Strong-willed senior: Determined 'gentle giant' Gloria Brown leads UTEP women to success

Posted: 03/16/2012 09:05:23 AM MDT

UTEP's Gloria Brown works out in the wight room before hitting the court for practice at the Foster-Stevens Basketball Complex. Brown has become a key leader of the Miners as they head into their NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament first-round game against Penn State. (Mark Lambie / El Paso Times)

Over the course of two years, Gloria Brown wrote a nice career for herself at UTEP. Over the course of five-and-a-half minutes last Saturday night against Tulane, Brown wrote a new chapter. With UTEP's season against the wall, Brown lugged the Miners onto her broad shoulders, played with ferocity, purpose and and toughness, and in the process lugged UTEP into the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The enduring images were a grim-faced Brown grabbing her knees and panting, gathering herself, then gathering rebound after rebound to lead UTEP on a late charge. Diehard Miner fans, though, have a much different enduring image of Brown. It came the next day at the El Paso Airport when she came down the escalator, holding a sign that proclaimed UTEP as the champions of Conference USA and wearing a thousand-watt smile that lit up the room. That right there is the Gloria Brown everyone around her loves. "What people don't know about her is she has a good, fun personality," UTEP assistant coach Ewa Laskowska said. "Here of late she's really let her guard down and enjoyed everything that's happened. When she was proudly carrying that championship sign at the airport, it looked like she was advertising something." Teammates, coaches and obviously her mother, love talking about Brown, but no matter how many are asked, they keep coming back to the same phrases to describe UTEP's MVP. "She's a gentle giant," said Michael Horsey, her old AAU coach from Philadelphia, who

flew down to Memphis for the C-USA tournament. "It's a 180-degree difference: She's so tough on the court, she's the most mild-mannered, easy-going person off the court. She's just a caring, kind person and it's always been that way." Senior captain Kim Smith wasn't the only person to invoke a children's toy when describing Brown. "She's just a great, soft little teddy bear," Smith said. "She likes to laugh and tell jokes. She's all business on the court, but off the court she's so happy." At times, that can seem incongruous. Besides that warrior demeanor on the court, Brown gets nervous and shy around television cameras and notepads. Combine that with the fact that she is a junior college transfer on her third school, and the easy assumption is that she's a sullen mercenary. And that shows how pointless stereotypes are. "She has good relationships with everybody," teammate Kristine Vitola said. "She's funny. For me, it's the faces she makes." "I love seeing Gloria get excited and happy about something," UTEP coach Keitha Adams said. "She gets this big smile on her face, her eyebrows arch up, she lights up like a Christmas tree. She's really enjoyed the last few days. She's been very happy. "Gloria has a good heart, a good sense of humor. She's kind of a teddy bear in some ways. Her demeanor is really pleasant. She's funny, she's honest." Teammate Jenzel Nash often finds herself as the butt of that humor, which is fine with her. "I like to talk, too, and she and Kelli (Willingham) will do stuff, like I have to be quiet for an hour," Nash said with a laugh. "Anytime I talk, they time me. "And if there is something we need to do, she'll tell us." For example, Brown always appoints herself in charge of making sure everyone on the team has their cell phone and all other electronics off when they are on the plane, and that their seats and tray tables are in the full-upright and locked position. "Turn them off, no airplane mode," Brown explained. The crew "doesn't want distractions in the air. "I like to talk to my teammates, tell them about basketball and life." Evidently, the desire to help take care of others is inherited. "She's always been that way, she's exactly like that, all the women in our family are like that," said her mother Renee Brown, who still lives in Philadelphia. "She takes after her mother and I take after my mother. Her little sister is like that, too. We're mother hens. "She's loving, she's caring. She'll call and tell me, 'Anything you need, let me know and I'll get it.' "And she loves children and they love her." Brown also has another love, one that dates back to when she was the child. "I had them all playing ball when they were 2-years-old," Renee said. "She'd play hoops on her own. One of the first things my daughter said was, 'I want to be in the NBA.' I said, 'Honey, some day you will be.' That's what I told her. "I told her as long as she has the grades, does what she's supposed to do, she can go into sports. I'm so glad she's fulfilling her dream." At times that meant Renee Brown had to peek through her fingers a bit, but she is also well aware of the Brown fans saw on national television, devouring Tulane on sheer strength of will in the final minutes. "When she was a girl, she'd challenge anyone, even the big boys," Renee recalled. "I'd be scared when she was playing against big boys, but she'd come home and say, 'I won mom, I won. I beat the boys out there.' " Then, as soon as she's off the court, the other side comes out. "G is a great person all around," Willingham said. "She's fun to be around, she'll say anything, she's very funny." Said teammate Kayla Thornton: "She's a great person, goofy. She's from Philly and she talks about things you wouldn't expect someone to say. She's interesting." Horsey said that sense of humor is a product of the city where she grew up. "She's from Philadelphia, the home of comedians, Bill Cosby," he said. "This is the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection and you have to have comic relief." That's served Brown well. Out of high school she went to North Carolina State, but didn't have a good experience there and fell back to Trinity Valley Comm unity College in Athens, Texas, where coach Bill Damuth had initially recruited her out of high school. Last year, she and Damuth came over to UTEP, where he is now an assistant. "Philly is a tough town, you've got to make good decisions," Horsey said. "She made great ones going to Trinity Valley and UTEP. "She understands the impact she's had on that program, helping the program go to another level. And she's successful be cause of the program." Now that UTEP career is ending. From here she's looking to go to Europe if the WNBA doesn't immediately work out, though she has a skill set that could give her a shot at the highest level at some point. That future is still uncertain, but Damuth knows someone, who has been part of his life for three years, will soon be entering another phase of her life. "She's such a good person, a good heart," he said. "My kids love her. She's a big kid and kids really cling to her. Yesterday, just a random deal, my 9-year-old son said, 'Dad, I'll be sad when Gloria's gone.' "He's right. It will be weird coaching a team without her." Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.

Make plans for the Miners

The UTEP women's basketball team will depart UTEP's Foster-Stevens Basketball Complex at 11:40 a.m. today for the El Paso Airport. The cheerleaders and band will be joining the team. The public is welcome to bid the Miners farewell.
GAME DETAILS

What: UTEP (29-3) vs. Penn State (24-6) in the first round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.

When: 3:15 p.m. MDT Sunday.

Where: Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

On TV: ESPN2.

On radio: KHRO 1150-AM.

Tickets: $16 for adults, $11 for youth; all-session tickets are $27 for adults, $17 for youth.

Information: 747-5234.

Online: Follow Sunday's women's game during our live chat, starting at 2:45 p.m.

Thoughts on Basketball

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Brown Makes It!!! Got That Degree Too!!!!

Strong-willed senior: Determined 'gentle giant' Gloria Brown leads UTEP women to success