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About two dozen Junior Elite swimmers — and a few of their siblings — are warming up during the holiday practice.
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Brenner usually has another coach to assist, but tonight he’s alone.
“You know what would make me happy is if you would finish in to the wall,” he says to a boy who stopped swimming about a foot short of the pool’s edge. “Ready, go.”
Brenner is exhausted as his swimmers return from two laps in their set, but he doesn’t let it show.
Not at the pool.
Being on deck gives him more emotionally than it takes physically.
“It makes me feel better ... it makes me feel a lot better to be here,” he said. “It’s a lot more fun. To think about things that don’t feel great is not fun.”
The cancer
The headache started when Brenner was driving home from a Milwaukee swim meet in early August.
The pain intensified as he drove west on the interstate.
Brenner stuck his head out the window on occasion for relief and kept driving.
Back in La Crosse, he headed to Pizza Doctors with family and friends. That’s when Brenner had a seizure. Surgery followed Aug. 6 at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center to remove a late-stage cancerous brain tumor.
Although he’s optimistic, doctors told him five months ago he had a year to live.
Brenner, 53, has decided to return to what he loves for one last season. He wants to make it to the April YMCA National Swim Meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Three of his swimmers have already qualified.
A coach deserving of the honor
La Crosse Family YMCA Executive Director Bill Soper said hundreds from the tri-state area have become a part of Brenner’s extended family during his tenure at the YMCA.
Richard Pein, head swimming coach at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, was on the committee that hired Brenner 17 years ago. Pein asked Brenner about his long-term goals. Brenner’s only goal was to be the head coach of a YMCA swim team and work with youth.
Brenner is a steady presence for the team and could have left to pursue other leadership roles within the organization, but “being a swim coach is what Jon wants to do,” Soper said. “He gets a charge out of coaching kids. He loves that.”
Soper and Brandon Corcoran, La Crosse YMCA youth and family director, weren’t surprised when Brenner returned after doctors told him the prognosis.
“That’s Jon,” Soper said. “We were all thrilled to see him back on the (pool) deck.”
Past and present swimmers, friends and community members have encouraged Brenner by sending him countless letters and e-mails, calling and dropping off care packages, he said. At times, the support has been overwhelming.
“It’s very cool. I didn’t expect it,” Brenner said.
The Tribune’s call for nominations for its annual Person of the Year summoned dozens with Brenner’s name. They described him as dedicated.
Brenner was selected to receive the 2008 honor because of how he chooses to live his life, dedicating himself to his family and La Crosse area youth.
He is a quiet hero.
A YMCA tradition
Brenner first encountered the YMCA when he started swimming as a child growing up on the Chicago’s South Side near Hyde Park. He left the sport for a time but returned in high school. Brenner didn’t swim in college.
His YMCA involvement grew, and he later started working for its summer camp while in high school. He met his wife, Terry, at a Y family camp in Michigan.
Brenner pursued a degree in recreation and found himself returning to yet another Y in Evanston, Ill., for a job after graduating from college.
“It was a good team,” Brenner said. “I coached for eight years and loved it. But by the end, I didn’t want to be in Chicago anymore.”
He finished his master’s degree in Montana and was hired as the La Crosse Area Family YMCA’s aquatic director in September 1991. He also took over as head coach of the swim team.
“I lucked out,” he said.
He had swim meets most weekends, often out of town, and held practices that usually stretched past 9 p.m. five or six nights a week.
This year’s been different, though.
Brenner is backing off a bit from that rigorous schedule.
He is trying to spend more time with Terry and daughters Erin, 15, Jane, 13, and Lily, 9, by taking Fridays off and staying home when he’s too tired.
“I am trying to be positive and focus little on my problems,” Brenner said. “I want to spend time with my kids and Terry and be playful.”
The Brenners shared the holidays with family in Fremont, Mich., not far from the camp where the couple met.
Their plans were limited to spending time together.
Tiring treatments
This round of chemotherapy is wearing on him.
The pills make him tired and nauseous. He sleeps in 12-hour stints and has had to miss swim practice.
“I get to do more napping than anybody in the world,” he said. “I’m setting records.”
Brenner had his first scan about eight weeks ago. It looked good, but it’s uncommon to see anything that soon after radiation, he said. Another is scheduled next week.
Brenner’s trying to maintain his weight and his hair is patchy. He doesn’t have the energy to run and swim the way he once did.
Swimmers have competed at two away meets this season. Their head coach attended his first the weekend of Dec. 12 in Milwaukee and found himself struggling to recover days later.
“It’s knocking me out,” Brenner said.
But he keeps his mind focused on April and Fort Lauderdale.
Money being raised ‘For Jon’
Swim teams and coaches statewide have rallied to support Jon Brenner by allowing the La Crosse YMCA Wave Swim Team to raise funds at away swim meets, said Melanie Winter, assistant coach and former swimmer.
Blue bracelets that read “For Jon” have been sold at swim meet concession stands and the La Crosse and Onalaska YMCA locations to generate money for the Brenner family, Winter said.
The Oshkosh Champions Meet, hosted by the Oshkosh YMCA, donated the proceeds of its auction and donations — $1,100 — to Brenner as well, she said.
“Everyone recognizes him as a good person,” Winter said. “He is a great coach.”
The Jon Brenner Benefit Fund has been established at Merchants Bank, 3140 Market Place, Onalaska, WI 54650. Those wishing to donate may drop off their donations at Merchants Bank, the La Crosse Area Family YMCA or YMCA-North.
All donations will be used at the discretion of the Brenner family to help in their time of need.
shirlr wrote on Mar 9, 2009 12:02 AM:
I would like to help the family. "