UNC coach tracked Jim Brown

The Concordia Sentinel

Jim Brown will always be known for his political accomplishments. But the fact of the matter is that Brown is the answer to an intriguing sports trivia question.

Jim Brown was the first recruit at North Carolina for legendary Tar Heel basketball coach Dean Smith, who became the NCAA's all-time winningest coach (879-254, .776) following a 94-74 victory over Louisville in the 1997 NCAA Tournament and led UNC to two national championships.

Smith was head coach at Air Force in 1958 before taking the assistant coaching job at North Carolina under Frank McGuire. "Coach Smith and his wife, along with their two daughters, came through St. Louis where I was a senior in high school," Brown said. "McGuire had told Smith that Carolina had offered me a scholarship and asked him to stop by to encourage me to come to Carolina. His wife waited in an older Chevrolet with a U-Haul trailer on the rear. He told me I was his first recruiting stop, and we would both start anew at Chapel Hill."

Brown went to North Carolina, but ended up concentrating on track with the hopes of making the Olympic team, coming up just short. But Brown did have the distinction of handing off the baton to former Dallas Cowboy great Bob Hayes during some national meets.

"Coach Smith was a wonderful fellow," Brown said. "Coach Brady (LSU head coach John Brady) screams and hollers and all the coaches nowadays seem to be so emotional. Coach Smith was a gentleman. If he would get angry or mad he would give you this stern look. Roy Williams is a little like that. He was a great recruiter, easy-going and always pushed quality of life."

Brown said Smith always liked having smart players on the floor. "He needed a technician running things, and if you wouldn't perform, he would sit you down and somebody else would go in. One interesting point is that the Final Four teams usually involved Duke, Michigan State, Kansas or Syracuse. The one thing they have in common is high graduation rate. Coach Smith would say if you have two solid athletes, with one being a little smarter, but the other being a little more athletic, he would go for the brains. His point was that being smart enough to recognize options on the field or on the court often made a difference between success and failure. Nick Saban recognized that at LSU and built a program based on same savvy football players, with Michael Clayton being a good example."

Brown had the smart, but not necessarily the skills. "I didn't amount to much on the basketball court, but still lay claim to being Coach Smith's first recruit," Brown said. "I have joked with him over the years that I was certainly his most important recruit, being his first. Some guy named Michael Jordan came along some years later that I would imagine is also high on his list."

While Brown may not have gone on to stardom in the sports world, he certainly left his mark on the political scene. Before his retirement from public office, Jim Brown was one of the longest serving public officials in Louisiana’s history. He was first elected to public office in l971 as one of Louisiana’s youngest State Senators.

Many of the laws on the books today were authored by Jim. His efforts created the strongest public records and open meetings laws in the country. And he wrote landmark legislation that offered more public protection for financial privacy, and many of the state’s consumer protection law that still are in effect today.

In 1980, he was elected as Louisiana’s Secretary of State, and wrote major legislation to update the state’s election laws. He built what is considered to be the best state archives building in the country. And he streamlined the state’s corporation laws to make Louisiana more business friendly. The Shreveport Times called Jim the best Secretary of State in Louisiana history, and the Public Affairs Research Council labeled his office the most efficient in state government.

He was elected Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance in 1991, and immediately set out to rebuild this troubled department. Newspapers throughout the country have praised the job done by Jim. Under his administration, the Louisiana Department of Insurance was granted accreditation by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which helped establish the Louisiana Department of Insurance as one of the top insurance regulatory agencies in the country.

But sports still play a big role for Brown, who is a big LSU fan and tries to make a North Carolina home game once or twice a year. "Game day in Chapel Hill is like a Final Four game," Brown said. "You have to go to feel the intensity and excitement. It's kind of like going to an LSU-Auburn game. Everybody is on Franklin St., dressed in Carolina Blue and the kids have little Tar Heels painted on their face. I went to buy a ticket and the guy wanted to sell it to me for $40. I said that was scalping, but then I looked at the price of the ticket and it was $40. It costs $13 to go to an LSU game and $40 to go to an LSU football game."

You would think they would have cut Dean Smith's first recruit more of a slack. But, then again, who knew?