'He's a light in the world:' Meet Pueblo South super fan Brent West

Mar. 8—After the final buzzer sounded on the Class 4A state boys basketball title game in 2001, the South Side of Pueblo was jumping for joy.

The Pueblo South High School team took down Sierra 52-46 for the program's second state title.

While the South Side was enjoying the news of a title heading back to town, there was one man shedding tears as he held the coveted golden trophy in the Colts' locker room.

"The guy was in the locker room, just holding up the trophy, tears running down his face," former South basketball player and current Colts football coach Ryan Goddard recalls. "It was just one of those moments that I'll never forget because he was just happy ... There were just tears of joy streaming down his cheeks and the smile on his face was from ear to ear."

That man, of course, was assistant coach Brent West, and the 2001 title is just one of the many moments from South athletic history that the 42-year-old has been a part of.

Since 1993 when he first started roaming the basketball sidelines with head coach Dave Lockett, West, better known as "B," and his family have been staples at any and all South sports.

And the South community is more than happy to have West on their side, thanks to the pure joy he brings to life every day.

"It doesn't matter how your day's going, when you see (Brent) smile, your world's better," Goddard said. "You know, when you see the enjoyment that B has, being around things he's around and being involved in the things he is and how much passion he has to be a South Colt, like, it just puts a smile on your face."

Kathy West knew there were some complications when she was trying to bring her second son, Brent, into the world.

The good Italian Catholic that she is, Kathy powered through the birth, only to find out that Brent's umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, cutting off oxygen from getting to the newborn's body.

The birth trauma led to some complications. West has shown some symptoms of having Down syndrome but has never been officially diagnosed.

And that's the way the West family likes to keep it.

"We had him tested everywhere ... no known syndrome, just the birth trauma," Kathy said. "We just decided that his life is going to be as happy as it could be. What's normal is normal to us. And isn't that true of everybody?

"We're all different. We all have different intelligences. We all have different makeups, different family structures, but it's normal to us. Good or bad. It's normal to the situation we live in."

Brent doesn't like to hear the phrase "special needs," but his family and the South community knows there is something special about him.

Brent's older brother, Jarred, might have witnessed it before anyone else as Kathy recalls her oldest son stating one day:

"Mom, dad," Jarred said.

"Yeah, what?" Kathy said.

"You know what B does for our family?" Jarred said.

"What's that?" Kathy asked.

"He gives us character," Jarred said.

The West family has always loved sports, so when Kathy heard about a young, stud quarterback named John Elway that was joining the Broncos, she had to go with her sons to meet the man.

Elway was at a signing to introduce the opening of the Chapel Hills Mall in Colorado Springs.

The West family pulled up to a back entrance and immediately saw the Broncos star, and Brent took off on a mission.

Kathy remembers freaking out at first, but then Elway grabbed Brent's hand, walked with him to the signing table, and chatted with Brent while he signed autographs.

"Pretty soon Brent's looking around because I guess he was looking for Jarred and I. He walks away from the table. No picture, no anything," Kathy said with a laugh.

Brent's love of sports continued, highlighted by a trip to a basketball camp at the University of New Mexico for Jarred where Brent was able to sneak down and run the scoreboard at The Pit.

The West family made frequent trips to Fort Collins to watch family-friend Anthony Cesario play for the Rams.

And of course, Brent found a way to meet former CSU football head coach Sonny Lubick, who called Brent the Rams' "lucky charm" and made sure to say hello to Brent whenever they were around.

Whether it's opposing high school coaches, Elway or folks at the same summer camp site in Nebraska the West family travels to, it doesn't matter: People gravitate toward Brent.

"(Brent is) so well-known because he's such a bright soul," Goddard said. "He's a light in the world. And I think that's why people know who Brent West is."

Former South head basketball coach and assistant football coach Dave Lockett was one of the people who felt Brent's welcoming nature. Lockett offered Brent a spot to help with the basketball team in 1993.

Eventually DJ Johnson took over the Colts' program. He never questioned keeping Brent on the sidelines.

"Early on, B would sweep the floors and he would help with the balls and stuff," Johnson said. "And later on in his career, he gave those duties up, but he just always wanted to be a part of it.

