Talking with Scott Brickell was a hoot. He is so much fun and so sincere always!  I am thankful to be able to call him a friend and know that he and his wife, Stacy, are true friends who can be counted on. I had lunch with him in Franklin this Spring and got to hear some great stories, and memories and I can’t wait to share them with you.

Many of you know Scott from his time on the dock at K-2, and many of you know of Scott from watching him be portrayed on screen (by Trace Atkins) in “I Can Only Imagine.” Scott owns Brickhouse Entertainment. Brickhouse is a management company that manages mainly Christian artists. MercyMe is currently one of the groups that Brickhouse works with. Scott started in the music industry with Brian Becker.  Scott was Brian’s “merch guy” and “roadie” for several years with no intention of being the guy who did anything other than setting up a show.  After doing finances for DC Talk, the door opened into the management business. August will be Brickhouse Entertainment’s 22nd birthday.  

Scott’s favorite time during Kamp was work week. He loved it because everyone was working hard and the “do-er” in him loved being able to get things done and turn the Kamp on. He loved to look back on his day and know he had really accomplished something. Work week was fun regardless of what he was doing. Whether it was weed eating or hauling gravel or painting the tennis courts, he didn’t realize how much he enjoyed work week each summer until it was over.

As a counselor, he tried to make everything fun. One day, his Kampers had really messed up, so he and his co-counselor walked into the cabin after lunch and acted like they were in a bunch of trouble. He told them that they were going to have to mop the K-Dome during rest period.  When he took them up to the K-Dome, he had them slip ‘n’ slide instead of mop. It was one of his most fun days as a counselor (and the Dome got cleaned). I’m not sure this is “legal” at Kamp any more.

When Scott would teach sailing, he would sail into the middle of the lake, flip his boat over and stand on top of it to teach from the middle of the lake.

Scott shattered his nose on the trampoline at K-2.  He was trying a double backflip on the trampoline, and his nose met his knee (double backflips are now illegal at Kamp. I’m noticing a trend with Brickell). After he shattered his nose, he couldn’t really teach classes, so he spent his time washing dishes in the dining hall and that is where he met his wife, Stacy. He says, “be careful who you wash dishes with because you never know.” He fell in love with Stacy’s joy – the joy she had doing the hardest and most thankless job at Kanakuk. Scott says that they were “so afraid of Joe and getting in trouble,” so they almost acted like they didn’t know each other at times at Kamp. Little did Scott know that he and Stacy had met earlier in the summer and God told Stacy that Scott was going to be her husband then (he thinks his big blue eyes didn’t hurt).  They were both at Kamp the next summer together and Scott was a “true servant,” always volunteering to wash dishes and he tried to impress her with how high he could stack the cups (and never dropped them).

(Mid interview, Todd Wagner showed up in the restaurant. What a fun surprise!  We got a bit side-tracked and had such a great lunch!  There really aren’t friendships like old Kamp friendships!)

Scott loved trip, and his favorite part of trip was caving. Supposedly, he was one of the tallest guys to make it through the corkscrew.  He describes himself as a “rule shaver” but not a “rule buster” at Kamp. He loved when Smitty and Billy Sprague would show up at Kamp (and years later he returned to Kamp with bands he managed like Audio Adrenaline).

He loved the big night off between terms when all of the staff at all of the Kamps had the night off. He remembers The Yogurt Shop where all of the staff hung out and how much fun The Tracks were. Kanakuk staff overtook Branson on those nights!

After Kamp one summer, he pulled out of the gates and pulled over on the side of the road and fell asleep. It’s just the hardest job in the world…if you’re doing it right.” He left the summer drained because he left it all at Kamp. He said he learned more at Kamp than he learned at any other summer job and that you really have to have an internal fortitude to be a great counselor.

Kanakuk is so important to Scott and his family. They built the new “Brickell Falls” at K-2, and it was important to him because Kanakuk is special to his family. He met Stacy there,and now, his kids all go there. His son met his future wife there. Kamp is “holy ground” in his book. Kanakuk is the place where you can grow spiritually more than anywhere else. He says that you have to try to not learn something (spiritually) at Kamp because you come in from college as such an empty sponge.

Scott, Stacy and Ruthie (their youngest) were Kampers at K-Kauai last summer, and they absolutely loved it! They loved being “Kampers” again!

Scott and Stacy are such incredible people. They are down to earth, and they love so big and so generously! They are fantastic parents, and their kids love them and they have done the most amazing job of opening up their home to friends and neighbors so that people have a safe and fun place to hang out. Scott loves life BIG and he loves people BIG. I don’t think windsurf class at K-2 has ever been as good as it was when Brickell was teaching it. Thanks, Scott!

Jamie Jo Braner, Director of Alumni Engagement