The LSU community comes together to pay its respects to legendary LSU men’s basketball coach Dale Brown, who passed away last month at the age of 90. A three-hour celebration of life ceremony was held at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, where Brown coached the Tigers for 25 years. Among those remembering Coach Brown was Collis Temple, who in 1971 became the first Black player to play varsity basketball for LSU. Temple played for Brown in his final two years in Baton Rouge, and he said Brown’s dedication to his life went far beyond his playing days.
“When I woke up from cancer surgery 20 years ago, the first person that I saw was Dale Brown. He’s a special man,” Temple said.
Ricky Blanton played for Brown from 1984 until 1989 and was a part of the 1986 team that made its improbable run to the Final Four. Blanton recalled Brown visiting him and his family as he was recruiting him to Baton Rouge.
“After the visit, me and my family look at each other; we kind of look and agree that we had never met anybody like Coach Brown. 43 years later, I stand right here; and we still have never met anybody like Coach Dale Brown,” Blanton said.
Before becoming one of the NBA’s greatest players and greatest personalities of all time, Shaquille O’Neal played for Brown for three seasons from 1989 until 1992. Shaq said Brown always had a never-say-die attitude, even when the scoreboard suggested otherwise.
“I could remember us being down by 11 with like six seconds left, and coach would say, ‘Huddle up! All we need is four three-pointers in six seconds and we win the game,’ (laughter). And I’m doing the math like, ‘I don’t think that’s possible.’ ‘Alright, go! one-two-three go, break!'” O’Neal recalled.
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