Wheaton College Athletics

Brian Dini was a three-year starter at center for the Thunder football team (2002-04), including a role as team captain in 2004. He helped lead the program to three-consecutive CCIW championships and playoff berths in 2002, 2003 and as a team captain in 2004. Wheaton posted a 32-5 overall record in Dini's three seasons as a starter, including a 20-1 record in CCIW play with three CCIW Titles.
 
Both D3football.com and Football Gazette honored Dini as a Second Team All-American in 2004; he also earned First Team All-CCIW recognition. In each of Dini's three seasons as a starter at center, Wheaton ranked among the top 15 in total offense in Division III.
 
His head coach, Mike Swider, recalls of the All-American center, "Brian feared nobody and I mean NOBODY. He saw every opponent as just something in his way that had to be removed, and he did that regularly throughout his entire career. He was an absolute bulldozer that cleared the path for many a Wheaton ball carrier. Brian did not just block his opponent; he physically mauled them and then went searching for someone else to flatten. The physicality of the way he played was frightening. Most of the guys he lined up against did not want any part of him. They knew it was going to be a long, ugly day. The beautiful thing was, Brian really liked doing this. He also saw it as his job and responsibility, especially if Wheaton was to be successful. He embraced this role and took great pride in all that was asked of him. Without offensive linemen like Brian, many of our great offensive weapons in those years become far less effective."
 
When asked to pick a favorite memory of his playing days, Dini recalls, "There were so many great games against Augustana over my four years but the one in 2004 is the one that I remember most.  We had just come off a bad loss to Carthage two weeks earlier, and needed to win to get a share of the CCIW championship and our third playoff berth in a row.  The game had gone back and forth all day, and we had just scored a touchdown with seconds left to come within one point of Augie.  Instead of going for the tie and sending the game into overtime, we went for two and the win."
 
Brian says of his time in 'Orange and Blue', "There are so many life lessons from my time at Wheaton, but to this day the one that I think has had the biggest impact on me is something Coach Swider used to always say 'You can Fight or You can Quit.'  Whether in faith, marriage, raising kids or the business world when I have experienced adversity or hardship I always come back to those late afternoons at Lawson Field running down and backs and I can still hear Coach reminding us of that."