Brandon Beal: Now Or Never | MOVE

Now or Never ...

When Brandon Beal walks in a room, it’s hard not to notice him.

He’s big and muscular. Really big.

At 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, the former Northern Illinois tight end stands out -- and above -- most people.

If the Beal name sounds familiar, it should. Bradley Beal, one of Brandon’s brothers, is an NBA All-Star for the Washington Wizards, who grew up idolizing Brandon’s exploits on the hardwood and gridiron in the St. Louis area. Bradley told STLToday.com that it was Brandon, not Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, that was his favorite player growing up.

“My mother and grandmother have both told me about his eyes never left me when I played,” Brandon said. “During a game you don’t notice something like that. Wherever I went, that’s where his eyes went. I had no idea.”

Growing up, sports were never far from the Beal family. Bobby and Besta Beal both played two sports in college. They expected their children to earn athletic scholarships just like they did.

All five boys did just that.  

Brandon loved playing basketball and baseball, but in high school it became obvious that his best shot might be via football and the dream of playing professionally in the NFL.

“God gave me an ability to catch anything that was thrown in the same zip code, but it was a love-hate relationship I had with football,” Beal said. “I could have tried to play both sports, but I wanted to go to a big, Division I school. You couldn’t tell me anything back then.”

At Northern Illinois, Beal had a solid career. During a game against Minnesota his junior year, he tore up his left knee. He bounced back and played in 11 games his senior season. He went undrafted, but had a solid Pro Day where he caught the interest of the Cincinnati Bengals. Near the end of his tryout, he suffered an Peroneus Brevis injury that led to more rehab. He played in an Arena Football League for a Chicago team but never realized his NFL dream.

Beal’s next move was to enter the fitness industry as a personal trainer and was also working a sales job in Chicago and Long Island, N.Y.

Brandon was able to live his pro sports dream vicariously through baby brother Bradley (who was 18 at the time) when he was the No. 3 pick by the Wizards in the 2012 NBA draft.

“My parents pulled me to the side and asked if me and my brother Bruce could move to D.C. and help Bradley out because he had never been out in the real world on his own,” Brandon said. “I told them I could do that, so that’s what we did.”

Once Bradley was settled and doing his NBA thing, Brandon made his way to Menifee, Calif. with his girlfriend, Ashley in 2016.

Did we mention Ashley played basketball for the University of Oregon Ducks and professionally in Australia? The two athletes were married on Sept. 16, 2018.

“We had taken a vacation to Hermosa Beach and loved it,” Brandon said. “I told Ashley that week that we were going to eventually move out there. I think we did about six months later.”

The next transition came when Brandon was approached about selling insurance with a group from the West Coast, who found him on Instagram. Brandon was still working in the personal trainer field, but was certainly open to new opportunities. He got started in December of 2016 and by July of 2017 says he had made exactly … nothing.

Not a hundred dollars, not $20, not even a penny.

Eventually, Brandon Beal crossed paths with Ed Soto, which led to meeting Stephen Davies and eventually Andy Albright. Soto was relentless in recruiting Beal, who finally said he would give it a shot. Albright, Davies and Soto made a plan to get Beal to The Alliance corporate office in Burlington, N.C. Beal attended The Wednesday Call and met Albright for the first time.

“I remember this guy being so loud and just so funny, but there was a realness to him you know,” Beal said of Albright. “A lot of people can talk their way out of a lot of stuff, but it’s hard to do that when you are talking to thousands of people. I see all these people following him for years, so I fell in love with him right there. I might have talked to him for two or three minutes, and I asked him if I could do this. He said anybody could do it, so I told him I’m ready.”

One of the main things that drew Beal to The Alliance was seeing how top leaders and producers were willing to help other agents, even when there was no financial gain in it for them.

“A lot of places are very transactional, and I didn’t like that,” Beal said. “What I saw with The Alliance was people like Davies, Albright, Paul Roberts and Diane Lampe helping people. I saw people calling me back and texting me back when I was a nobody here. I’m still a nobody, but I loved seeing how the team was willing to help coach other people.” 

Davies, of Asheville, N.C., remembers thinking that Beal had the potential to be great.

“Brandon has brought his drive, work ethic, and desire to win from the football field into the business,” Davies said. “He also has that same love of the team and is a constant encourager to his teammates. Hollie and I love Brandon and Ashley and are excited to help wherever we can and watch their story unfold.”

As Beal has continued to work hard, he’s found success with The Alliance. In September of 2019, the Beals hit Agency Manger, then hit District Manager in October.

But, Beal doesn’t want anybody to think he has arrived yet.

“I’m all about winning and I’m about being the best that I can be,” Beal said. “My goal is to be there best there ever was. Why shoot for anything lower? That’s just ridiculous to me. When you play a sport, your objective is to win and then be the best at it.”

There’s one more piece of the puzzle that drives Beal, now 35, to think about today and move with urgency. Brandon was in Houston, Texas for an NBA all-star game in Feb. of 2013 with his brother, Bruce and some other friends. He was having trouble catching his breath and felt like his heartrate was elevated.

“My heart was racing, my face was like blueish purple,” Beal said. “I could not breathe. I could not catch my breath. I felt like I was having a heart attack.”

Beal was 27 at the time. When he got back to Washington, D.C., he met with the Wizards’ team doctors. He went to major hospitals at Duke University, Georgetown, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins, etc.

Finally, he got the diagnosis: cardiomyopathy. He was told he had the heart function of a 60-year-old man. That’s tough news to swallow when you are in great shape, don’t smoke or do drugs and only drink alcohol on special occasions.

Beal also lost two friends to heart attacks that were both around the age of 30. Neither had life insurance. Doctors have told Beal his heart could give out on any given day … they just don’t know.

It’s all the motivation he needs to wake up daily and make the most of the time he’s been given.

“I have most crazy amount of urgency you’ve ever seen,” Beal said. “That’s why I’m recruiting like crazy, that’s why I’m trying to put big premium up on the board and enjoy my life because I don’t know how long I’m going to be here.

“God doesn’t promise time to anybody if you think about it. There’s an old saying, ‘from the first slapping cry, we all start to die.’”