"The beautiful thing about it is he was always brought in by every group of kids that came in. Everybody loved him, and there was never a team that didn't want him to be part of it."

Johnson recalls getting Brent involved with the team by having him shoot 3-pointers during practice, and the players would have to guess if Brent would make or miss it.

If the players got their guess wrong, they'd have to run.

"He'd shoot it and more times than not, he would make it. And the kids that bet against him would be running," Johnson said.

When Goddard took over as head coach of the Colts football program in 2009, he, too, wanted Brent there to help.

Having a friendly face in Brent, one Goddard had known growing up, was always welcomed.

Not only does Brent keep the players' heads up at all times, the coaches know they can always count on him to be there.

"It was always a pleasure to have him around," Johnson said. "He was very rarely in a bad mood, he's always smiling. He's the type of person that you want around your program because he's always got positive energy around, he always brings in positive energy."

On top of being a South super-fan, Brent loves CSU and Alabama football. Thanks to some connections, he had a chance to attend the two schools' matchup in 2017 in Tuscaloosa.

However, South was playing rival Pueblo West that week, and not even a Rams and Crimson Tide tilt could pull him away from his black and white loyalty.

"He loves Alabama football, but I don't think there's anything that B loves more than being around South Colts and being a South Colt, and being a coach for our team," Goddard said.

In 2013, after 20 years of helping out with the boys basketball program, Johnson put together a special night for the South staple.

Brent volunteered at the Goodnight School for years, and Johnson arranged for the staff to enter their basketball game against Pueblo West wearing shirts that read, "B. West is the best."

"It meant everything to me, just because he'd been a such a big part of it. And he was part of the program before I was," Johnson said. "To be able to present him with something in front of him, his peers and the teams and the fans over there, it meant a lot to me. He's become a good friend, and his whole family means a lot to me."

What meant a lot to Brent on the football field, and what he recalls as his favorite memory as a South coach, was the 2017 state title game at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

South took down Pine Creek 25-14 for the program's first football state title. Brent still has his pass from the game and the plenty of memories that came with it.

While championship wins are great, one game that Brent is sure to enjoy every year is the Cannon Game against rival East.

Brent has shed tears when the Colts lose, but no matter what, he'll be in the locker room talking up the players and making sure they stay positive.

"Our guys, they just gravitate towards him because he's so passionate about them and our program," Goddard said. "He just brings his smile and his positive attitude."

Johnson stepped down from coaching basketball after the 2018 season, but Brent still got to be on the bench the past two seasons under former coach Gabe Ziegler.

And despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Goddard made sure that he wouldn't be without Brent's positive energy during the fall football season.

Brent hasn't been able to be on the bench for basketball season this year, but first-year coach Shannan Lane is a family friend and a longtime South coach as well, so Brent is sure to return to the sidelines soon.

Through all of the 28 years of memories, what stands out the most isn't the titles or individual games, but rather the human connection.

Brent said his favorite part of being a coach is getting to "talk with friends," handing out water bottles and of course, "talking with Ryan."

Goddard said that throughout the years, West was just part of the team — no different than anyone else in the locker room.

"I don't think anyone ever sees Brent as a person with a disability, they just see Brent," Goddard said, "the sense of humor that he has and how he can make a joke and laugh. I think people, they don't see Brent that way. They just, they see Brent as B West."

What Kathy and her late husband Steve appreciated the most is that Brent has never been looked at with pity, but rather seen as someone just like everybody else.

Whether it's pizza night at the West family house with players coming over for video game tournaments, visiting friends on camping trips or even chatting it up with rival coaches around Pueblo and the state, everyone has the same thing to say about Brent: He's one special person.

"My philosophy always was, look, everybody's in a classroom, everybody's also at church, they're at McDonald's, they're at the grocery store or Walmart. You don't know by looking at each person what their IQ is," Kathy said. "It is what it is. He's ours. Would you love him any differently?"

For everyone on the South Side, the answer will always be "no."

Chieftain News Content Coach Austin White can be reached by email at awhite@chieftain.com or on Twitter at twitter.com/ajw_sports.