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Former Lobo great Greg Brown dies at the age of 51

geoff grammer, albuquerque journal, n.m.
·4 min read

Jun. 14—For the third time in the past two months, news of a Lobo basketball legend dying far too young has hit.

Greg Brown, the 5-foot-7 dynamo who led Albuquerque High to a state title, played at New Mexico Junior College and led the UNM Lobos to the 1994 WAC Championship, died early Friday morning in a car crash near Albuquerque, his daughter confirmed to the Journal.

Brown was 51.

The Journal had no further details of the crash as of Friday evening.

"He really adored Albuquerque," said Amaya Brown, the former Cibola High star who played collegiately both at Florida State and for the UNM Lobos, who is in Atlanta with her brother, Amari. "He was just one of the greatest Lobos to ever do it. We're taking this very hard right now."

In April, former Lobo Ruben Douglas died in Costa Rica at the age of 44 due to an infection. On May 30, former Lobo Drew Gordon died in Oregon in a car crash at the age of 33.

Brown, a 2007 inductee into the UNM Alumni Lettermen Association Hall of Honor and a 2008 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame, worked as an assistant and head coach for multiple local high schools and AAU basketball programs in Albuquerque through the years as well as being a teacher. He was highly competitive on the court with his two children, Amaya and Amari, who both went on to be basketball stars of their own — Amaya is playing professionally overseas and Amari just graduated high school in Georgia and is attending a junior college this coming season in Texas.

Brown was in Atlanta last month with his children as Amari graduated.

And while most people around Albuquerque and the state of New Mexico knew him as a Lobo great long before his kids were around to see it, that part of his life was most definitely something he often reminded them of.

"Oh yeah, he always likes to brag — loved talking about his college career and his high school career," Amaya said. "He talked about trying out for Boston and Orlando — he was on that (Orlando Magic preseason) team with with Shaq, Penny Hardaway and Dennis Scott. He bragged about everything with his basketball career."

Dad, who Amaya said was very funny and reminded her of the comic Martin Lawrence, clearly had the best trash talking game among the three when on the court.

"We always used to play shooting games when we'd work out and he'd always tell us we could never beat him," Amaya said. "He was like, 'Y'all can beat me.' He was just so competitive. But he was right, we could never beat him in a shooting game."

Amaya and Amari Brown are hoping to be back in New Mexico this weekend and any plans for memorial services or otherwise for Greg Brown have not yet been determined.

His senior season at UNM when the Lobos won the WAC regular season title, Brown was selected as the WAC Player of the Year and won the national Frances Pomeroy Naismith Player of the Year awarded to the best player in the country under 6-feet tall. He averaged 19.3 points and 4.4 assists per game that season and had a UNM career high 42 in a win over UTEP in the Pit.

In both his seasons at UNM, he started 58 of 59 games played and averaged 14.7 points and 3.7 assists.

He led Albuquerque High School to the 1990 state title and then averaged 18.5 points and 8.7 assists per game as a sophomore at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs before returning home to Albuquerque to play for the Lobos.

Among the tributes to Brown posted on social media on Friday came from Andy Katz, who covered Brown for the Journal in his 1993-94 season before moving on to become one of the top names in college basketball at ESPN and now with the NCAA, among other entities:

"Tragic news out of Albuquerque. Greg Brown was all class when he played for (the UNM Lobos) and continued to give back to the community after he finished playing. He was one of the hardest working players I have ever covered. He rose to every challenge, was an exceptional leader and helped change the expectations of the Lobos program. May his memory be a blessing to all who knew and loved him."