Join us for one of the most exciting events at the 2024 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show! End your week in Phoenix with your friends and colleagues at the GCSAA Send Off Celebration, presented in partnership with John Deere. Doors open at 3 p.m.
You will meet the newly elected board of directors, announce the 30th Annual Collegiate Turf Bowl winners, and recognize the Emerging Leader, President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship, and Col. John Morley Award winners. Plus, learn about mental toughness in high-stress situations from Brendan McDonough.
Participation is free for All-Access and Full-Pack registrants, but during the registration process, please let us know if you are attending so we can plan accordingly. Admission tickets are not required.
Brendan McDonough
Brendan McDonough’s journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. A
heroin addict with a daughter on the way, McDonough was facing a bleak
future. After recovering from that addiction, he was given a chance to
completely change his life and serve a higher purpose as a member of an
elite squad of firefighters. Through painstaking work, unshakeable faith, and
devotion to his new family, Brendan became an invaluable member of the
“Granite Mountain Hotshots.”
After surviving the Yarnell Hill Wildfire and an unfathomable loss of 19 of his
fellow firefighters in 2013, McDonough suffered from bouts of deep
depression and intractable Post-Traumatic Stress. But the family who
needed him, his faith in God, and the memory of his brothers’ sacrifice
inspired him to keep living through his darkest moments and pushed him to
begin helping others. McDonough’s story of struggle and redemption leaves
audiences uplifted, encouraging them to become their best selves and to
seek out support when struggling.
Brendan McDonough was on the verge of becoming a hopeless, inveterate
heroin addict when he, for the sake of his young daughter, decided to turn
his life around. He enlisted in the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of elite
firefighters based in Prescott, Ariz. Their superintendent firefighter, Eric Marsh, was
in a desperate crunch after four hotshots left the crew, and seeing a glimmer
of promise in the skinny would-be recruit, he took a chance on the unlikely
McDonough. Despite the crew’s skepticism, and thanks in large part to
Marsh’s firm but loving encouragement, McDonough unlocked a latent drive
and dedication, going on to successfully battle a number of blazes and
eventually win the confidence of the men he came to call his brothers.
Then, on June 30, 2013, while McDonough (“Donut” as he’d been dubbed by
his team) served as lookout, they confronted a freak, 3,000-degree inferno
in nearby Yarnell, Ariz. The relentless firestorm ultimately trapped his
hotshot brothers, tragically killing all 19 of them within minutes. Nationwide,
it was the greatest loss of firefighter lives since the 9/11 attacks.
The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots came to the silver screen with
the release of Only the Brave in October 2017. The film, directed by Joseph
Kosinski, stars Josh Brolin, Jef Bridges, Taylor Kitsch, and Jennifer
Connelly. McDonough was portrayed by Miles Teller.
Today, McDonough continues to live in Prescott, Arizona with his
daughters and fiancé.
McDonough lives in Prescott with his daughters and fiancé.