COLUMN: Brent Carpenter — Logan’s goodwill ambassador
Obtaining status at Utah State can come in a number of ways – some ways good, others bad. Generally though, popularity is short-lived. My sister had her 15 minutes of fame as a freshman on the police blotter for a crime involving a urinal.
Whatever the case, good or bad, your day, “where everybody knows your name” will be short-lived.
But true popularity isn’t found amongst the urinal criminals or even the athletes. Logan’s “king of cool” rides his bicycle everywhere, waving and smiling as he goes. Everyone recognizes him, but in case you didn’t know his name, it’s Brent Carpenter.
I am fortunate enough to live in the same apartment building as “Logan’s goodwill ambassador,” as the Salt Lake Tribune called Brent after he carried the Olympic torch into the Spectrum which was filled to capacity.
There are good basketball players, and then there’s Michael Jordan. Similarly, some people are friendly, and then there’s Brent.
“He’s by far the happiest person I’ve ever met,” said Brent’s landlord and friend Clint Rogers.
“Anywhere you go, you see this guy with a stocking cap and red bag honking and waving at everyone,” neighbor Gary Miller said. “It just makes you smile.”
Nearly every night, my wife or I will hear Brent’s friendly and familiar knock on the door. Never empty-handed, Brent always delivers some kind of newspaper and has a comment about the moon, an Aggie basketball game, or the weather.
“One of my favorite memories was one night when the sky was really red because of the northern lights,” Rogers said. “Brent just came barging through the door with a big smile pointing at the sky saying, ‘Red! Red!’ He’s just a funny guy.”
Sometimes he delivers the Herald Journal, other times The Statesman, sometimes it’s just the specials for the week at Albertson’s.
We really don’t care what it is, as long as Brent is the one delivering it.
Even if I’m not in my house, Brent recognizes me as someone on his “route.” A few weeks ago we were at school and I saw Brent. When I said hello, Brent looked around, rushed to a Statesman stand, and gave me a paper.
When Brent carried the torch into the Spectrum, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Men claimed that their allergies were to blame, but the fact that 5,000 of them were hit with the same allergy at the same time, not to mention all of the openly weeping women, shows that something special happened that night.
I’m sure Brent is touched that he is so well-known, but it doesn’t change him from being who he is. All he knows is to be himself.
Brent isn’t just a smiling, waving, goodwill ambassador. He’s a gladiator. Miller tells of a recent experience when he was walking up a steep hill near our house and saw Brent effortlessly peddling up the hill.
“The hill was really steep, and he hardly even broke a sweat,” Miller said. “He’s in great shape.”
Trying to beat Brent up a hill would be like trying to stop a Mormon from playing the Macarena at a church dance, it ain’t gonna happen.
“I don’t know if people know it, but he rides that bike to Preston regularly,” Rogers said. “And it only takes him 45 minutes.”
As he rides around town, Brent isn’t trying to make a political statement. But like Forrest Gump, people are inspired as they watch him.
In a March 2002 letter to the Salt Lake Tribune, Loganite Brad Willis wrote, “Thank you, Brent Carpenter (Logan’s bike riding Olympic torch runner), for showing us the way. Your true spirit, rain or shine, could inspire us all to power ourselves to work one warm day a week.”
My wife will be the first to tell you that Brent has touched me in a different way than he did Tom Willis; I whine if I have to walk further than a block.
But I will always remember Brent’s kindness. And years from now, when I’m far away from here, late at night I will look at the silent door, and remember Brent’s friendly knock.
This is Clark Jessop’s final column in the Utah Statesman. He will graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism next month. Comments can be sent to clarkjessop@cc.usu.edu.