Sports

Brown’s life is still basketball

• Teresa Brown led Deerfield-Windsor to a GISA state hoops championship in 1987-88 and played four years at Florida, earning her an induction into the Albany Sports Hall of Fame.

Derek Barichello

ALBANY — Ever since Teresa Brown started playing basketball with her brothers in her backyard as a kid, it has been her passion.

Though Brown excelled at both basketball and softball at Deerfield-Windsor, earning all-state honors for both, and even meriting DWS Athlete of the Year in 1987, it was always about basketball to her.

So it came as no surprise after leading the Lady Knights as a senior to a GISA state championship during the 1987-88 season, Brown went on to play four years for the Florida Gators from 1989-1993 and started coaching the game she loves immediately afterwards.

On Monday, Brown, who has given so much of her life to basketball, will get a little of that back when she is inducted into the Albany Sports Hall of Fame, which will celebrate its 22nd year with a ceremony at the Albany Civic Center.

“Her resume was outstanding,” Albany Hall of Fame President B.B. Rhodes said. “She was just a super basketball player.”

Brown pretty much did all but wear an “S” on her jersey while on the court for Deerfield.

She scored 1,663 career points, leading the 1987-88 Lady Knights to a state title and a 25-0 record. That same season, she was awarded the GISA Player of the Year trophy by the Atlanta Tip Off Club, along with the Naismith Trophy.

Also in her high school basketball career, she was named All-Region three times, All-State twice, a GISA South All-Star twice and team MVP twice.

Those memories of a championship season and an outstanding high school career will not be lost on her old basketball coach Gordy Gruhl, who still works at DWS now coaching the boys team.

“She was one of the finest to ever play for Deerfield,” Gruhl said. “She gave everything to the sport and had a tireless work ethic. And she was just a great, great clutch player.”

Gruhl will never forget the 1988 state championship against Stratford Academy.

With the Lady Knights in foul trouble and the game seemingly slipping away, Brown rose to the occasion taking the ball to the basket and making free throws to clinch the title.

“She wasn’t going to be beat,” Gruhl said.

Brown carried that attitude to Florida.

Though she did not excel there the same way she did at Deerfield, she found her niche as a shooting guard and fought her way to the starting lineup in her junior and senior years.

It did not go unnoticed. She was voted by her teammates as the “Unsung Gator” in 1991 and 1992.

“It was a dream come true,” Brown said, also earning All-Academic All-SEC honors in 1989-1992. “All I ever wanted to do was play Division I for an SEC school. So far, that’s been the platform for all the success I’ve had.”

Brown learned to appreciate the game more from the view as a role player, instead of the usual star role she played at DWS — eventually leading her down the path of coaching.

“You really get to know the game,” Brown said. “You start to see the bigger picture.”

With that picture clear, Brown started coaching the year she graduated college working as an assistant for Georgia State from 1993-1995 and again in 2004-2007, taking a brief timeout in the middle to visit her old high school — the place where it all started.

“It was great to be back around coach Gruhl,” Brown said of her experience as girl’s basketball coach at DWS from 1996-98, even winning GISA Coach of the Year in 1997. “I learned so much about the game from being around him and asking him questions.”

After that, Brown returned to the collegiate level, serving as an assistant coach at Western Carolina from 2000-2002, and she is currently working as an assistant for Colby Tilley at Kennesaw State.

As for a head coaching job, don’t expect that any time soon; she is happy staying as an assistant.

“I have friends that are head coaches and the pressure to win takes a lot of the fun out of it,” Brown said. “I just want to do it for the kids.

“I just want the opportunity to work with young players and to give back to the game that has given me so much.”

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