Exercise in excellence

PORTRAIT

ALUMNUS AND

In baseball, going home is a good thing. But when Brian Hull was growing up in Lakewood, going home was challenging due to substance abuse issues and financial struggles. “To this day, my three siblings and I don’t drink alcohol because of the events we witnessed growing up,” said Hull, a 2009 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he also played baseball. Today, he’s a physical education teacher at Denver’s Bruce Randolph School. “I know a lot of my students that I currently teach are going through the same scenarios.” Hull’s ability to connect with and inspire his students is one reason why the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) this past spring named him the 2020 National Physical Education Teacher of the Year. He also scored the highest on his interview, video submission and essay. In baseball terms, Hull is on a hot streak: In 2018, he took home an award as the Colorado physical education teacher of the year; he won district top honors in 2019. Now, he’s tops in the nation. Even though his childhood was a hurdle-filled tour around the bases, there were bright spots thanks to caring adults, including baseball coaches and PE teachers, who served as FORMER BASEBALL mentors and father figures. They also helped him become a STANDOUT HEADS high school all-conference pitcher and honorable mention on HOME WITH NATIONAL the all-state baseball team. He went on to be a standout on MSU Denver’s baseball team as well. PHYSICAL EDUCATION “Baseball was an outlet from my issues at home. It made TEACHING AWARD. me more focused, more productive and happier,” he said. After graduating with a degree in human performance and sport, combining his passion for athletics and working with kids was an easy decision. Today, he keeps students on their toes with games, sports and new technology, including an app (brucepe.glideapp.io) he developed just before the pandemic lockdown. But Hull believes his most important accomplishment is building relationships with his students. They pay off in the classroom, he said, and they proved to be critical when COVID-19 forced schools to shutter and teaching to go remote. “Without those relationships, nothing really happens,” he said. His app helped too. It includes exercises families can do together — something he missed in his own childhood. But he’s OK with that now. Because today, going home means time with his wife and their 3-year-old son. “He’s a wild little man,” Hull said. “Right now, it’s hard to get him off the tablet, but I’m hoping he’ll like sports.”