[1] He played both baseball and American football, scoring a school record 22 touchdowns in his senior year.

[2] He received numerous offers to play college football from Division I schools, but decided to pursue a career in baseball.

For his play, he was named the Mets Minor League Player of the Year and was honored in a pregame ceremony at Shea Stadium.

[8] On March 31, 2001, Cole was driving to his parents' home in Meridian from Mets spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida, when he lost control of his vehicle, causing it to roll numerous times and flip over.

Cole, who was not wearing his seat belt, was ejected from the car causing major injuries to his skull, brain, lungs and several other organs.

In 2010, his family won $131 million in a lawsuit filed against the Ford Motor Company, claiming that the Ford Explorer (the car Cole was driving) is "defective and unreasonably dangerous for the uses for which it was marketed because the vehicle has an unreasonable tendency to roll when used as Ford marketed it to be used [as a station wagon replacement], and that the vehicle is also defective and unreasonably dangerous from an occupant protection or 'crashworthiness' standpoint because the safety belt failed to remain locked and permitted Brian to be thrown from the car and killed.