Music helped Cochran heal, led to debut album
Casey Cochran picked up a guitar five years ago and hasn’t put it down. He was finished with football, the game he loved, the game that loved and hurt him in return. He needed to do something with his time.
“More than that,” Cochran said. “I needed something holistic, something good for my mind. Something to bring me back from where I was, which wasn’t a good place. I was going through a lot of depression.”
Five years later, “Take It Slow,” his first album released last week, is the fruit of that long process. A former mullet-wearing quarterback, a shipwright on the Mayflower II, fighting back from hard times to find happiness. Of course, it’s a country-bent album. And yes, Casey Cochran is really good.
He was one of the best quarterbacks Connecticut has ever produced, a high school state champion who went on to play at UConn and in December 2013 passed for a school-record 461 yards in a win over Memphis. That is not the number Cochran is most known for.
Thirteen is. The son of a harddriven high school coaching legend, 13 is the number of concussions Cochran suffered from age 11 until the day he retired in September 2014. His was a story that drew national attention, from The Players’ Tribune to ESPN.
“Music has been one of the things that showed me a new path since being done with football,” Cochran said. “Trying to find myself without sports, really. How do I move on from the sport that has been my life forever? And who am I without that?
“Music was the one thing that got me out of the dark spots I was
Newtown and New Fairfield reach out and Futbol Friends International offered to pay the shipping costs, which were $1,300.”
Futbol Friends International helps provide children around the world with athletic equipment they are not able to afford or have access to.
The organization was the first to step forward, raising an additional $3,000 in one day once word went out to the Nonnewaug athletic community, led by the girls soccer team.
The team spent the day on social media promoting the fundraiser and collecting donations.
Mia Higgins, a senior on Nonnewaug’s girls soccer team and president of the Nonnewaug Athlete’s Council was excited to jump in and help any way she and her teammates could and spearheaded the drive.
“Mr. Curtin had it mostly planned, but we thought it was important to get the word out on social media,” Higgins said. “We are so fortunate to have nice fields to play on, good equipment, nice uniforms. We wanted to do our part to help other people who don’t have the same opportunities we have. Raising $3,000 was incredible and we are so thankful to the other schools that have donated uniforms. It’s incredible to have this community that does things like this.”
Higgins said seeing the photos of Cape Town children in Nonnewaug jerseys was something she will always cherish.
“I teared up when I saw the pictures, I’m not going to lie,” Higgins said. “My heart felt so warm. We were proud to help, but once we saw the pictures of the kids and they were so happy, it meant so much
more to all of us.”
Curtin said Higgins and other girls soccer players made raising the $3,000 possible through their determination.
“Our athletic council has great leadership. Last year they collected a ton of food and this year they did this,” Curtin said. “Mia Higgins from our girls soccer team has been involved with Futbol Friends in the past. The girls soccer team stepped in because they want to make a significant contribution to society. They helped raise that money and did it without
wanting any recognition. I didn’t even know they were doing it.”
Along with the fundraising at Nonnewaug, other schools in the state began calling Curtin and looking through their own storage closets for items to donate.
Mark Ottusch is in his first year as New Fairfield athletic director and was looking for community service projects for his department when he saw photos online of the children wearing Nonnewaug gear.
“We had been looking for places to donate our old
uniforms and then I saw the story on the Region 14 website and thought that would be perfect,” Ottusch said. “We have to go through all of them, who knows what they might get. Maybe some old field hockey stuff. It would be cool to see the kids in Rebels gear.”
Ottusch said while he would like students to get involved in the future, with New Fairfield students participating in school remotely it was not possible to let this project be student driven.
At Newtown, freshman girls soccer and varsity track and field coach Becky Knapp saw an Instagram post with the children from South Africa in the Nonnewaug uniforms and she forwarded the link to athletic director Matthew Memoli. They then gathered and cleaned old uniforms to send to Curtin.
Nonnewaug is planning a cleat drive for the same Cape Town children in January since many of the children are playing barefoot, according to Curtin.