My high school years," Brian Dowling recently confided to a friend, "were my formative ones." After pausing for a moment, nervously looking around, tieing his shoe, and running his left hand casually through his hair, Dowling went on, "It was then that I discovered I was a Hero."

The discovery came as no surprise to Dowling's family and friends, who had watched him closely since his birth. "I always knew my Brain would be a Hero," his mother often says.

It was during these years--Dowling went to St. Ignatius High School, in Cleveland, Ohio--that a girl first walked into his life: Sue Bee, of the well-known honey family. "I loved Brian at first sight," Sue has said, "especially his body, his hair--and his personality.

The romance held firm until Dowling left the Mid-West to come to Yale. "I almost died," Sue said at the time. "Yes, it was hard leaving her," Brian recalls, "but I wanted to go to Yale and play football." Sue has since married, Marvin Plumb, a tractor salesman.