Brown hoping to make fifth season his best ever

Exactly one year ago tonight, Frank Brown walked onto the Palestra floor a man possessed. Coming off a season where a nagging knee injury kept him polishing the pine for all but 13 games, few expected much from Brown in the Quakers season-opener against then-No. 7 Kansas on November 17, 1998. To the delight of the Palestra faithful and to the chagrin of Jayhawks coach Roy Williams, Brown shot the lights out, going 7-for-9 from the field for a career-high 17 points in a scant 26 minutes. The 6'6" swingman from Los Angeles was vital to keeping Penn close in a game that ended with Kansas on top 61-56. "If it's not for Frank we're probably not right there with Kansas," Penn coach Fran Dunphy said. Brown was there six nights later as well, playing another 26 quality minutes in Penn's upset victory over city-rival Temple. November made Quakers fans optimistic -- it looked as if 1998-99 was going to be Frank Brown's season. These predictions proved premature, however, as Brown's playing time was inconsistent throughout the year. He was in for just five minutes in the calamitous home loss to Princeton and averaged only 5.9 points per game over the course of the year. "I don't really know. I try to practice hard every day. It's the coach's decision who gets to play and who doesn't get to play," Brown said. "I don't hold any grudges. We were winning and I was comfortable with my role of coming off the bench last year." Because he was forced to sit out all of 1996-97 and much of 1997-98 with injuries, the Ivy League offered Brown another year of eligibility for this season. Entering his fifth year in West Philadelphia, Brown looks like he'll get the full benefit of the doubt. "We have Frank Brown coming back at the small forward spot," Dunphy said. "We're rooting for Frank to have a great season, not only for us but for Frank as a person. I think he's a good man and he's paid a lot of dues, so he's going to be given every opportunity." Brown may have the benefit of the doubt this season, but he will need to secure court time on a squad with an overflowing cup of talent. The departure of two thirds of last year's starting frontcourt in graduated seniors Paul Romanczuk and Jed Ryan may free up space in the first five, but Brown will still need to battle. Big men like junior transfer Oggie Kapetanovic and true junior Josh Sanger will see action, as may any number of youthful forwards. Sophomore Dan Solomito and freshmen Ugonna Onyekwe and Koko Archibong will vie with Brown for Dunphy's favor in the rotation. Will Brown fit into a team so deep in frontcourt performers? Will this finally be his year to shine? Penn co-captain Michael Jordan thinks so: "I don't see Frankie not fitting in. He's a special player who's been here for five years. "He's worked hard so he's earned any playing time that he gets. When he's out there he's a presence. You can't leave him open, so that takes pressure off of everybody else." Up and Out of Beverly Hills Ask Frank Brown where he comes from, and he will tell you Los Angeles. His address might read Beverly Hills, and he may have attended Beverly Hills High, but he seems determined to shun a 90210 branding. "Beverly was a lot more down to earth than you might think," Brown said. "The TV show and all that was really more like the private schools in L.A., not anything like the public schools." Brown's father, Glenn, is a successful entrepreneur and the founder of his own thriving private investigation company. He gave Frank, an only child, a comfortable home and the best opportunities. Until ninth grade, Brown went to an academically rigorous private school. As his basketball skills developed fast and furious, he and his family decided to look for a more high-octane hoops environment. Beverly Hills High School was ideal, enabling him to play against a myriad of future Division I standouts. Brown's basketball acumen, however, was unearthed quite accidentally. "I played football in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. In the offseason, to stay in shape, we played basketball," Brown said. "I started growing, so football was taking a toll on my knees and on my back. I then switched over to basketball." Whether discovered intentionally or not, Brown's court skills were unquestionable. He was all set to play a role at Beverly as a sophomore, but then he got the first taste of the knee problems that would continue to plague him throughout his career. "In 10th grade, I blew out my knee because I was growing too fast," Brown said. "I grew like four inches and ruptured my patella tendon. I missed the season." Once his legs bounced back, Brown began to turn heads all over the country. As a senior, he averaged a scorching 23 points and eight rebounds per game. In the process, he earned all-league, all-county and all-Los Angeles Times honors. Noted recruiting journals also took notice of the Beverly senior; Blue Chip Illustrated touted him as a top 100 prospect. Brown was a hot commodity on the left coast. He received attention from Pac-10 programs USC, Oregon and Oregon State. But after a visit to New York following his junior year in high school, Brown decided that he wanted something more like the Big Apple than the City of Angels -- he was looking to go to the East Coast. Luckily for Penn, Brown didn't get recruited much by eastern powers. "Penn came to me at a summer AAU camp in Arizona," Brown said. "At that time, they were returning Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney and were preseason top 25. Plus there was Wharton and the academics here, so I knew it was a chance that I really couldn't turn down." The Quakers had made Brown an offer that he couldn't refuse, so the