Charlotte Latin guard Brown clung to old-school values, reaped rewards
Published December 11, 2009
By C. Jemal Horton
The South Charlotte Weekly
The lesson had been burned into Richard Brown’s consciousness from the moment he picked up a basketball.
While his peers emulated the NBA’s high-scoring, me-first stars during their youth-league games, Brown only could hear the sage words of his father, also named Richard, spoken so many times.
Play the game the right way, work with your teammates – good things will happen.
It was hard to do at first because, hey, everyone wants to be Batman; few people aspire to be Robin. And the 10-year-old Brown was no exception. But the more he was on the court, the better he understood the importance of being a player who made everyone around him better. And when that happened, Brown’s teams became more productive, and he felt better about himself.
“When I was little, I’d play with my dad in the backyard, and he’d be hard on me – I had to do it right or go in the house,” recalled Brown, now a senior point guard at Charlotte Latin School.
“Pretty soon, it just became a part of my game. I just try to play good defense, get my teammates involved and run the team. I really enjoy that.”
That approach has helped Brown become one of the Charlotte Independent Schools Athletic Association’s top point guards. Last season, he averaged 14 points and seven assists and helped the Hawks reach the state playoffs. The 5-foot-10, 165-pounder is one of the city’s surest ballhandlers and most dogged on-the-ball defenders.
But while Brown’s unselfish style of play endears him to coaches and teammates, it hasn’t always helped him in his pursuit of becoming a college basketball player.
Nonetheless, as his point-guard contemporaries, many sprouting north of 6 feet tall, began receiving heavy recruiting interest because of their gaudy statistics, Brown clung to his fundamental approach with the belief his father’s words eventually would prove prophetic.
“I’m a big Larry Brown fan, and I tried to instill in my son to play the right way,” Richard Sr. said, referencing the Charlotte Bobcats coach’s emphasis on the basics of the game. “I really do believe that pays off.”
A New York City native, Richard Sr. didn’t played competitive basketball, but that never kept him from teaching his son how to play at a high level. The elder Brown immersed himself in research, poring through books and Web sites to see what the sport’s foremost authorities believed to be the best approach. He also took his son to basketball camps and watched videos.
From there, Richard Sr. would take his son into the backyard and provide instruction on everything from dribbling to defensive stances to shooting form – the fundamentals.
“We try to understand the game,” Richard Sr. said. “It’s more of an academic component for us. Because of his size, Richard had to bring more than scoring to the game.
“I told him, ‘You don’t have to score to impact the game. Be respectful to your teammates, don’t try to be too flashy. The game is easy – don’t make it harder than it is. Eventually, good things will happen for you, son.”
Things were slow at first.
By the end of last season, an all-conference campaign for Brown, only one college had expressed strong interest in him: Division III Emory University in Atlanta. Brown was flattered, but he also believed he could play at a higher level. That’s when his father went into action.
Richard Sr. mailed a DVD of his son’s top performances to about 25 college basketball programs. A number of coaches responded, and during the summer Brown eventually took unofficial visits to Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Bucknell and Furman – Division I programs, yes, but also strong academic schools that were as impressed by Brown’s 1780 SAT score and 3.2 GPA as his basketball skills.
After his freshman season at Harding University High School, which ranks among the nation’s highest-achieving public schools, Brown and his parents decided he should transfer to Charlotte Latin because they believed it gave him an even better opportunity to attend a prestigious college. Consequently, the family was especially pleased that Ivy League basketball teams were interested in him.
But Furman – the largest and most selective private college in South Carolina – simply wouldn’t go away. The school’s coaches already knew about Brown after receiving his father’s DVD. But then something else happened: A Furman alumnus was so impressed with Brown after watching him play in a high school game that he also contacted the school.
In July, Furman called offering a full scholarship.
His dad was right: Playing the right way did pay off in the end.
“It was a big accomplishment – not only athletically but academically, because no one in my family went to college,” Brown said. “And not only was I going to college, but I’m getting a free ride. Everyone was pretty much proud of me. We all were just ecstatic.”
Now, instead of spending his final high school season hoping college recruiters notice him, Brown can focus solely on helping the Hawks make strides in the CISAA. And with conference heavyweights Charlotte Christian and Concord Cannon in the way, that won’t be easy.
First-year Charlotte Latin coach Chris Berger believes the team’s strength lies in its leadership. The Hawks boast seven seniors, with Davis Austin, Patrick Burton, Will Evans, Hayes Friddle, Brooks Whitmore and Joseph Woodlief joining Brown as the elder statesmen. The 6-foot-5 Friddle leads the team with three blocked shots per game, while the 6-4 Whitmore averages a squad-best 10 rebounds. Meanwhile, Austin, at 6-5, is a high-flyer who contributes on both ends of the court.
Berger also expects sophomore Grayson Foster, the starting shooting guard, and freshman Adam Herrmann, a sharpshooting reserve combo guard, to play key roles. So far, the Hawks are off to a 4-1 record.
“I think we have a nice combination of veterans and young players,” said Berger, a Charlotte Latin graduate who compiled a record of 158-63 in 10 seasons as the Hawks’ junior varsity coach.
“The older guys have stepped up and taken charge, but the young guys are unafraid. We just have to keep working. I feel good about the way our guys are coming together.”
And no one’s more excited than Brown, who, despite his team-oriented tact, leads the Hawks with 23 points per game. He’s also averaging five assists, four steals, five rebounds and one blocked shot each outing.
“We’ve got some talented players on our team,” Brown said. “The future looks bright for our program. I think we can finish with a good record, as long as we do what the coaches want us to do.”
Richard Sr. considers his son a living testament to that approach.
“We’re proud of Richard for getting that scholarship,” Richard Sr. said. “He could’ve done a lot of things other people were doing. But we refused to have him (repeat a grade to reclassify and play an extra year of high school ball). Richard knows you don’t have to take shortcuts to succeed in life.
“Richard’s a hard worker who respects his teammates and the game, and he’s going to give his all to both, regardless what anyone thinks. He didn’t take the path of least resistance. I think that’s a value that won’t just help him in basketball; it’ll help him in life as well.”
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