Bio

Donald L. "Dale" Brown

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (1989-1991) / Basketball
Moss Point, Mississippi

Dale Brown played two seasons with former basketball coach Bob Weathers and helped the Bulldogs win the Region 23 title in 1989-90. During that season, he averaged 18.5 points per game and was the team’s 3-point threat. Brown scored at least 20 points 17 times in that campaign. For those efforts, he won the team’s Outstanding Offense Player Award. The Bulldogs finished the season with a record of 24-11 and ranked in the nation’s top 20.

For Brown, the best was yet to come. Before his sophomore season, the Moss Point native signed to play at the University of Kentucky under head coach Rick Pitino. Twelve schools also offered him scholarships to play, but he chose the legendary Wildcats program. “I didn’t expect it to happen like that,” Brown says. “I got phone calls late at night and early in the morning. I was ready to get it over with. Signing early helped me concentrate on the season.”

On the court, Brown was a key member of the team that went 33-5, won the state championship and another Region 23 title. He averaged 20 points per game, scored at least 20 points 11 times, and earned a long list of postseason accolades, including first-team honors on the NJCAA All-American squad, first-team All-State and All-Region 23. He also finished fourth in voting for the national junior college player of the year and won the Tony Weathers Memorial award, an honor given to a Gulf Coast basketball player who exhibited sportsmanship, scholarship, citizenship and athletic performance. (The award was named for the son of Bob and Tommie Weathers. Tony was a Perk student and basketball player when he was killed on March 2, 1986, in an automobile accident.)

The 1990-91 squad finished fourth in the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Weathers calls this team “probably the best group of kids I’ve had while I was at Perk.” He also says while at Perk, Brown was a “tremendous human being.”

Brown went on to play at Kentucky was a member of the 1993 Final Four team that lost to the University of Michigan in the semifinals. For that season, Brown was elected to Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year. However, he did not graduate until 2004. During the time in between, he endured adversity and personal tragedy. Brown played preseason ball with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. The day he was supposed to sign a contract, his mother was killed in a car accident. When he left the team to attend a funeral, he was released from the squad.

After that, Brown worked in construction and a package delivery until he got his degree. They begin coaching at several levels, including one stint as it as an assistant coach for the Gulf Coast Bandits of the World Basketball Association. In 2006, Brown, who wants to be an NBA assistant coach one day, is an assistant coach for Pikeville College in Kentucky.