UK football player spent over a year growing his hair to donate to kids in need
Ryan Bryant’s mane was the envy of at least one friend’s girlfriend.
“No one gives me a hard time about it, but it’s mostly girls who say they wish they had my hair,” Bryant told the Herald-Leader. “My buddy Eli (Cox’s girlfriend), she’s said that twice, that she wishes she had it.”
Both men are offensive linemen at the University of Kentucky. Bryant, who starred for Ashland Blazer High School, is a walk-on, and he’s now rooming with Cox — a scholarship player from West Jessamine who joined the Cats as part of the same class in 2019 — in part to boost his training and attempt to earn a scholarship down the road himself.
Cox might have the edge between the lines, but Bryant was out in front by a mile in the hair battle. Before Monday, if he stretched out his longest curls, they would have extended at least 2-3 inches past his chin, he said.
That won’t be the case any longer for a while, though. Bryant scheduled a shearing at Planet Salon (2300 Sir Barton Way) on Monday in order to donate his hair to Wigs for Kids, an organization based out of Ohio that makes wigs for children who’ve lost their hair due to various medical conditions. He left with two ponytails in hand, ready to be shipped off and transformed.
Bryant has always had notably curly locks, but he didn’t start purposefully growing out his hair until December 2018, while he was still a senior at Ashland Blazer High School. His mother’s best friend, Beverly Osborne, died in October of that year following a seven-year battle with breast cancer. While she was alive, Osborne frequently commented on how beautiful Bryant’s hair would get when he let it grow out beyond the buzz cut he typically kept.
“She always had to get wigs and stuff, and always talked about wanting curly hair and how much she liked my hair,” Bryant said. “After she passed away, I figured I should grow it out and give it to somebody who would enjoy it as much as she would have.”
He has watched another person close to him fight cancer over the last year: offensive line coach John Schlarman was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer that begins in the bile duct and can quickly spread into other areas of the body, in July 2018.
Nikki Bryant said her son isn’t an overly emotional person, but she can tell that he has been deeply affected by having a relationship with Schlarman and seeing what he has gone through.
“When he does get emotional about something, I can tell that it’s really gotten to him,” Nikki said. “I feel like all those boys really draw a lot of strength from him. I’m not even sure that he knows that. He’s a wonderful coach and things like that, and I’m sure he hears that from the boys, but it’s all the other things, too, that he’s teaching them. … He shows them far more life lessons and things to be proud about other than just football.”
Schlarman has continued coaching through UK’s last two seasons while undergoing treatment.
“He’s a warrior, too,” Bryant said. “… He’s still there with us every day and pushing through.”
Bryant added with an audible grin: “His hair’s held up pretty well as far as I’ve known him.”
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Treatment
Hair-care products became a fixture for Bryant in a greater way than they were previously.
“You talk to anybody with curly hair, especially ringlet curls like mine, it ain’t fun,” Bryant said with a laugh. “It’s hard to brush it out, it’s always getting tangled. You put it up, then it gets tangled even more. You’ve gotta wash and take care of it really well.”
Helmets, of course, made dutiful treatment even more difficult.
“You gotta wear a headband,” Bryant said. “If I don’t wear a headband, then it’s a rough day. It’s gotta be pulled back so it doesn’t get in my eyes, and if it gets in your eyes you can’t see and you gotta take the helmet off and wipe it back again. It’s a big ordeal.”
More than 50 percent of men will be affected in some form by androgenetic alopecia — male pattern baldness — by the time they’re 50 years old, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Bryant’s a long way from 50, and he has plans to keep donating at least throughout the remainder of his 20s.
“I’d never really grown it out to this extent and didn’t know how thick it was gonna get,” he said. “It’s pretty thick, so I’ll probably get to do it at least four or five more times before I have to tap out.”
Nikki hopes that her son’s act can inspire others to do something kind for other people during a time where it’s easy to feel isolated from one another.
“I have always tried to teach him that, sometimes, when you are given a skill, given a talent, maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with that particular talent,” Nikki said. “Maybe it has something far more with God putting you on a bigger platform to shine light on something else. That’s really what I believe.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
