The Thrill of Being Brutus

Ante Dejanovic isn’t one of those small-town transplants who doesn’t like “the big city.” Originally from a community of just a few thousand people in Northeast Ohio, he came to Ohio State and immediately fell in love with the energy on campus and the seemingly endless things to do in Columbus. Later, he’d fall in love with two more things: Dentistry and being Brutus.

During his junior year at Ohio State, Ante taught himself the backflip, practicing regularly in the Oval. Always eager to try new things, he perfected the skill to such a degree that he was able to join the university’s gymnastics team. During that same year, he saw an advertisement about Brutus tryouts and, thinking it sounded fun, decided to take a shot.

“At the time I was trying out, there was an interview process and a costume tryout,” Ante said with a big grin that appears whenever he talks about his days as Brutus. “We had to do a skit for a minute and a half to a song of our choosing. I did ‘Hang on Sloopy.’ My tryout was not very good, but I had the strong gymnastics. Coach Ray took a chance with me and the rest is history. They taught me all the other stuff.”  Ante said his special talents as Brutus were his gymnastics abilities and kicking 50- to 60-yard field goals.
“Nothing beats being in the stadium with 100 thousand people and you’re the only person on the field,” he said. “That’s what’s called ‘Brutus time.’ The coach just says, ‘Brutus, go play.’”

Ante spent his senior year as Brutus and loved it so much he added a biology minor to his neuroscience major so he could extend his studies into a fifth year and continue in the role. Meanwhile, he was pursuing medical school— but he had reservations. During his interviews, a student told Ante he was throwing his soul into medical school to see if it would stick. That stayed with him—hearing someone say they were putting everything into something they weren’t sure about. He realized he wasn’t sure either.

“I was accepted into the DO school at Ohio University, and I put my deposit down, but on my way back to Columbus I did some soul searching and decided to make a switch,” Ante said. He started exploring other health science careers, and—guided by advice from a family friend and attracted to the good work-life balance—he turned his eyes to dentistry. “I had wanted to be a surgeon, and I always liked doing things with my hands to fix things, so the transition wasn’t that difficult.”

It is perhaps serendipitous that it was Ante, as Brutus, who posed for the cover of the spring 2019 edition of the Dental Journal, highlighting the construction of the expanded Postle Hall. Now in his fourth year at the college, he sees dental school as both the hardest and most fun thing he could have done. He said he loves the connections with his classmates and the fact that, even when school is hard, they’re doing it together.

“Dentistry is a cool field. I like the technology and being able to change smiles. As soon as you give people who are missing teeth some new teeth, it changes their outlook on life.”

Although he’s keeping his options open about specializing in the future, Ante plans to take a break from school and join a general practice in the Columbus area. He looks forward to filling his future office with photos and mementos of his time as Brutus, which—at least so far—has been the thrill of his life.

"Nothing beats being in the stadium with 100 thousand people and you’re the only person on the field." Ante Dejanovic (DDS)