PROVO — Bryan Kehl and Zac Erekson met 10 years ago as children attending a Brigham Young University football camp. They vividly remember that first encounter. Even before they had said a word to each other, they knew they had at least one thing in common.
"Bryan was waiting by himself for a ride," Erekson recalls. "There weren't that many black kids like me at BYU football camp, so I was like, 'I'll go talk to him.'"
The pair struck up a conversation and forged an instant friendship. Little did they know at the time, they had more in common than just their skin color.
Kehl and Erekson are biracial, have white parents, were adopted at a young age and are members of loving, mixed-race families. Kehl was adopted when he was 3 days old by Gary and Nancy Kehl. Erekson's mom, Cheri, gave birth to Zac when she was a freshman in college, and she later married David Erekson, who adopted Zac.
Now, Bryan Kehl and Zac Erekson are living a longtime dream of playing football at BYU. Kehl, a junior and former Brighton High star, is projected to be a starting linebacker. Erekson, a sophomore and Dixie State College transfer, was switched from safety to cornerback during spring practices and hopes to contribute for the Cougars next fall.
"We've been best of buds ever since we first met," Kehl says. "We came to camp here every year. It was always our dream to get here and play together. It's been fun to have that dream realized."
Being biracial in a state that is predominately white has helped establish an unbreakable bond between Kehl and Erekson. It has also provided them with an uncommon perspective on the meaning of family.
"The fact that we're both half-black, it's kind of like a link," Kehl says. "When we met, I remember thinking, 'Oh, there's somebody like me. There's someone who knows what I've gone through and has had the same experiences.' "
Kehl's parents have nine children, six of whom were adopted, and three of them are of mixed race. Bryan and two others were adopted as babies while three more were adopted as teenagers.
What's Gary and Nancy Kehl's secret to raising a family with such varied backgrounds? "I make our kids know they're part of our family," Nancy says. "I tell them what happened in the past doesn't matter. They were meant to be a part of our family."
"We don't see the color in our family," Gary says. "It's not an issue."
The Kehls instilled those attitudes in their children.
"It was awesome growing up," Bryan says. "The most commendable thing I can say about my parents would be the lack of a double standard. I guess a lot of times you might think that a parent would separate their kids and say, 'These are my natural children and those are my adopted children.' But there was absolutely no such presence of that. It boggles my mind, especially with the different race and different skin color. That's a hard thing to do. They did it amazingly. There is absolutely no difference. Family life was awesome. We still get together every Sunday, and it's the highlight of the week.
"What's amazing about it, I don't remember ever being told I was adopted," Kehl continues. "Obviously with a different skin color, at some point I would have realized it, but it was something I always knew. I don't know how it was brought up in the first place, I was too little to remember, but however they did it, they did it correctly. I always knew (the Kehls) were my mom and dad."
Cheri Erekson was an athlete in college, and during her freshman year, Zac, whose biological father is black and a former athlete, was born. Later, Cheri married David Erekson, who is now a dentist with a practice in Pleasant Grove. He adopted Zac, and the family grew from there. The Ereksons, who live in Mapleton, have five children — two boys and three girls.
Zac's skin color hasn't been a focus of discussion within the family. "Zac didn't notice anything until he was 4 years old," Cheri said. "He and his dad were driving down the road and he saw a car with two black parents and a black child. It was the first time it clicked in his head. That was the very first time we had to address it. I told him that his birth dad lived in a different place."
None of the Erekson children broached the subject of Zac's race except for the youngest daughter, who's now 11. "She asked, 'Mom, how come Zac is brown and none of us are?' " Zac recalls his sister saying. "She didn't understand and it was pretty funny. My mom didn't really know what to say to her. She was kind of like, 'Ummmmm' I don't even remember how my mom answered it. No one else asked about it, it was just the way it was."
Zac became accustomed to answering questions about it from those outside his family. "It's different growing up here because people always ask, 'Why are you like that in your family?' Everyone's curious, especially when you're little and everyone's like, 'What the heck?' Being in the same area for a while, people got used to it. It wasn't that bad," he says.
