Written by Josh Farnsworth
Love and Football in Tulsa
Kicking field goals and extra points is about consistency, timing and routine.
You wait for your moment. You wait for the holder to drop to one knee. You commit to the kick, wind up and deliver. For Tulsa rookie kicker Brooke Beissel, she recently found herself on the “holder side” of this equation along the lakefront in Chicago.
Fellow Desperado, running back Doug Brown, took her to a popular selfie spot and waited for a special moment. He dropped to one knee, and approached Beissel with the commitment question. “Doug started saying really kind things about us and our relationship, which he always does, so I still didn’t think anything of it,” said Beissel, “until I saw him getting down on one knee with a ring box that came out of nowhere. I was in complete shock until Doug asked, ‘so is that a YES?’”
Yes. Yes it was.
Timing is everything.
The soon-to-be wed couple actually attended the same high school. Despite having mutual friends, they never dated and went their separate ways once the final school bell tolled. After seeing Brooke’s father’s car in a parking lot, he reached out to her to grab drinks and catch up via social media. Text read, but no response. Life moved forward…eight years forward, that is.
“She left me on ‘read’ for eight years,” he joked. That is when Brown decided to reach out with a casual hello. This time, Beissel responded. “I found myself wanting to keep talking to him which led to our first date on his birthday,” she said. “After our first date, I knew I was with someone very special. I left the next day for a four-day work trip in California. Once I got back, we never left each other’s side.”
How it happened
Mini adventures were not out of the ordinary for this couple. It’s the spirit of adventure that brought Beissel to try out the SFL after seeing how much her now-fiancé enjoyed the energy and excitement of the league. “I loved watching the games with him and watching him grow along the journey. His love for the community was really inspiring so he threw the idea out to me [to join as well],” she said. “Let’s do this!”
Following solid SFLm careers, Brown was drafted first overall in the Season 18 draft by the Tulsa Desperados as their feature running back. One round later, Tulsa drafted Beissel to handle the kicking duties. Though only in their first season, Beissel said she and Brown have felt the love from the SFL community in no time. “It’s special being a part of this community not only with my soon-to-be-husband but with such an amazing group of people,” she said. “I have felt so welcomed not only by past team members but our current team Tulsa Desperados! Shout out to Dion Hawkins and team for believing in Doug and me.”
With adventure in their DNA, an impromptu outing on February 5 was not a surprise. Neither was arriving at the lakefront in Chicago – bottle of champagne in tow – surrounded by selfie seekers on a cold winter day in the Midwest. Moments later? Question popped. Champagne bottle popped. Brown had also arranged for one of those photographers on hand to capture the moments surrounding their engagement, as well as for a surprise engagement party later that evening. The happy couple is slated to wed this November at a warm destination with family and friends. Though Tulsa is, in fact, warm-ish that time of year, Beissel said the couple feels excited for the mini adventure that lies ahead for her and her favourite SFL teammate. “Doug has made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world and I can’t wait to say ‘I DO’ to my Tulsa Desperado running back.”
