Legendary LSU men’s basketball coach Dale Brown crawled through a bathroom window of a stadium as a kid to attend his first professional basketball game.
The Minneapolis Lakers were playing in his hometown of Minot, N.D., and Brown wanted to score an autograph from one of his favorite players. After the game, he found a scrap of paper and a pencil and asked a player to sign it.
The player pushed him away, and 10-year-old Brown vowed he would never treat anyone that way.
“I was embarrassed,” Brown said. “I was hurt, and I was mad. But I had another response when I got home. I thought if I ever become famous, I’ll return every telephone call. I’ll be nice to people. I’ll just be them.”
Brown signed copies of his book for a group of personal friends that he said have touched his life in one way or another. He said he spoke with people that have overcome personal tragedies and plan to use Brown’s book to inspire their loved ones.
Though Brown’s status often puts him in the spotlight, he admits he gets embarrassed with the attention.
“It’s unfortunate that you have to be a celebrity to get people to look up to you,” Brown said. “Nobody knew my eighth-grade educated mother, but she accomplished more than most celebrities accomplish in their whole