In recent years, Erekson has cultivated a relationship with his biological father, who lives in New Jersey. "I got to know him during the summer before my senior year of high school," he says. "It was great because that part of my family and my family here has gotten to be very close. It's a great friendship to have. I always had wondered about my biological father, but it wasn't something I needed to know because I had a dad. It would have been different if I didn't have a dad. But I had a dad."
David Erekson says Zac's relationship with his biological family has been a blessing. "He's been able to see different sides of both cultures," he says.
Kehl, meanwhile, has never met his biological parents and knows little about them. While he's not obsessed with meeting his birth mom and dad, he admits it crosses his mind from time to time.
"I didn't even think about them too much until I got into high school," he says. "My mom helps out with (LDS) Family Services and gives counsel to those who are looking to adopt and those who are putting up kids for adoption. When people go down there, they sit through these seminars. My mom would always go and talk and she started bringing me.
"I never thought about it much until they asked me questions and I started answering them. As far as seeking them out, I don't have the strongest desire. But I think what would be pretty cool would be seeing a picture of them, to see where I get traits and characteristics. The reason it doesn't drive me is, I know I have my mom and dad right there. If that opportunity presents itself, I wouldn't turn it down. But as far as actively pursuing it, it's not a concern right now."
Nancy Kehl says she saw Bryan's biological mother once, when Bryan was about 1 year old. She recognized her because of her resemblance to Bryan. The Kehls have been told that his biological father played running back in the NFL.
"That's what my parents always said to me," Kehl says. "It's cool because it's given me some drive to live up to something. What would be cool, actually, not so much meeting them, but before next season, that they know who I am. It might be cool for them to watch me and know I'm doing well."
Kehl was one of the stars of BYU's spring practices and is poised for a breakout season in 2006. Many observers say the 6-foot-2, 219-pounder has a future in professional football.
"I told Bryan he better play in the NFL," Zac says. "Bryan's a real straight-line kind of guy. He doesn't know if he's going to be able to play on Sundays or not. He promised me when we were 15 that he'd let me be his agent when he got drafted. Watching him in spring, I'm just getting excited. I told him, 'You have to play because that's going to be my paycheck.' I'm so excited for him. It's like the Bryan Kehl highlight tape at practice."
Kehl starred at Brighton High, where he earned all-state honors in football and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He played for BYU as a true freshman, seeing action in 11 games at linebacker. Kehl returned from his LDS mission in time to play last year, recording 30 tackles and blocking a punt in the season-opener that led to the Cougars' only points against Boston College. Bryan's older brother, Ed, who was a defensive lineman at BYU in the mid-1990s and now owns a car dealership, was adopted by the Kehls when he was 12. "Ed and I are probably the closest," Bryan says. "We have a really strong bond. He always used to pick on me, but it was a brotherly love. I think I'm a tougher person today because of it. At least, that's what he tells me. He would die for me, I know that."
Ed has always been an inspiration to Bryan and the two have always been compared to each other. "They called him 'Little Kehl' at BYU football camps," Gary says of Bryan. "The coach at Harvard called every Sunday for a year, recruiting him. Finally, Bryan told him that he wanted to go to BYU. The coach said, 'Here at Harvard, you can have the best education in the world. Why would you go to BYU?' Bryan said, 'I want to show my brother up.'"
The Kehls say Bryan has been a joy to raise.
"He was the cutest kid in the world, with dark eyelashes and curly hair," Gary says. "You melted the minute you saw him. He's been one of those dream kids. He's changed a lot of people's opinions about adopting kids of another race.
"He's been one of those amazing kids who's been the light of our lives," Nancy says. "He's always done well in school, and we've always trusted him. He has the personality to please his parents and do the right things. He hasn't given us a whole lot of trouble, except for the time he crashed the car."
Oh, that. Bryan was about 4 years old at the time. He climbed into his father's prized possession — an expensive sports car — and decided to practice driving. He put the car in neutral and it started to roll down the road. It ran into an Audi and continued on down the street before it crashed. The car was totaled.
