By Sam Bruchhaus
Without AKPsi, I would have never played football at Tulane. For a little background, I began to get recruited to play football at Tulane in the spring of my junior year. I was so happy about it that I quickly began wearing a Tulane backpack around school every day. I was ecstatic to play my senior year, and hopefully receive a scholarship to play at Tulane. Once the season started, I was soon invited to visit Tulane as a Football Recruit.
Then, with one awkward step, everything changed. The Friday before my first ever visit to Tulane, I suffered a torn ACL, two torn menisci, and a severely strained MCL. Other schools stopped recruiting me. I began to dislike football, feeling that it had taken away my health and my chance at a scholarship. Luckily, Tulane stuck with me, offering me a Preferred Walk-On despite me not being able to play my freshman year due to the recovery timeline for my torn up knee.
I rejected it, even though I was coming to school here.
My first semester at Tulane, it was my first time in my whole life I did not play organized sports. In my first week of school, I rushed AKPsi, and it is still a blessing to this day that I got in. Soon, I had a slew of close friends, a Tulane Mom and Dad (S/O Jayne and Pat), and a Big Brother, Julien Bourgeois.
Talking to Julien, he asked me why I rejected my spot on the football team. I shrugged the question off with some dull answer, but as days turned into weeks, I was haunted by the question. I still loved playing sports, and I craved the structure and discipline of it. Julien began to notice this. One day, he invited me to dinner with one of AKPsi's alumni, Richard Carthon.
Richard played both football and baseball at Tulane as well as being in AKPsi, and he is now a promising entrepreneur. Talking to Richard and Julien made me realize...I really needed to be out on that field on Saturdays in the Fall. Luckily, my spot on the team was still open. Since then I have two bowl rings, an AAC Division Co-Championship, and a trophy naming me the 2019 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. However, my most cherished moments are seeing my AKPsi Brothers cheering the team on, whether that's here at Yulman Stadium, or at the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth (S/O Hayes, Jimber, and Chas)
I would have never had the confidence and humility to follow my dream of playing college football without my brothers in AKPsi.
