about him and how he cared much more about Hawaii and his teammates,” he said. “That’s something that doesn’t happen anymore.”
In a statement Tuesday, the university athletics department called the Irvine, Calif., native “the focal point of one of the greatest eras in Rainbow Warrior football.”
“He was a phenomenal player and provided us some of the greatest sports memories we’ll ever have. But he was more than that,” the statement said. “For all that he accomplished on the football field and the adulation he received for it, he always remained among the people. He never turned down an autograph, he never turned down a picture with someone.”
Brennan was drafted by Washington in the sixth round of the NFL draft in 2008, but he never played a regular season game in two seasons.
Life after football seemed difficult for him. His former attorney, Michael Green, told the AP in 2013 that the quarterback felt like he had disappointed people with his fledgling pro career. He also said at the time that Brennan was still dealing with emotional and physical pain from a head-on crash on the Big Island in 2010.
Several other incidents followed that crash, including arrests for disorderly conduct, causing a disturbance and driving under the influence.
His family hopes that toxicology results and an autopsy — including tests on his brain to determine if there was degeneration from repeated head trauma — will give them answers.
Police also are investigating, his father said.
Brennan’s name prominently remains on Hawaii’s all-time records, including accounting for a school-record 131 touchdowns from 2005 to 2007. During his stellar career, Brennan broke or tied 31 NCAA records.
In 2006, he set a then-school record for 569 yards passing against Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl. He finished his career with 20 games with 400 or more yards and four games with 500 or more yards.
He led the nation in 2006 in several categories, including total offense (422.5 yards), touchdown passes (58), and passing efficiency (185.96).
“I remember the first time I met him, he had that swagger about him, super-confident, didn’t care of what people thought and it really played out on the field,” his former teammate Mike Lafaele said. “What a great leader he was on and off the field. “