Bob Brown’s first thought is to put you at ease.

It happens with the kids he coaches and with everyone else he meets.

“I’m fine.” “And how are you doing?” “How’s school going? “If you need anything at all, just give me a call.”

Yeah, he just got out of the hospital again, but he’s feeling all right. Even pancreatic cancer can’t get him down. He’s at Carver-Hawkeye Arena again, nearly ready to resume his position as clock operator at Iowa basketball games. He signed his contract to coach track at Regina this spring.

Don’t spend any time or energy worrying about Bob.

He studied therapeutic recreation in college. It’s been his vocation and his avocation. Athletics can be therapeutic recreation, at least as practiced by Bob Brown. He is coach, psychologist, strategist, friend, parent, confidant and role model all in one.

Track and cross country, the sports in which he is best known, are a lot more than just sending the kids off to run around for awhile.

When he started he was smart enough to know he didn’t know it all, and he picked the brains of the best coaches in the state, and not just those who coached track. He read a lot. He went to clinics.

“That’s one of the things about coaching, people are willing to share,” he said. “Track and cross country especially. That’s one of the things that attracts me to it, still, is the camaraderie.”

He ticks off the names of coaches, many of whom are Hall of Famers themselves, who have helped him.

Input is fine as far as it goes, but what defines Bob as a coach and as a man is what he brought to coaching, not what anyone else suggested.

“Winning has never been important to me,” he said. “I always tell kids to do their best, and the winning takes care of itself. Having kids feel good about themselves, having them represent their school and their families in the best possible way and helping them feel like they’ve done the best they can, if that’s a philosophy ….”

It’s not a philosophy; it’s a way of life.

He believes in the young people he coaches. He finds something special in each one and nurtures it.

Because, see, Bob Brown is fine, don’t worry about him. It’s not about Bob. It never has been.

Except for the kids lucky enough to be coached by him.

— Susan Harman

Previous | Next