Board honors Brewster

A gesture of honor for a local sporting legend was received with gratitude.
Darrel “Pete” Brewster, a Portland native who excelled at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, couldn’t hold back his emotions Monday as the Jay School Board voted to rename the football field at East Jay Middle School (formerly Portland High School) after a man who won two NFL titles as a player and a Super Bowl ring as an assistant coach.
“I’m just proud of all of you making this happen,” Brewster, a 1948 Portland High School graduate, told a crowd of about 100 gathered in the East Jay cafeteria. “This is truly one of the best moments of my life.”
A marker will be placed at the northwest corner of the football field, stating that it now be called Darrel “Pete” Brewster Field.
After introducing more than 25 members of his family in attendance, Brewster broke down while relating a story by the Apostle Paul from Corinithians about the struggles and trials he had faced.
“It’s been a tough couple months for me,” he said, referring to the death of his wife Vivian on June 6. “But I’ll see her again. We have that promise.”
Brewster, who now lives in Peculiar, Mo., who was one of the “Three Bs” (along with John Bright and Dick Bond), helped take the Portland Panthers to the basketball semi-state in 1946 and ‘48. He went on to play both basketball and football at Purdue University before playing from 1952 to ’60 in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bright, a Portland resident, and Neil Medler, who was also a member of the 1948 regional title team, were among those in attendance Monday.
Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman, who made brief remarks along with State Rep. Bill Davis and Doug Inman of The Portland Foundation, said that “tonight we get to celebrate one of our hometown boys … who went into the annals of history.”
The idea to honor Brewster with the renaming of the East Jay field was raised in an editorial in June by Jack Ronald, editor and publisher of The Commercial Review.
Brewster almost didn’t have a high school football career.
His mother didn’t want him to play, and it wasn’t until an older sister signed a permission slip that he was able to play football during his senior season for the Portland Panthers.
The resolution honoring Brewster was passed by a 6-0 vote by board members Jim Sanders, Ron Laux, Mike Masters, Greg Wellman, Beth Krieg and Michael Shannon. Board member Larry Paxson was not in attendance.
Brad DeRome, business manager for Jay Schools, did much of the legwork to prepare for Monday’s event.
Davis, who played basketball at Portland High School after moving to Jay County in the early 1960s, read a proclamation from Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels naming Brewster a “Distinguished Hoosier.”
Davis said every day in practice he would look at the photos of the 1948 team.
“We were challenged to rise to that standard,” he said.
Tim Long, superintendent of the Jay School Corporation, made the recommendation to the board Monday regarding renaming the field.
“It’s going to be a very positive thing for the school corporation and for the community,” he said last week.


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