It was like any ordinary day for a kid in middle school looking forward to the Christmas and New Year holidays. Aiden Bulloch and his classmates needed to make it through the next few days of final exams at the end of the semester before their winter break began.

On one of those days, Bulloch, then a seventh grader, was called to the office to be checked out of school by his grandmother. Bulloch first walked to his locker to retrieve his backpack.

“I didn’t feel right,” he said, looking back recently. “I thought something happened to my dog (Saiga) for some reason.” Saiga is the rescue dog Aiden received from his father, Bryan Bulloch, as a gift on his 10th birthday.

The young Bulloch’s premonition about something not being right was correct. When he got in the car with his grandmother, sister and cousins, Bulloch’s older sister told him their dad had suffered a heart attack.

“That just stopped me; I didn’t talk for the rest of the car ride,” Bulloch said. As with most kids, their father is their rock. Their vision of strength. Bulloch was no different. “I knew heart attacks could be bad,” he said. “But I thought he’ll be all right because he’s a superhero in my eyes.”

However, Aiden’s father and superhero Bryan Bulloch’s heart attack was fatal. The 39-year-old who worked at BBVA Compass Operations Center was survived by his wife Brandi, daughter Madison and only son Aiden.

Aiden Bulloch, senior at Gardendale High School, is a regional winner in this year’s Bryant-Jordan Foundation Award Scholarship Program’s Achievement category. This award honors senior athletes who have overcome personal adversity to excel. Regional winners receive a $3,000 scholarship and could win additional prizes at the annual awards ceremony on Monday at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham.

Gardendale football coach Chad Eads nominated Bulloch, one of his offensive linemen, for the award.

“I believe Aiden represents everything that the game of football is about and is designed to teach young men,” he said. “It gave Aiden an opportunity to prove to himself that he is a mentally tough person who can overcome any challenge he faces throughout his life. He will be remembered by his teammates for being a guy who played hard and cared about them. You can’t ask for much more from the game than those two things.”

Bulloch was play-fighting with his dad just the night before he suffered the heart attack. He remembers telling him, “I’m going to get bigger than you one day, and I’m going to win one.” His father responded by telling his son, “Keep dreaming.” He also remembers playing football for his father.

“I’m glad I have those memories of him being out there with me,” Aiden said. “He was tough. I think it also made me better.”

Bulloch can still almost hear his father’s coaching.

“Get back up. Keep playing. Rub dirt on it,” he would say. “Always do your best, keep pushing and work harder than everybody, and it will work out.”

Aiden’s mom describes her son as being “a chip off the old block.” Just like a typical 11-year-old boy, he was very active and loved football, hunting, saltwater fishing and had already taken an interest in cooking on the grill, all of which he learned from being around his father.

But Bryan’s death forced Aiden to grow up quickly. He was left feeling like he had to become the “man of the house” and began to worry about “grown-up,” problems, according to his mother. He watched YouTube videos to learn how to fix things around the house and help his mother.

“He pushed through every trial that came his way, and no matter how difficult it was, he would always take away something from it to better him for the next trial,” Brandi Bulloch said. “He learned early on that life is not always fair, and things can change in a second.”

Without his father, Aiden almost gave up on their dream of him playing high school football.

“Mom was really big on it. She didn’t want me to quit,” Aiden said. “She told me he would’ve wanted me to keep playing. Even if you don’t want to play, play for him. I was playing for him, but I was mainly playing for my mom.”

Despite kidney surgery and other health scares that set him back, Bulloch “pushed through” and kept playing high school football. Looking back, he is happy he did.

“I’m so glad I finished playing,” he said. “That was the most fun I’ve had playing football.”

Gardendale finished 9-4 in 2022 and won the region championship for the first time in 16 years with a perfect 6-0 record.

“Bulloch was an example to me of the importance of the game and to his teammates of how to work hard and not let a setback prevent you from reaching your goals,” Eads said. “As an offensive line coach for most of my coaching career, I always looked for linemen who could consistently play with intensity, intelligence and effort. Bulloch was that type of lineman.”

“He always played with great effort and used his intelligence to compete with players who were more athletic. Bulloch was also the leader of our offensive line unit. He was the player the rest looked to during a tough practice or a tough time in a game.”

One of Aiden’s biggest regrets is that his dad didn’t get a chance to see him play for Gardendale High School.

“I always wanted him to see me play high school football because that was a big thing for us,” Bulloch said. “He always wanted to see me play in high school.”

But Aiden still had plenty of support.

“My mom was one of my biggest fans,” he said. “My mom had the cardboard cutouts of my head. My sister had these buttons she’d wear all the time. They would sit in the same spot every game. I would always look for them in the stands. If I made a good play or after we score, the first thing I would do after I celebrated with the team a little bit, I would look up there for my mom and my family.”

Bulloch said one of his most difficult nights without his father was Senior Night for the Rockets.

“That game was tough,” he said. “Seeing many of my friends walk out with their dads, that one struck a nerve with me and hurt a lot. My mom was carrying a picture of my dad, so he was there in spirit. He was there with me, just not physically. Knowing I had all my family in the crowd helped me a lot.”

Even though he hasn’t heard his father’s voice in nearly seven years, Aiden imagined the words his father would have used in this situation, “I am not coming on this field for nothing. Y’all better win now.”

“Bryan would have walked across that field with the biggest smile, beaming with pride,” Brandi Bulloch said. “I know he would have flashed back to the little 5-year-old boy that started football. He would have certainly given him a huge hug and told him, ‘Well done son.’”

Brandi Bulloch said Aiden has been determined to do well in school to fulfill his dream of going to Alabama.

“He has always had an engineer mindset. I always knew he would pursue a career in engineering,” she said. “When he told me he wanted to pursue computer engineering, I smiled and thought of how proud Bryan would be.

“Bryan was a stickler for good grades and being successful. He always preached to the kids that nothing in life is free, that you have to work hard in life. Bryan would say all the hard work has paid off. He was a very proud father.”

Without their father, Aiden’s relationship with his sister, Madison, became invaluable.

“Growing up, we were like typical brothers and sisters, with sibling rivalries and stuff,” Aiden said. “Now, she’s always there for me. I’m always there for her. After my dad passed, we bonded a lot. I’ve got so much respect for her. Instead of going off to college, she stayed home with my mom and me.”

Aiden said he has coped with his challenges by using his quick wit and ability to always makes people smile. What advice would he give someone going through a similar struggle?

“Live day by day,” he said. “Minute by minute. You’ve got to just keep pushing. It will get a little bit better. I’m not going to tell you that you won’t feel the way you do now. I’m almost seven years out, and I still think about him every day.

“You won’t be thinking about it every time you do something, now every time you do something big, or those special moments, you think, ‘It would be nice to have him here.’ But keep pushing through. It will all get better eventually.”

After their high school senior trip to the Bahamas, Bulloch and his buddies will be packing up and moving into their first apartment in Tuscaloosa. He will no doubt be carrying the message and memories passed on to him from the time he did have with his dad.

“Give it your all. Do your best,” will stick with him forever.