Special Work Ethic and Drive Has Allowed King's James Brown to Ascend to New Heights
This is the continuation of a series of Body, Mind & Soul stories that highlights member student-athletes, coaches and administrators of Conference Carolinas.
BRISTOL, Tenn. - It’s really no wonder that James Brown was born three months premature. After all, he had places to go.
“I wasn’t supposed to make it,” said Brown, the All-Conference Carolinas basketball star and Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award nominee at King University. “I spent three months in an incubator. One of my lungs wasn’t fully formed. So, when my mother says I’m special, she means it!”
Judging by his long list of extracurricular activities and community projects, even the word “special” may not seem adequate. It’s surprising he had time for basketball.
Besides serving as team captain of the 2020 Conference Carolinas regular season basketball champions — the Tornado owned a 23-7 overall record (16-4 in league) — Brown has posted a 3.7 career grade-point average and will graduate this Fall with a degree in business administration.
In a school year interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, James has served as the Student Government Association’s student body treasurer and as a member of the Tornado Leadership Team, where two student-athletes of each sport at King are selected for leadership training. In addition, he was one of four students on campus selected as an Apple Team Leader, travelling to Dallas for a national convention about drug and alcohol awareness.
Oh, there’s more.
James is also determined to be a one-man community ambassador for King University, a small private college founded by the Presbyterian Church two years after the Civil War in 1867.
Among his community projects are staging basketball camps for elementary students at a local recreation center, serving as a guest speaker to Boys Scouts in the Tennessee/Virginia area, reading to underserved children at two different grammar schools and joining his teammates to man Red Cross Relief telephone hotlines during Hurricane Michael.
And, in his spare time, James oversaw more than 20 fellow students as a resident assistant in his dormitory.
To fully appreciate Brown’s life story, one needs to start at the beginning. It is a story of perseverance, overcoming adversity and refusing to give up.
It starts with his parents, Matthew and Janet, who married early and started a family while still in high school in Lansing, Mich. Mr. Brown worked at a Burger King while his wife was employed at three different cleaning services.
“They were just trying to make a living to provide for us,” said James, the only person in his family to attend college. “Eventually they started their own successful healthcare insurance business.”
He’s the second oldest of seven children: older sister Madison, 24, is a salesperson for a cosmetology company in Michigan; brother Ben, 18, just graduated high school and is an aspiring rap and hip hop artist; sister Abby is 15, brother Bryson is seven, sister Christine is six and stepbrother Anton is 10.
“I wasn’t the most popular kid in school,” James admits. “I was one of only five African-American students at the school and I faced some bullying for sure, especially since I didn’t play sports until middle school.”
In 2012, his parents split while he was in junior high school. They abruptly closed their insurance business, with his father becoming a credit analyst and real estate investor and his mother taking an administrative job at a senior facility.
“After the split, my mom got me involved with basketball,” recalled James. “It helped me cope with our family situation and I just fell in love with the game.”
He started to play on an AAU team and then continued his basketball journey at DeWitt High School in Lansing.
“It was a tough road for me,” he said. “I was the last guy on the bench my freshman year.”
He transferred across town to Lansing Everett High as a sophomore. After making the varsity but not playing in the first two games, the JV coach convinced him to join his team for more playing time and an opportunity to return to the varsity later in the season. He responded by averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game for the JVs, yet his call-up never happened.
“I was devastated,” said Brown. “I had been grinding so hard. I knew I needed to get a scholarship to go to college, so I kept pushing.”
While he never started a game as a senior, he did perform well enough on the varsity to earn some offers from junior college programs, including Lansing Community College, which at the time was ranked fourth nationally.
“I really believed in myself so I decided to go to a prep school for a fifth year because I knew I would face better competition to prove myself and maybe get an offer from a four-year college.”
So, the 6-foot-2 guard packed his bags and left for Lindon, N.J. and Prestige Prep School. Before long, he emerged as one of the team’s best players. Traveling across the country to face elite teams, he averaged 20 points and six rebounds a game.
“It paid off. I think I showed what I could do.”
James’ cousin, Trevor Manuel, was already playing on Loyola Marymount University’s basketball team, and the Lions’ Assistant Coach Ray Johnson reached out to Brown about coming out to Los Angeles for a workout. The coach told him there was a scholarship waiting for him if he passed the test.
However, James arrived on campus only to learn that Johnson was leaving for another coaching opportunity. His scholarship offer had suddenly disappeared. Understandably, Brown was reeling.
