Michigan State forward Brennan Sanford’s family has been living in the Lansing area going back many generations. He cites the university’s town of East Lansing as his home, and his family ties and history at MSU made becoming a Spartan an easy choice.
At the north end of Munn Ice Arena, there sits a small wooded area on top of a prehistoric sand dune, which kept sand from blowing all over campus. Those trees were planted by Sanford’s great-great-great grandfather, the first student enrolled at Michigan Agricultural College, a precursor to the school as it known today.
As he was growing up, Sanford’s parents would point out the group of trees whenever they attended a hockey game at Munn. This was quite often as the family had season tickets.
Sanford can trace his family having settled in Lansing as far back as his great-grandfather going to Lansing High School. Both his father and grandmother went to Michigan State, and his grandfather was a security guard at Spartan football games.
A Spartan fan from birth, Sanford relishes playing for his favorite team.
“There is nothing more special than running out of the tunnel,” he told Pucks and Recreation. “It’s different because of the light show, and the Sparty spotlight going around. It’s cool how MSU has grown with new tech.”
When Sanford was young, there was not much growing around Munn, other than the vegetation outside. There was certainly no big light show at the games in the days of old Dem Hall and famous coaches Ron Mason and Amo Bessone, of whom he constantly heard stories from his family members.
Now that he is a member of the team, even with the modern advances within the arena, walking past the trees his great-great-great grandfather planted without has taken on a new meaning.
“It makes the experience more special, like I have my roots at MSU,” he said. “I feel like I’m destined for this.”
In addition, playing for his childhood team gives him a different perspective than others on his role as an athlete.
“When I was kid, I’d see every player as a hero,” he said. “Now I am one of those people, and I have to give back.”
“It makes the experience more special, like I have my roots at MSU. I feel like I’m destined for this.” – Brennan Sanford
Playing junior hockey away from home, as Sanford did for his final three years before college, can be straining on a family. Coming back home to play college hockey for the local Spartans was an easy choice. So easy, in fact, that he called the coaches back to commit on the same day he received the offer.
“I talked to the coaches that summer in August,” he said. “I was called to visit, but they didn’t need to show me around too much. I accepted same day they offered.”
Even with his family’s excitement for this, they did not celebrate in any exorbitant way. They were all more so proud for Sanford and what he has done.
Despite all of this, he did not feel any pressure from his family to commit to Michigan State. Just love for the school.
A key part of his early commitment was giving back to his family. Sanford said that they gave him so much, travel-wise, allowing him to play junior hockey in Kalamazoo, Mich., Austin, Minn., and Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, Iowa.
Playing for the family team is another draw for him at MSU, as his family is not just comprised of hockey fans. His cousin, Liz Nagel, represents the Spartans athletic alumni as a professional golfer, and everybody invests their emotions in the renowned football and basketball teams.
“Regardless of (which sport), we are cheering for (the Spartans),” he said, “whether it was the Rose Bowl, the Final Four or the (2007 national championship) hockey team.”
Sanford has made a lot of his own memories with the Spartans, whether it be sweeping rival Michigan at Yost, or simply playing in front of the home crowd. Sanford is making the most of his time at school, where he won the team’s Spartan Fitness Award this past spring and will rise to the assistant captaincy as a junior this fall.
And while Sanford Natural Area on campus still bears the family name, only some of his teammates have connected the dots to Brennan’s relation to it. But at the halfway mark of his student-athlete tenure, he is already in the process of etching his own name into the territory.
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