the blue chipper made the cross-continent jump. Mr. Brown's Wild Ride Entering Penn as an extremely highly touted recruit put immediate pressure on Brown's shoulders. He played in 27 games in 1995-96, starting five. He averaged only 3.4 points per game and shot a disappointing 33 percent from the field. Adjustment was no cake walk for the neophyte Quaker. "I think my freshman year was hard for me because it was the first time I was away from home," Brown said. "I'm an only child, so I got real homesick." That first season was a memorable experience for Brown. He was a part of a team that tied for the Ivy title, only to fall to Princeton in a playoff. Then-seniors Ira Bowman and Tim Krug were influential, stressing the necessity of a let-it-all-hang-out work ethic. The summer after his plebe year, Brown was still thirsty for fresh experiences. He went to Italy for a vacation and, while overseas, put on an extra 25 pounds. While working out at Penn that summer, the stress on his already-tender knees became just too much. Brown broke an ossicle in his knee and chose to have surgery. This injury, which came on suddenly while he was shooting around, would prove to be a debilitating thorn in his side. Time after time, he tried to come back from the injury too soon. "I kept on coming back and reinjuring it," Brown said. For all intents and purposes, Brown's knee kept him at less-than-peak performance for two entire seasons. Unlucky 13 was the tale of his sophomore and junior seasons, as he played 13 games in 1997-98 and a mere 13 minutes in 1996-97. Once his health returned, there was the roller coaster of last season. He started only one game in 1998-99, against Iona in the first round of the ECAC Holiday Festival in Madison Square Garden. He had a season-high eight rebounds in that contest, and he scored 10 points in the ECAC finals in a loss to a surprise Hofstra squad. As the season progressed, though, Brown's minutes became more erratic, and he never again cracked the starting five. He played an important, but not illustrious role on a championship team. If you ask Brown about the issue of playing time, he'll tell you he was content. One look at his face in one of the of games where he played single-digit minutes last year, however, and you saw discontent written all over it. Plenty in Frank's Court Almost everybody is pulling for Brown. Even though his minutes have often been curtailed, there is no doubt that he is a favorite among Palestra fans. When a sweet shot leaves his hands, the Quakers faithful waits with baited breath. The most telling sign of the affection Penn fans have for him is the boisterous applause he gets every time he steps into the game. Brown doesn't think that these cheers are anything special, however. "Sometimes I hear that kind of stuff," Brown said. "Maybe I just have a lot of friends, but everybody has that." If you wander around campus with Brown for more than two minutes, you get an overwhelming sense of how well-liked this young man is. The ladies who swipe cards at Stouffer can't get enough of him -- they are like putty in his hands. People run into him and say hello, and, rather than shrugging, nodding or emitting something impersonal, Brown returns the greeting with a deliberate "Hey, how's it going?" Maybe it is the West Coast in him but Brown has a gentle, plainspoken air about him that makes you feel comfortable with him from the moment you're first introduced. "Frank's one of the nicest guys I know. He's happy-go-lucky off the court," Jordan said. "He's a genuinely nice guy. I think that if you just ask people on campus who's one of the nicest people they know and they'll say Frank Brown." Even celebrities are wishing Brown the best in his final season at Penn. Tae Bo superstar and infomercial maven Billy Blanks was Brown's personal trainer for a time back in Los Angeles. His mother, Marsha, has a friend in the entertainment industry who had heard great things about a personal trainer named Billy Blanks. This was two summers ago, before Blanks made it huge with his best-selling video. Hearing also that NBA superstars frequented Blanks' gym, Brown was hooked and decided to try him out. "He was a really cool, hard-working guy," Brown said. "It was cool to be in the same place as Shaq, Grant Hill and Magic." Needless to say, Brown has a panoply of supporters hoping that 1999-2000 is his finest season yet. The Last Campaign All the good will in the world can come Brown's way, but he knows that it is his own performance on the court that will make or break this final season at Penn. "I think [Dunphy's] going to give me a shot," Brown said. "I just need to step up and produce and fill the role of the graduating seniors." In last Friday's scrimmage with the Nantucket Nectars, a traveling team comprised of recent college players, Brown got the starting nod along with Jordan, Matt Langel, Geoff Owens and Kapetanovic. This may very well be the lineup that Dunphy employs tonight against Kentucky. Whether or not Brown gets a spot in the first five, he is still eager to contribute to a team on which he plainly enjoys playing. "Right now, everybody's really cool on the team and we all get along real well," Brown said. "We all pretty much have the same schedule, so the atmosphere is really great." After Brown graduates this spring with a double Wharton concentration in management and marketing, he is still unsure of his plans. He may return to the West Coast to pursue a career in business or he may, if given the opportunity, try to play basketball overseas. Wherever he goes, though, Quakers fans hope that he can travel with fond memories of this, his fifth year in the Red and Blue.

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