St. Ignatius's The Eye: Volume LXXIX Number II

Owner: Brian Holzheimer
Model: ’94 Dodge Caravan
Color: Orange, Brown, and White
Total Miles: 154,000
0-60 mph: “about 2.3 seconds” (according to Holtz)
   If you were looking to describe Brian Holzheimer, you wouldn’t have to look much further than room 417. In that room there is a desk whose back simply reads, “Holtz loves Browns.” Well, judging by the paint job of his car I would have to agree.
    Some of you may remember Holtz (who is actually the copresident of the Ignatius chapter of the Browns Backers) as the kid who wore a Browns jersey over his school uniform for much of last year. It was that kind of dedication to his team, that led him to transform the old family minivan into a drivable symbol of his undying support for the Orange and Brown. For those that knew Holtz, this radical transformation was not all that surprising. Brian’s co-president of the Browns Backers, Nick Dipietro said, “If you follow the metamorphosis of his car, it was a Browns sticker, then he added a Browns stripe before it finally developed into a beautiful Browns Butterfly. If you understood what being a Browns fan means you would have been able to see it coming.”
    “The Caravan,” until recently was very normal. It was a dark shade of green, and had very few distinguishing features. In fact, it also had very few problems. The only major problem with it was that the interior lights would mysteriously turn off for no reason, but beyond that it is still in good working order.
    The “Metamorphosis” of the van began earlier this year, when a brown and white stripe was added to the, then still mostly green, caravan. This turned out to be merely a teaser for what was to come, as Holtz, with the help of his friends and fourteen cans of paint (12 orange, 1 brown, 1 white), made the transformation complete, on September 26th. After watching a disappointing Browns loss (at the hands of the New York Giants), Brian (who originally planned to transform the van after a Browns win), decided he could no longer wait. Holtz debuted the new and improved Dodge that Monday to rave reviews, such as, “It is the dream tailgating van,” and, “That is :::struggling to find words::: awesome.”
    The van means a lot to Brian. Not only does it represent his support of the Browns, but it also has historical meaning to his life. “When I was younger I was able to stand up in the back of it (Caravan). I remember my family was on our way to Peak and Peak Ski Resort in New York, and we got lost. When we finally got there, I was so happy I jumped…and hit my head.” When relating this story to many students, there seemed to be one collective response, “Well, that explains a lot.”