Last summer while the kids were helping me shop for groceries at the Lackland AFB commissary, we saw Devin Brown, a former San Antonio Spur, signing autographs. Wow!
1981 West Campus Sports Greatness
I told my kids that my high school’s little 4A sport’s teams bested their previous records in 1981, with the basketball team competing in the semi-finals, only to be outdone by the baseball team that won the finals!
Then Devin Brown came along…but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Currently playing for the Utah Jazz, Brown was offering basketball camps throughout San Antonio. One would be at my old high school which was also Devin’s Brown old high school: the West Campus Cougars!
1995-1998 West Campus Cougar Years
Brown was the all-time high school scorer in the city of San Antonio. In 2003 West Campus High School retired Brown’s high school jersey.
1998-2002 UTSA Roadrunner Years
While attending nearby UTSA, Brown was again leading scorer with numerous honors such as Southland Conference Freshman of the Year. Again, Brown’s jersey was retired by UTSA. Notably he was the first Roadrunner with that accolade.
2002-2006 Professional Years
For his 2002 rookie year Brown played for USBL Kansas Cagerz, becoming the USBL Rookie of the Year.
That summer Brown was invited by the San Antonio Spurs to attend their summer camp.
After theSpurs cut Brown, he returned to play seven games for the them in November 2022.
For the rest of 2002 through part of 2003, Brown played for the Fayetteville Patriots (Y’all know how I get excited with anything Lafayette!). In April 2003 Brown upped his game to the NBA with the Denver Nuggets.
That summer Brown played for the 2003 San Antonio Spurs Summer League.
Later he officially signed on with the Spurs where he increased his impact through the regular season games and the play offs, eventually helping the team win their third NBA championship in June 2005.
The 2005-2006 season saw Brown with the Utah Jazz.
This summer in 2006, my son decided to attend Brown’s basketball camp at nearby West Campus High School.
Basketball Camp with Devin Brown and Neville Shed
Personally, I have to say that walking into the bleachers of our sunken basketball court brought back many memories: the echoes of sneakers sliding on the waxen wooden floor, the dribble of basketballs, the shrill of whistles. PE classes, pep rallies, basketball games, and other events filled this space. Who knew my son would ever have a bit of history here?
My son was given a HUGE teeshirt for camp (my son was still a bit on the small side from having been a preemie…so he has many years to enjoy the tshirt as he grows).
After the all-important stretching session they practiced drills…
Nevil Shed (seen below) coaching my son’s group.
Neville Shed shares his story turned into a movie
Shed shared with the audience his amazing story of how he was recruited in New York by Dan Haskins to play basketball for the unknown Texas Western Miners (now UTEP: University of Texas at El Paso) where he had to learn a completely different style of basketball playing…from run and gun to methodical dribble and pass.
The entire team, newly recruited by determined Dan Haskins, worked hard…which led to the team stunning the world to win the 1966 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament.
Thus Shed recommended the newly released 2006 DVD: Glory Road, which tells this very story.
After an injury more than side-lined him while training for the Boston Celtics, Shed became assistant coach with Dan Haskins at Texas Western, eventually arriving in San Antonio to work at UTSA and even coach with the San Antonio Spurs Summer Training Camp.
After lunch they prepared for a scrimmage. Here is my son wearing a West Campus Cougar jersey (oh be still my heart…takes me back to my high school days).
Totally worn out by the end of the day, my son crashed fast asleep in the van after dinner at Taco Cabana.
Inspired by Shed, we purchased the Glory Road DVD.
I highly recommend it for homeschooling history studies of the 1960s.
It tells the story of racial tensions and the fight for equality amidst the backdrop of collegiate basketball.
Despite the seriousness of the times, there was plenty of levity from an entirely new team of collegiate basketball athletes (many of whom were urbanites) arriving in the barren desert of west Texas to numerous escapades while learning new basketball techniques…or not.
Be careful or Mama will come to chew you out!
Epilogue 2024
While trying to find the original dates of the basketball camp my son attended, I discovered that Devin Brown now hosts them officially as Head Coach at Nike Proskills San Antonio, formed in 2019. At my son’s 2006 camp experience, Brown was quite professional and obviously happy to be working with the kids.
However I never found the official dates, so the ones I’m using are approximate.
