Greg Brown is an excellent example of how courage, determination and an overcoming spirit can inspire achievements of greatness. ‘Too small' are the words that preceded each level of competition in the progression of Brown's basketball career, but Brown refused to allow his dreams to be contained in the limited visions of so called experts of the game.
Brown used low expectations to infuse his journey to greatness. Although basketball is believed to be a big man's game, in each contest, Brown would reveal why it's not the statute of man that will unleash his greatness, but it's the heart of the individual that allows him to wear the banner of a champion.
This year Brown was honored as one of the 2007 inductees into the UNM Alumni Lettermen's Athletic Hall of Honor.
At 5'7" Greg took the UNM Lobo basketball team on his shoulders to the 1994 WAC basketball championship game where they beat arch rival BYU. The Lobos would also be crowned the season end WAC champions, the school's first in over 16 years.
Greg, a 1990 graduate of Albuquerque High School was an All State point guard who was overlooked by division I schools who were convinced that Greg couldn't compete at their level of competition. Greg shared his disappointment of being overlooked, "It was difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that they didn't consider me to be a Division I player, no matter how good I was in high school. It was even said that I wouldn't play beyond high school. I used these statements and beliefs as motivation to prove them wrong."
Greg attended junior college at New Mexico Junior-college in Hobbs, New Mexico, where he earned All-American honors on the basketball court.
Greg received a scholarship to play basketball for the Lobos in the 1992-93 season. During his impressive career, Greg scored 30 or more points four times and compiled career highs, including scoring 42 points in a single game—in 34 minutes— against Texas-El Paso. For all his efforts, Greg was named Western Athletic Conference and District 7 Player of the Year in 1994. He garnered honorable mention All-America recognition from the United States Basketball Writers and The Sporting News.
Ironically Greg's crowning achievement was awarded because of his size in his receiving of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, given annually to the best player in the nation under six-feet. Named for the founder of basketball himself, Dr. James Naismith, the award also signifies the nation's best players overall—no matter what their size. Greg is the first UNM Letterman to receive this coveted award.
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