Brown, "Larry" (Lawrence H.)
Basketball
b. Sept. 14, 1940, Brooklyn, NY
The 5-foot-9, 160-pound Brown captained the University of North Carolina basketball team as a senior in 1962-63 and played for the U. S. team that won an Olympic gold medal in 1964. He then joined the Akron Goodyears AAU team for two seasons.
After serving as an assistant coach at North Carolina for two years, Brown joined the New Orleans Bucs of the new American Basketball League in 1967. He went to the Oakland Oaks in 1968 and helped lead them to the 1968-69 championship, leading the league in assists.
Brown also played for the ABA's Washington Capitals, Virginia Squires, and Denver Rockets. He retired as a player in 1972 to become head coach of the league's Carolina Cougars and was named ABA coach of the year in 1973.
After one more season with Carolina, Brown took over the Denver Rockets and won two more coach of the year awards there, in 1975 and 1976. The Rockets moved into the NBA and became known as the Nuggets in 1976-77. Brown guided them to Midwest division titles in 1977 and 1978 but resigned late in the 1978-79 season.
Brown was named head coach at UCLA in the fall of 1979. Despite a 42-17 record in two seasons, the team finished no better than third in the Pacific 10 Conference, and Brown returned to the NBA with the New Jersey Nets in 1981. He left that job late in the 1982-83 season and became head coach at the University of Kansas.
Kansas was the surprise winner of the 1988 NCAA championship, beating Oklahoma 83-79 in the title after having gone only 21-11 during the regular season. Brown won the Naismith Award as college coach of the year.
Shortly after the tournament victory, Brown was named head coach of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs. He was replaced during the 1991-92 season and took over the Los Angeles Clippers just a few days later.
He moved on to the Indianapolis Pacers in 1993 and to the Philadelphia 76ers in 1997. In 27 seasons, Brown had coached nine different teams, which prompted one sportswriter to comment, "He will be in the Hall of Fame, perhaps with a suitcase under his bust."
True to form, Brown left the 76ers after the 2002-03 season to take over his 10th head coaching job, with the Detroit Pistons. It was a controversial move, because he replaced Rick Carlisle, who'd led the Pistons to two winning seasons and had been named NBA coach of the year in 2002. But Brown took the Pistons to the league championship in his first season on the job.
