Irv Brown (March 30, 1935 – February 3, 2019) was an American sportscaster, and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
player, coach, executive, and official.
Early life
Brown earned seven letters at
North High School in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, where he starred in
football,
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
and
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
. He played basketball and baseball at the
University of Northern Colorado
The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...
. After college, he coached football and baseball at
Arvada High School
Arvada High School is a public secondary school operated by Jefferson County School District R-1 in Arvada, Colorado, United States.
Demographics
Arvada High's student body has the following racial demographics:
History
The first high scho ...
in
Arvada, Colorado, and he also coached baseball at the
University of Colorado Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...
and
Metro State College. From 1969 to 1977, Brown had a career as a basketball referee, officiating six
Final Fours. Brown served as commissioner of the Colorado Athletic Conference in the early 1990s. In 2007, he was named the new commissioner of the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League (MCLB).
Brown began his broadcasting career in 1974 on
KHOW radio. For over 25 years was on the air with Joe Williams, hosting the show ''The Fan''. Brown and Williams later co-authored ''The Great Book of Denver Sports Lists''.
Brown retired from hosting "The Irv and Joe Show" on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1340 with longtime partner Joe Williams, on April 7, 2016, ending a 42-year media career.
He was also an analyst for the
NBA on ESPN
The ''NBA on ESPN'' is the branding used for the presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) games on the ESPN family of networks. The ESPN cable network first televised NBA games from 1982 until 1984, and has been airing games curren ...
and the Southwest Conference on Raycom Sports and HSE during the 1980s.
Brown was inducted into the
Colorado Sports Hall of Fame
The Colorado Sports Hall of Fame (CSHoF) is a hall of fame and museum that honors — by public acknowledgment or commemoration — individuals who merit recognition and distinction for their exploits, accomplishments, and leadership in spo ...
in 1997.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Irv
1935 births
2019 deaths
Baseball players from Denver
Basketball players from Denver
College athletic conference commissioners in the United States
College basketball announcers in the United States
College football announcers
College men's basketball referees in the United States
Colorado Buffaloes baseball coaches
Denver Broncos announcers
High school baseball coaches in the United States
High school football coaches in Colorado
Metro State Roadrunners baseball coaches
National Basketball Association broadcasters
Northern Colorado Bears baseball players
Northern Colorado Bears men's basketball players
Sportspeople from Denver
United States Football League announcers
American men's basketball players