“So now I’m in L.A. and don’t know what to do next,” said Brown. “I started working out at UCLA with some college and NBA players, hoping I might get noticed. But It was already August, so I knew it was really late to hook up with somebody.”
He finally got a scholarship offer from Los Angeles Trade Tech, a four-year college in downtown L.A. With no other prospects in sight, he accepted the offer. He earned a starting role and earned Freshman of the Year team honors.
Yet, James felt he could play at a higher level. He started to search for a two-year college that could serve as a springboard to a scholarship opportunity at a better four-year program.
That took him to the New Mexico Military Institute, a challenging academic school for junior college and high school students that was billed as “The West Point of the West.”
Brown described it as “the most difficult year of my life.”
Consider his rigorous schedule:
6 a.m. - Wake-up call
6:30 a.m. - Marching in formation with his squadron
7:30 a.m. - Breakfast
8:30 am.-3:30 p.m. - Taking 20 academic units in classes
3:45 p.m. - Grabbing a quick snack
4-6 p.m. - Basketball Practice
6:15 p.m. - More marching in formation
7 p.m. - Dinner
8 p.m. - Visiting with his family on the phone
9 p.m.-2 a.m. - Doing homework
2 a.m. - Lights out
“The experience really taught me time management,” he said. “You really find out what your capacity is. Plus, I was able to play in one of the toughest community college conferences in the country.”
An average student in high school, Brown seemed to thrive on the discipline and classroom challenges at New Mexico Military Institute. He carved out a 3.5 grade-point average in earning Dean’s List and All-Academic Conference honors.
“Once I got to college, I just seemed to feel in tune with the more focused atmosphere.”
Some universities started to show interest in Brown’s game. One of those was King University in Bristol, Tenn.
George Pitts, King’s legendary basketball coach who led the Tornado to seven 20-win seasons and three NCAA Regional appearances before retiring, visited New Mexico Military Institute during an offseason pickup game.
“First thing I noticed was all the rings on his fingers,” said Brown of the now retired coach. “He came up to me and said, ‘I love your game.’ He offered me a scholarship on the spot. I was stunned.”
While James had received other offers, he said Pitts “sparked something” in him.
He accepted the scholarship and within weeks on campus, he was voted team captain.
Before long, it was evident that Brown had made a good decision.
In his first season in Bristol, he averaged a team-leading 14.3 points, with scoring outbursts of 33 (vs. Emmanuel) and 31 (Virginia St.) points. He also ranked sixth in the conference with 43 steals and averaged 4.0 rebounds per game.
“When I first saw him play, I was amazed,” said King assistant coach Michael Phelps. “I had never seen someone who played as hard as he did. He never took a play off. He’s very competitive. If he makes a mistake, it’s always because of all-out hustle. As a coach, you love to see a player like that.”
Phelps also raved about Brown’s other positive traits.
“His leadership qualities are magnificent. He’s been such a great leader for our team, both on and off the court. He’s an extension of the coaching staff. J.B. also has sacrificed for the team. He’s a very gifted player but he’s unselfish and quite humble."
James’ second season at King was just as impressive. As the club’s driving force, he churned out 13.1 points per game, improving both his field goal (49.8) and three-point field goal (35.5) percentages in earning second-team All-Conference Carolinas. He was also named the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Despite a brilliant campaign, the No. 1 seeded Tornado were upset in the conference tournament semifinals by Southern Wesleyan, 92-77. Brown still hasn’t recovered from the ulcerating loss.
“I still haven’t gotten over it. We let that game slip away. But even though we lost, it was a life lesson. You only get one shot. So, I’ll make sure I’m prepared for every opportunity that comes my way.”
While he still has a few units to complete this Fall, James is already looking forward to his future after college. And, of course, he’s thinking big.
“My dream is to play basketball professionally, either in the NBA or NBA Developmental League or maybe Europe. When basketball is over, I want to dive into being an entrepreneur. I want to thrive in the business world. I already have my own LLC. I’ve been working in real estate investment for almost a year with my dad during the summers.”
And does he plan to open his business back in Michigan?
“That’s where my headquarter office will be,” he said. “But I want to open a lot of offices all over the place!”
Considering his work ethic and passion, Coach Phelps wouldn’t put it past him.
“If he sets his mind to something, J.B. will be successful. That’s just his track record.”
Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations.
