by
Brad Norman
Senior
Staff Writer
Since the basketball season started in early November, Noah Brown
has worn a dog tag around his neck.
The inscription reads: “A setback is a set up for a great
comeback- May 31, 2003.”
The date signifies the night a car crash almost ended Brown’s
basketball career.
“It’s a reminder from when I had my wreck,” Brown
said. “When I had my wreck, a friend of mine from California
used to e-mail me two or three times a week and he said that saying
at the end and I’ve always remembered what he said. It’s
kind of like my motto.”
Brown’s motto and hard work have not only led to a stellar
comeback season on the basketball court, it has also led to national
recognition.
Brown was a finalist for the Jimmy V Foundation Comeback Award,
an award given to a collegiate basketball player who has overcome
a trying moment in their life.
The award is given to honor the late Jim Valvano, the former North
Carolina State University coach who led the Wolfpack to a 1983 National
Championship.
It is also based on Valvano’s speech at the 1993 ESPY awards.
Despite being ridden with cancer, Valvano said the now famous words:
“Don’t give up … Don’t ever give up!”
The award is open to both men and women in all levels of collegiate
basketball, not just Division I. Over 50 athletes were nominated
and that number was trimmed to 14 finalists.
Brown sustained four broken fingers, several other broken bones
in his left hand as well as a variety of other injuries during that
auto accident.
After missing a full year, Brown returned to lead the team in points
(13.1 per game) and led the team in made three-pointers (72).
He also set a personal record with 35 points against the University
of Tennessee at Chattanooga and tied a school record that same game
by making nine three-point shots.
“I never even knew I was nominated until we went down to the
conference tournament and they gave us the media preview and it
said that I was nominated for the award,” Brown said.
“I was excited because people nationwide have heard of the
situation I was trying to overcome so it was a thrill to be nominated.
It’s an accomplishment.”
Brown said Sports Information Director Kelby Siler contacted him
Thursday to tell him that he did not win.
“I’m glad I was nominated as a finalist, but just because
of the competitor I am, I wanted to win,” Brown said. “I
want to win everything.
“I would like to have won because people can hear my story.
I give God a lot of the glory so it’s kind of like my testimonial
to people nation wide. I feel like I could have touched a lot of
people’s lives without even saying anything to them,”
Brown said.
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