Browns abound at South Point holiday basketball tournament
It was Friday afternoon at the South Point, and the women’s basketball team from Stonehill College was playing Tarleton State in the annual Division II holiday tournament.
That was one way to look at it.
Another was: “What Can Brown Do for You?”
Everywhere you turned there was a Brown. Only most were wearing purple, the predominant color of the Stonehill College Skyhawks from Easton, Mass.
Easton is about an hour’s drive from Boston, depending on the traffic situation on southbound Interstate 93. When you get to Brockton you hang a right after paying homage to Rocky Marciano, Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Steve “Bye Bye” Balboni, the old ballplayer.
“Easton is where they make those aluminum bats,” said Larry Brown, the first Brown encountered on the Stonehill side of the mostly empty equestrian arena.
Actually, California is where they make those aluminum bats. But having made it to Triple-A with the old Las Vegas Stars, Larry Brown knows a naive sports writer when he sees one coming.
Before he was a Triple-A pitcher, Brown was a two-sport star at Harvard. He was the starting quarterback for the football team. Now he’s vice chairman of the Clark County Commission, which also takes smarts, I’m told — but probably not as many as executing coach Joe Restic’s game plan against Yale.
Brown’s sister, Trisha, also was a two-sport star at Harvard. She played basketball and softball. She was captain of the Crimson’s first Ivy League championship team in 1985-86 and help Harvard, a 16 seed, upset Stanford, a No. 1 seed, in the NCAA regionals. Trisha Brown was an assistant basketball coach at Harvard; she’s in her 14th season as Stonehill’s head coach.
Larry Brown’s daughter — Trisha Brown’s niece — is Shannon Brown. Shannon is a senior starting forward for Stonehill. Sometimes she passes up open shots.
During the first half against Tarleton State, she passed on several good looks, preferring to set up teammates for better shots. Judging from the first 12 minutes, that seems to be her game. And rebounding. She’s also on the commissioner’s honor roll. That Harvard thing sort of runs in the Brown family.
Other Browns were in the stands: Larry’s Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary made the trip, and his wife, Celeste, also was wearing a purple T-shirt with a big No. 30 (Shannon’s number) on back.
Celeste Brown’s brother is John Mizerock, who was charged with 11 passed balls during 1983 when he was a backup catcher for the Astros. In fairness to Celeste Brown’s brother, knuckle-balling Joe Niekro was on the mound for eight of those passed balls that season.
Mizerock and Larry Brown were minor league roommates. Brown has a great line about that, but I promised not to repeat it.
Johnna Brown, who like her kid sister was a basketball and softball star for Centennial High — and then at Dixie College and Grand Canyon — was sitting a row below and left of her old man. Don Logan, the Las Vegas 51s president, was giving her a bit of good-natured grief. Mike Martin, another catcher who had a big league cup of coffee with the Chicago Cubs, arrived in the second quarter and did the same.
Larry Brown IV — Shannon and Johnna’s big brother — also was on hand. He never played for Harvard, but he served with the 82nd Airborne Division. That was more difficult than beating Yale.
All those Browns and the other representatives of Las Vegas’ baseball elite seemed to be having a heck of a good time as Shannon Brown kept passing up shots. Don Logan even bought a round of beers.
“Shoot the ball, Shannon,” Larry Brown said aloud at one point, and then she finally did.
Swish!
Shannon Brown would make another basket, and she finished with 11 rebounds — a career high. But Stonehill lost 55-50, and the Skyhawks committed 27 turnovers. And so the Brown who coached them was not happy.
She still managed a smile afterward while standing on the concourse when her big brother — there were eight Brown siblings, and six were boys — bent to kiss her niece on the head.
“This is special for my family,” said Larry Brown, who was wearing a black ballcap with the Stonehill College logo on front. “Not only my baby sister, coming back to Vegas with the Stonehill program — I’m so very proud of what she’s accomplished — and then my other baby, who is Shannon, goes back to Stonehill, which is the greatest school in the world, back East.
“To have all of them come back together … I mean, it’s the greatest Christmas gift.”
The next night at the South Point there was a stocking stuffer. Stonehill beat Midwestern State of Texas 76-58. Shannon Brown shot the ball six times. She made four baskets.
I’m sure a lot of other Browns cheered, while one reminded her niece to get back on defense.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski
