The return of the quick Brown fox

1985 PBA Most Valuable Player Ricardo Brown is dying to come back to the Philippines and give back to Philippine basketball, perhaps permanently. The former Pepperdine University guard is now a principal at Ross Middle School in the ABC Unified District in California, work he find very fulfilling, but he also misses being in the Philippines.

“It just makes sense, so much information and so many interesting and intriguing stories to share with the great basketball fans of the Philippines,” Brown told The STAR in a series of e-mails. “I hope and pray that I get the opportunity to make this happen.”

Brown first came to the Philippines with a Fil-Am selection that included Eddie Joe Chavez, who eventually became the point guard for Puerto Rico in succeeding Olympic Games. Brown was part of the Great Taste Coffee squad that broke the stranglehold of Crispa and Toyota in the early years of the PBA. He quickly gained notice for his cool demeanor, tight spin move that broke the ankles of many a defender, and his two-handed jump shot that once scored 41 points in the second half of a game against Ginebra in November of 1985. Those were the freewheeling, high-scoring days of the PBA’s ascendancy.

“When I started playing, the PBA was Toyota and Crispa at that time, ‘cause there’s no draft and whoever was aggressive with his money will get the better players,” recalls Alaska assistant coach Joel Banal, a former teammate of Brown. “But fortunately that was the start of the buildup of Great Taste Coffee. So, they spent money to get some players. We came out, that’s Manny Victorino, Cho Sison, myself and the following year it was the time of Ricardo Brown and Joy Carpio. We won a championship right away.”

Great Taste won four championships in a row from 1984 to 1985, but since they weren’t in the same calendar year, the feat was not considered a Grand Slam. Brown, for his part, was the first legitimate Fil-Am player to make the PBA, and he stood out, even among the galaxy of stars that filled the Coffeemakers roster: Arnie Tuadles, Philip Cezar and later on Atoy Co and a young Allan Caidic. Brown made the Mythical First Team in 1983 and 1984 before becoming the smallest player to become the league’s Most Valuable Player. It took another seven years before another guard, San Miguel Beer’s Ato Agustin, earned that honor.

“There’s no way around the controversial aspect of my career, considering that I came over with Danding (Cojuangco) and that very controversial RP Team, was a Redmanizer until the last minute before the 1983 Draft, then to GTC for four straight titles, a major ‘facial change’ that caught me off guard at GTC in 1987, and finally my move to SMB, which was really an amazing development that very few know about,” Brown recalls. “Yes, many things to share.”

Brown took his masters in Educational Administration at California State University, Fullerton, and started working in the state’s educational system upon his retirement. He is very proud of Ross Middle School’s accomplishments, and the fact that Filipinos are involved with the Board of Education there.

“I’m the first Filipino-American (or Filipino) to be a principal in the very prestigious ABC Unified School District in the Cerritos, California area,” Brown explains, “Two Board of Education members are Pinoy. There are many Filipinos in the area, and that has been fantastic for me. My school is a Middle School, 7th and 8th grade students, lower economic for the most part, but the best kids in the world. We are a Magnet School, an Academy of Creative and Media Arts, which simply means we have very high-level electives in Technology, Art, Drama, and Music. But, as I tell my staff and parents who inquire about my school - we also emphasize greatly Math, English, Science, and History.

Ricky also gets his regular dose of interaction with Filipinos in the area, as he stops at the popular Mabuhay Kitchen and Valerio’s Bakery twice weekly because of the great food, but also the conversation with the many Filipino establishment owners and patrons, which always brings his mind back to Manila.

On his facebook page, Brown recently posted an album of vintage PBA photos from his 10 unforgettable years in the Philippines. The overwhelming reaction from Filipino basketball fans spurred him even more to find his way back home, perhaps as the author of a book on his touching experiences in this basketball-mad archipelago.

“I created this for the great fans of Philippine basketball and specifically for those who were so wonderful to me during my 10 years playing there,” Brown elaborates. “My purpose was to allow the fans of the PBA during my playing days to simply view these images and reminisce, bring a smile or two, or maybe even a tear, as they reflect on not only basketball during those times, but also their own lives. It has been fantastic. The responses and messages to me have brought me to tears several times. I am planning to do a book, as well, on my 10 years in Manila and the first Fil-Am to play in the PBA. The fans are very receptive to the potential book. If a publisher comes through, we’ll make it happen. It will be my special gift to the fans, and the proceeds will be donated to a good cause in the Philippines. I am determined to make this happen.”

More than that, Brown is hoping to help the PBA the way retired superstars like Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have helped spread goodwill for the NBA long after they finished playing.

“My dream would be to do a book tour back in Manila in the very near future and simply reconnect with the fans,” Brown adds. “I’ve been in touch with commissioner (Chito) Salud, as well, and he is very supportive of this prospective book. I would like to speak to the commissioner about getting involved in the league in perhaps an ambassador’s role for both in the States and The Philippines, and anywhere else the league is exploring. I also want to sit down with commissioner Salud and discuss ways he may feel I can help the PBA, because I want to do that, and believe I can. With my connection with the fans once again, the book as a special gift of information yet to be told, my knowledge of the game and how it should be played, and my administrative experience in working with people and projecting an image that is well received and trusted I believe I can be an asset to the PBA.”

The quick Brown fox is hoping that the book will generate more interest in the PBA, and raise revenues for charity in the country. And if all goes well, the PBA’s first cool cat of a point guard may bring his patented spin move, deadly jump shot and leadership back to the Philippines for good.

“I love my work, but the desire to return to Manila soon, and in the future, permanently, outweigh everything. This is not a ‘stop and go’... this is for real and from my heart,” an emotional Brown told The STAR.

Nobody can question the fact that Ricky Brown’s heart is truly Filipino.