|
ST. LOUIS -- Brian Burke said Friday that a scholarship will be created in his son's name at Miami (Ohio) University.
Brendan Burke, a video technician and student manager with the NCAA's top ranked Redhawks, was killed in a car crash with an 18-year-old passenger on Feb. 5 in poor road conditions in Indiana.
"Miami University adopted Brendan," the elder Burke said, praising them for supporting his son after he went public being gay and wishing to work in hockey management like his father.
The Miami players considered Brendan a full fledged teammate, not a go-fer, and they all attended Tuesday's funeral in Canton, Mass., wearing sweaters with a BB shamrock patch. "Monday we had a wake for this young man and it was a tribute that 1,200 people showed up and the line went around the block," Brian Burke said. "We had 1,000 people at the funeral and made it a celebration of Brendan's life, the good old Irish way."
Burke, general manager of Team USA, didn't think it appropriate to have gone to Vancouver and marched in the opening ceremonies as he had planned.
"I didn't have it in me," he said. "As proud as I would have been to be there, it would have been an imposter's act."