"It was good parenting by my parents. They didn't yell at me or anything," Bryan remembers. "My dad had just barely got that car and I messed it all up. My dad asked me if I did it and I said, 'Yeah.' That was about it. They lined me up in front of the car like a model and took pictures. It taught me a lesson, to always tell the truth to my parents. They made a point of it, that I didn't get in trouble because I told the truth to my parents."
David Erekson says Zac has always been an outgoing, charismatic person and popular among his peers. "He has a magnetic personality," he says. "He's never felt like he didn't fit in. Even though he looks different on the outside, he understands that what shapes a person is what's on the inside. A few times he's been called names because of his race, but it's never been cause for him to become upset." Some opposing fans made racial comments to Zac when he played in high school. "I told him that he was going to run into racism, but it's a product of frustration or ignorance," David says. "He's handled it well."
Zac entered his senior year at Springville High with high expectations, and he didn't disappoint early on. In his first three games, he scored eight touchdowns and racked up nearly 1,000 yards of total offense. He played wide receiver, kick returner, cornerback and running back. Colleges were showing plenty of interest in him.
Then Erekson broke a bone in his foot while making a catch, which ended his season. "I came down and my foot felt weird," he says. "I went to the doctor the next morning and found out my foot was broken. It was very frustrating."
At that point, the scholarship offers from Division I schools dried up.
After high school, Erekson attended SUU's fall camp but soon left. He enrolled at Dixie State and played one year before transferring to BYU as a walk-on last July. "He's loved his experience at BYU," Cheri says. "He thinks the world of (coach) Bronco (Mendenhall)."
During spring ball, Erekson was switched from safety to cornerback, a position he's looking forward to playing in the fall. Off the field, things are going well for him. Erekson is set to graduate in December in sports broadcasting, and he's engaged to Juli Wightman, a member of the BYU women's golf team. They're planning a July wedding. "I hate golfing with her," he says, laughing. "She beat me by 21 strokes last time we went."
The theme for BYU football this season is "Band of Brothers," and Kehl and Erekson embody that theme. Watching them interact, they seem more like siblings than friends. They're competitive with each other in everything and they argue over anything.
"We've been friends for so long, it's like we're brothers now," Kehl says. "We're always having fun, always smiling. That's what our teammates know us as — always happy."
During Kehl's two-year mission to Toronto, Canada, he and Erekson wrote regularly to each other. "I always looked forward to getting his letters. I prayed for him every night, hoping he was doing well," Kehl says. "It was nice to stay in touch and have him be here at BYU."
Kehl encouraged Erekson to walk-on at BYU after Erekson played a season at Dixie State College. "Bryan's been the biggest influence on him," says Cheri Erekson, "and not just with football."
Kehl and Erekson are the odd couple of the Cougar football team. "The longer we've been friends, we've gotten closer because we're so different," Erekson says. "We give each other balance. Bryan's so uptight, straight-line, by the book. I'm the exact opposite. He listens to (the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) in the car, I listen to rap. When we ride with Bryan, we're stuck with that. When he rides with me, he's stuck. That's one thing that helps our friendship."
So do, of course, their similar backgrounds. Kehl and Erekson are comfortable with their ethnicity. While they have dealt with varying degrees of prejudice, they like to have fun with people's misconceptions and confusion.
"People wonder if we're Polynesian," Kehl says, laughing. "Some think I'm Hispanic. Some think I'm from the Caribbean, like Jamaica. I've had people ask if I'm Egyptian."
"People think I'm Puerto Rican all the time," Erekson said.
"The black guys on the team say Zac and I are half-breed," Kehl says. "The white guys say we're black. The Polynesian guys say we're mixed. It's kind of cool. It gives you something to talk about. People wonder what you are. Not too many people are asked the question, 'What are you?' I get asked that all the time."
What are Bryan Kehl and Zac Erekson? Ethnicity and family similarities aside, they're BYU football players who happen to be best friends.
E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com