Brent Heard is a 1981 Graduate of The Donoho School, earning his undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics from Jacksonville State University. He continued his graduate work in mathematics and engineering management at The University of Alabama in Huntsville.
He has spent almost 30 years working for the space program, first in Huntsville at Marshall Space Flight Center and for the last 16 years at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Brent has taught college mathematics and statistics courses for more than 20 years.
JSU named Brent as their “Young Alumnus of the Year” in 1992. He has also received numerous NASA and community service awards including NASA’s “Silver Snoopy” from astronaut Larry DeLucas and the Alonzo G. Decker Community Service Award from the Black and Decker Corporation. His community service has included close to 30 years of coaching youth sports and volunteering with various school systems’ math and science initiatives.
In addition to his work in the mathematics and aerospace fields, Brent writes a weekly column, called “Cranks My Tractor” under the name “BN Heard,” which continues to be published in newspapers and weekly magazines in the “Deep South.”
He often brings the people and places he writes about in his column to the stage as a “storyteller.” Having performed on stage from Washington DC to Carrboro, NC, he was recently voted as one of the “Top Ten Storytellers” by “Better Said Than Done,” a community of professional storytellers in Northern Virginia.
Brent sometimes weaves his high school memories of Donoho into his column and stage performances. These have included being grilled in Dr. (Joby) Walker’s chair (dating his daughter), the story of Lee Bartholomew (a fictitious Donoho football player), and his relationship with former Donoho football coach, Cliff Grubbs.
His story “The Mattress Kid” about Coach Grubbs is his personal favorite and was published in numerous newspapers. It tells the story of how Grubbs was homeless and living in a state park while being recruited by Auburn University to play football.
Brent notes, “Coach Grubbs built the Donoho football program, but I never knew about his past and how good of a football player he really was until the last few months of his life.”
Brent and his wife, Marian Morrow Heard, also a 1981 graduate of Donoho live in Williamsburg, Virginia, and have 3 children, Morrow (Alabama 2015), Morgan (Alabama 2018) and Houston (Belmont 2020). Brent’s older brother, Bud, was a 1975 graduate of The Anniston Academy.
Read more on Brent’s website HERE and like his facebook page HERE
