Buddy Holly
06-11-2007, 02:07 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/D_IMAGE.112e2923733.93.88.fa.d0.36bcf11a.jpg
S.A. couple raised son who is now Cavs head coach
Web Posted: 06/11/2007 12:43 AM CDT
Vincent T. Davis
Express-News
Last Thursday night, a couple wearing Cleveland Cavaliers jerseys sat with heads held high at the AT&T Center among the cheering throng of Spurs fans.
The lights, video and audio systems bombarded the arena with explosions of "Spursmania." The Spurs Coyote ran through his antics, drawing howls at the other team's expense.
The couple sat undeterred by the display. They've followed the man leading the Eastern Conference champions since he jumped into sports at age 6. No amount of jeering could shatter their resolve — their son is the Cavs' head coach, Mike Brown.
"They're entitled to feel what they feel," Brown's mother, Jean, 65, said of the arena packed with screaming Spurs fans. "I wouldn't miss my young man. I'm one proud, happy mom, willing to share his excitement and joy."
Jean and Bobby Brown, 66, live in their son's North Side home among neighbors who have a deep affection for them despite their allegiance to the Cavaliers. The Browns, both retired, love San Antonio. They enjoy the warm weather and retired military families they have a lot in common with.
Jean Brown retired in June 2004 from the Department of Defense Dependents Schools after 28 years. Bobby Brown, retired from the Air Force in 1982.
The elder Brown became his son's live-in coach from the day Mike Brown first strapped on football gear.
At their son's basketball games at Wuerzburg High School in Germany, Jean Brown spent most of her time pulling her husband from the court.
"Bobby, come sit down," she'd say. "You're not the coach, he has a coach!"
But the father expected more than average from his children. He was critical, but not in a negative way, Jean Brown said. Instead of giving 100 percent, he expected 200 percent. If they were asked to give 200 percent, he expected 400 percent.
When her son was 7, she asked her husband not to be so hard on him because of his age. "He has to learn, let him grow up," she said. Her husband never wavered. He replied, "He is growing up."
Father and son arrived at basketball games a half-hour ahead of the rest to the team to practice. In the mid-'80s Jean Brown stayed up late at night preparing lessons for the next day. Her husband and son waited for her, shooting baskets at the school gym.
And there's no place the Browns feel more comfortable than arenas filled with yelling fans, watching their son direct his squad. It's where they feel more connected to him, rather than watching on television.
During Thursday's game, a woman sitting behind the Browns played with their 4-year-old granddaughter while making small talk.
"You have on the wrong gear," the woman informed Jean Brown.
"Oh no dear," Jean Brown said. "I'm wearing the right shirt."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because that's our son down there, and we came here to support him."
"Oh wow. Mike Brown's your son? I know you are proud parents. If he was my son I would be proud of him too."
"He's a strong man, and whatever he decides will be the right decision. Take it one game at a time," Jean Brown said. " In the end both will be winners, he will gain a lot either way.
When the Browns wear jerseys with LeBron James' mantra,"Witness," stretched across them, it's more than a catch phrase — it's a personal statement.
It's their proclamation to the world that they've witnessed the rise of a champion they love and call "son."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061107.01B.Browns_parents_state.35384dd.html
S.A. couple raised son who is now Cavs head coach
Web Posted: 06/11/2007 12:43 AM CDT
Vincent T. Davis
Express-News
Last Thursday night, a couple wearing Cleveland Cavaliers jerseys sat with heads held high at the AT&T Center among the cheering throng of Spurs fans.
The lights, video and audio systems bombarded the arena with explosions of "Spursmania." The Spurs Coyote ran through his antics, drawing howls at the other team's expense.
The couple sat undeterred by the display. They've followed the man leading the Eastern Conference champions since he jumped into sports at age 6. No amount of jeering could shatter their resolve — their son is the Cavs' head coach, Mike Brown.
"They're entitled to feel what they feel," Brown's mother, Jean, 65, said of the arena packed with screaming Spurs fans. "I wouldn't miss my young man. I'm one proud, happy mom, willing to share his excitement and joy."
Jean and Bobby Brown, 66, live in their son's North Side home among neighbors who have a deep affection for them despite their allegiance to the Cavaliers. The Browns, both retired, love San Antonio. They enjoy the warm weather and retired military families they have a lot in common with.
Jean Brown retired in June 2004 from the Department of Defense Dependents Schools after 28 years. Bobby Brown, retired from the Air Force in 1982.
The elder Brown became his son's live-in coach from the day Mike Brown first strapped on football gear.
At their son's basketball games at Wuerzburg High School in Germany, Jean Brown spent most of her time pulling her husband from the court.
"Bobby, come sit down," she'd say. "You're not the coach, he has a coach!"
But the father expected more than average from his children. He was critical, but not in a negative way, Jean Brown said. Instead of giving 100 percent, he expected 200 percent. If they were asked to give 200 percent, he expected 400 percent.
When her son was 7, she asked her husband not to be so hard on him because of his age. "He has to learn, let him grow up," she said. Her husband never wavered. He replied, "He is growing up."
Father and son arrived at basketball games a half-hour ahead of the rest to the team to practice. In the mid-'80s Jean Brown stayed up late at night preparing lessons for the next day. Her husband and son waited for her, shooting baskets at the school gym.
And there's no place the Browns feel more comfortable than arenas filled with yelling fans, watching their son direct his squad. It's where they feel more connected to him, rather than watching on television.
During Thursday's game, a woman sitting behind the Browns played with their 4-year-old granddaughter while making small talk.
"You have on the wrong gear," the woman informed Jean Brown.
"Oh no dear," Jean Brown said. "I'm wearing the right shirt."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because that's our son down there, and we came here to support him."
"Oh wow. Mike Brown's your son? I know you are proud parents. If he was my son I would be proud of him too."
"He's a strong man, and whatever he decides will be the right decision. Take it one game at a time," Jean Brown said. " In the end both will be winners, he will gain a lot either way.
When the Browns wear jerseys with LeBron James' mantra,"Witness," stretched across them, it's more than a catch phrase — it's a personal statement.
It's their proclamation to the world that they've witnessed the rise of a champion they love and call "son."
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA061107.01B.Browns_parents_state.35384dd.html