Editor's note: This is the third installment of a four-part series chronicling the life of former W.F. West standout Brock Peterson after Chronicle reporter Zach Martin recently traveled to Virginia Beach for an interview. Read the previous stories here and here. Look for the final installment in the Aug. 17 edition of The Chronicle.
Puzzle pieces were starting to fall into place. And Brock Peterson was placing the right ones into the correct slot.
More than a decade of playing professional baseball concluded. Officially living in Virginia Beach, Virginia was the next chapter. Life was beginning to take shape on the east coast.
When Peterson signed with the Minnesota Twins, one of the perks was having school paid for so long as he played affiliated baseball. That two-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals reset the clock after playing independent ball.
“That was my first thought,” Brock said. “I’m not going to get rushed into anything.”
One fateful afternoon in July of 2021 changed everything.
A boating accident sent the Washington native into the emergency room and the medical diagnosis was three different spinal fractures. From the moment Peterson exited the hospital to right now, he has been confined to a wheelchair.
“I kind of had to accept pretty quickly things would be different,” Brock said.
Once it hit the airwaves back home and throughout baseball, there was an outpouring of support. Teammates, coaches and friends were left stunned.
And asking the one question so many left wanted answered: How could this happen?
Settling into a new career, friends
Rewind back to the mid-2010s and Brock is attending school at Old Dominion University. He earned his undergraduate degree in finance.
Cathy Peterson, Brock’s mom, credits her genes for getting her son interested in numbers.
“Norm is just into music,” Cathy said with a chuckle.
While getting his degree, there were four different jobs Brock did. He was a realtor, worked at the gym he trained at, valet parked cars at night and ran an AirBnB rental.
Even as Brock was going through school, he still had friends to see and even made new ones.
Dan Stillman, once a teammate with mutual friend Colin Roberson, was introduced to Brock around 10 years ago. There was an instant connection.
“He’s a larger than life kind of guy,” Stillman said. “Brock was humble, he played with the best and he always kept a humble head on his shoulders. He was always focused on the future.”
There’s a core group of former baseball players that all converge to Virginia Beach. It is a community environment that isn’t outlandish despite it being a tourist attraction.
Roberson made sure that when Brock was done playing, he wouldn’t be alone.
“It is a fraternity,” Roberson stated. “Everybody is rooting for each other. That support system was always there.”
He worked a year in medical sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. He called that time “challenging” being in a hospital during a global outbreak of a virus.
“They had me separated, taking extra precautions in what would normally be going on. It wasn’t too hard,” Brock said.
July 3, 2021
It started out like any other day. Kind of.
That morning, Brock dressed up as Thor for Roberson’s son’s birthday party. He left sometime in the afternoon to head to his other plans.
“That’s one of the last pictures I have of Brock standing up,” Roberson said.
He proceeded to meet up with friends on a boat that afternoon.
He was about to leave, but he swam up towards the beach and met his manager from work. They exchanged hellos, then Brock decided to jump off a floating platform level with the water on the boat, not knowing about the changing tide.
Brock remembers everything that happened.
“I hit the water and felt like a little zap, like touching a live wire,” he said. “I tried to swim and felt like I wasn’t moving. I open my eyes and my arms are in front of me. At that point, hold my breath and hope someone comes and find me.
“They thought I was looking for my sunglasses. They said I was in the water for close to 40 seconds.”
At first, even he didn’t think it was anything to be sacred about. By the time everyone didn’t see him move, worried faces started to appear.
Cathy and Norm Peterson, Brock’s dad, were still living in Washington when they got the call. What followed was a decision that shaped the future.
“I want to go,” Cathy said. “Sat down on the computer, booked a ticket and I probably got here around 4:30-5:30 (at night). I need to see him; I need to give him support.”
“She’s the scout,” Norm added. “She goes and assesses the situation.”
Brock got to the ICU and was there for several days. Day-by-day, his support system started to flow through to see him. Cathy didn’t cry once, for a very specific reason.
“I can’t show emotion, that would just be harder on him,” she said. “I’m there to reassure him, things will be OK.”
At bare minimum, Brock suffered a broken neck. X-rays revealed he suffered three fractures in his spine, the C3-to-C7 vertebrae, but the main one was C5.
“He didn’t really seem that alarmed by it,” Brock recalled the doctor saying. “I knew I would have to get lucky. I could feel my feet in certain parts of my body.”
It took three days from being admitted to the surgery. Recovery was going to be long and strenuous. He was taken to one of the top spinal cord rehabilitation centers in the world, Shepherd’s Center, in Atlanta after surgery.
Others that have had this type of injury do get better and eventually walk again. Brock’s recovery was slower and not progressing at a promising rate.
He was beginning to accept reality.
“That was the realization,” Brock said. “You start thinking about the past and the future.”
Reactions
From his days at W.F. West High School to his teammates in the minor and atlantic leagues, the news of Brock hit like a rock.
• Tom Zuber, Brock’s high school baseball coach: “I was shocked and saddened. I was wondering how could such a thing happen to such a wonderful kid? I was thinking Brock was the last kid in the world that deserved to have something like that happen to him.”
• Kyle Aselton, Brock’s high school and professional baseball teammate: “It was heartbreaking really. Tough to hear any of your friends going through something that was a freak accident.”
• Colin Roberson, Virginia Beach friend: “It just rips your heart out. I was there for all the news, the prognosis that it didn’t look good. I got kicked in the gut.”
• Sawyer Smith, childhood friend and W.F. West teammate: “When it is somebody you care about and part of your life, it is different. It is hard to swallow and takes a lot to sink in.”
• Kolten Wong, former big leaguer and Brock’s teammate in Memphis: “You don’t think that can happen. It puts things in perspective. If it can happen to Brock, it can easily happen to any of us.”
• Cathy Peterson, Brock’s mom: “The question is still, what did he hit? There were no marks on him.”
• Norm Peterson, Brock’s dad: “It turned out to be pretty damn bad.”
New life
Cathy was not planning on packing up her belongings to move across the country. Initially when she flew into Virginia, she wanted to remain supportive of Brock and be there for him.
When explaining the verdict to move in with Brock and be his full-time caregiver, Cathy kept it simple to seven words.
“This is what a mom should do,” Cathy stated. “I know my mom would have done it for me. It was a hard decision, but I knew it was the right decision.”
Norm will come visit them when he can. They all communicate often and check in with each other.
Once Brock returned from the hospital, he saw quite the surprise. Neighbors got wind of the accident and built him a wooden pathway to the front door. That was only the beginning of charitable donations.
A couple months after the accident, a fundraiser was put together in Adna that featured a silent auction. Multiple events to raise money have taken place to better Brock’s life, including the van that has a built-in wheelchair ramp.
Most recently, enough money was raised to buy Brock an electric wheelchair. He is able to go on walks with his dog and be out on his own.
Even for a moment, he is independent.
“It is good physically and mentally for him,” Cathy said.
