By Cole O’Brien
Brian Gotsell is a 5 year teacher at Oliver Ames who hails from Winchester Massachusetts. Educated at Stonehill College, Mr. Gotsell prides himself with his love of history and distinct resemblance of William Jennings Bryan.
The clock strikes 7:00 in Mr. Gotsell’s room with the sun barely peeking into the windows of his classroom and the smell of English breakfast tea filled the air. Looking around the classroom a distinct observation can be made about the eclectic and wide variation of historic items such as a record of numerous J.F.K speeches and posters seem to fill the room with the type of historical background. This historical background prompted me to ask my first question of what his favorite genre of history was, with a slight delay of awkward silence Mr. Gotsell replied with, “I grew on the last stop of the red line and I frequently made trips into Boston, for various events like Red Sox and Bruins games”.
Spinning off from this answer, all evidence leads to the fact that Mr. Gotsell’s love for history stems from the rich local sports history around us.
Intrigued by his love for sports I wanted to dig deeper into this topic. I followed up his answer by asking him if he played any sports and what his favorite memory was from it, with a smile Gotsell answered with pride, “In middle school my team won the state championships, and I like to think my efforts as a defenseman was instrumental in our victory”. Ringing with pride I asked Mr. Gotsell the question of what motivates him, Gotsell paused for a second and blankly responded with “aaaaaah next question”. Bouncing back from that I wanted to dig deeper with questions that would me formulate a better idea of who Mr. Gotsell actually is.
Gotsell is a four year assistant cross country coach and the middle distance coach for winter and string track. Prepared with this information, I asked Gotsell the difficult question of if he was to lead a coup against a head coach like Mr. Sousa, how would he go about doing it. With a deep look of concentration on Godsell’s face he replied with, “I would be very upfront with it, force is key when taking something over like a cross-country team”. Bouncing off from that question I wanted to look deeper into Mr. Gotsell and what made him tick
Interested by Mr. Gotsell´s love for William Jennings Bryan, I asked him the question of why he looks up to him, with the look of glee on his face, Mr. Gotsell answered with certainty, ” I look up to him for the reason that he was a great public speaker, I wish that one day I could be half as good as W.J.B”. This is an interesting role model from a 27 year-old but by Mr. Gotsell´s evident obsession of the man is as good of a role model as any.
Focusing on more of the minute details of Mr. Gotsell, further enquiries were made to be able to pick the brain of one of the school’s best teachers. When answering the question of what three things he always has in the trunk of his car, Mr. Gotsell answered with a slight laugh, “I always have a hockey stick because that’s what jaromir jagr does, some jumper cables, and an extra pair of running shoes”. Eager to answer more questions like this I pushed myself to pry some of the lesser known information from this open book.
Jumping into a different subject I asked Mr. Gotsell what his last supper would be, taking a sip from his tea Mr. Gotsell answered with, “without a doubt my last meal would have to be surf & turf, its making me hungry just thinking about it”. Preparing for my final question I wanted to focus on what made someone like Mr. Gotsell tick.
For my final question I referred back to politics and tried to get a better idea of Mr. Gotsell´s political ideologies. The question I posed for Mr. Gotsell was plain and simple, what was his ideal politician, for what he answered without hesitation as, “The ideal politician has to believe in what they are saying to the American public, I believe that today there is too many politicians that don’t believe in what they discuss, a real American has to practice what they preach. If you don’t follow that then you shouldn’t be a politician”. After this very direct and powerful answer our time for the interview came to a close.
Mr. Gotsell, a history guru, sports lover, and running fanatic. Over the course of the interview Mr. Gotsell showed his true colors as not just a teacher but as a person. Whether that be describing his ideal politician or telling me how he would lead a coup, Mr. Gotsell eclectic beliefs and varied thinking made this an enjoyable interview to conduct. In the words of Mr. Gotsell this interview was, “a smashing success!”