Ricardo Brown (basketball)

Ricardo Vidal "Ricky" Brown (born May 22, 1957) is a Filipino-American professional former basketball player. His monikers were The Quick Brown Fox and Mister Fourth Qwerty.

Collegiate and amateur career

Brown was a freshman guard in a senior-laden Centenary College varsity squad. From Centenary, Brown went on to play for the Yavapai Junior College team in Arizona. Then an offer came to play for Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. In 1979, Brown made his debut with the Waves under coach Gary Colson, where he was All-West Coast in his Junior and Senior years and Southern California Player of the Year. Brown wound up his collegiate career as the school's all-time assist leader and among the top ten in scoring. He was drafted by the Houston Rockets in the 3rd round of the 1979 NBA Draft as a junior eligible.

Brown came to Manila in January 1981. He was recruited by Dr. Fernando Carrascoso, Ambassador Danding Cojuangco's deputy, coach Ron Jacobs and Honesto Mayoralgo. Brown's team played against Jacobs' team Loyola at Marymount in College. In the 1981 Jones Cup in Taipei, Brown wore the Philippine flag on his shirt for the first time as a player of the Philippine training team-Northern Cement coached by Ron Jacobs that won the Jones Cup title. Brown also saw action in other tournaments for De La Salle Green Archers in 1982. ^[1]

Professional career

Brown moved on to play professional basketball in the PBA in 1983, where he became the first-ever Filipino-American to play as a 'local' in the league. He was the 1983 Rookie of the Year and 1985 MVP. He was also included in the Mythical Five selection in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1988. He played for the Great Taste Coffee Makers and the San Miguel Beermen, where he won a total of 7 championships during his PBA career. His ability to evade his defenders and score as well as pin point assists made him one of the best point guards in the PBA. He holds the All-time PBA career scoring average (23.1 ppg) and PBA All-time Best Assist Average (7.3 per game).

In 1989, the year of San Miguel's Grand Slam (three championships in one year), he was an integral member of a powerhouse squad that included future Hall of Famers Hector Calma, Samboy Lim, and Ramon Fernandez.^[2]

Retirement and later career

In 2000, Brown was named a member of the PBA's 25 Greatest Players. In 2009, he was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame along with former teammates Allan Caidic, Samboy Lim, and Hector Calma.^[3] He is now the Principal of Ross Middle School in Artesia, California, and is the first Filipino-American principal to be named in the ABC Unified School District.^[4]

Personal life

Brown's parents were married in Manila in 1945 and moved to the United States the next year. His father Lee Brown was an American serviceman and a former major leaguer with the St.Louis Cardinals. Browns's mother, the former Conrada Vidal, had a family-owned photography shop in Santa Cruz, Manila. Brown has two brothers and a sister born in the Philippines. Ricardo is married to the former Lorma Sahagun, a Filipina from Ilocos Norte, and has two sons, Justin and Kevan. Kevan was born in Cardinal Santos Hospital in San Juan, Greenhills, an affluent suburb of Metro Manila.

In other media

Brown founded the Quick Brown Fox is Ricardo Brown Institute of Typing circa 1984 (closed 1999 at the advent of personal computers in the Philippines). He also made a movie with the comedy king, Dolphy, in 1987 titled Action is Not Missing, which was an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival and a box-office hit.^[5]

What he does now

Brown now is a principal of Faye Ross Academy of Media Arts in Artesia, California.

References

External links

• Ricardo "The Quick Brown Fox" Brown (Official)