Walter Roger Brown (February 23, 1950 – October 18, 2023) was an American

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) and

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA)

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player.

Amateur career

A 6'11" center out of Englewood Technical Prep Academy in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, he played collegiate basketball for the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, averaging a double-double of 11.9 ppg and 11.3 rpg in his senior season, helping the Jayhawks to the Final Four in the

1971 NCAA University Division basketball tournament The 1971 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 13, 1971, and ended with the champi ...

Professional career

Drafted in the 4th round by the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

in the 1971 NBA draft, Brown played one game for LA before being released. He quickly signed with the

Carolina Cougars The Carolina Cougars were a basketball franchise in the American Basketball Association that existed from 1969 through 1974. The Cougars were originally a charter member of the ABA as the Houston Mavericks in 1967. The Mavericks moved to North Ca ...

of the rival

ABA ABA may refer to: Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, United States * Asahi Broadcasting Aomori, Japanese television station * Australian Broadcasting Authority Education * Académie des Beaux- ...

, averaging 2.4 ppg in limited duty. He spent 1973-74 with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

and the

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...

in the ABA, but would sit out the 1974-75 season. Brown started the 1975-76 season with the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

in the ABA, but would return to the NBA, signing with the Detroit Pistons in January 1976, and would spend the remainder of that

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

and the following 1977-78 season with Detroit, backing up All-Star Bob Lanier, and helping Detroit to two post-season playoff berths. Brown followed former Pistons coach

Herb Brown Herbert Brown (born March 14, 1936) is an American basketball coach and the brother of Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown. He is the former head coach of the Detroit Pistons (1976–78). Career Brown succeeded Ray Scott when he was promoted from a ...

to the Western Basketball Association and the

Tucson Gunners The Tucson Gunners are a defunct minor professional basketball team based in Tucson, Arizona. They played in the Western Basketball Association and won the league's first and only championship Notable players included Al Smith (basketball), Al ...

for 1978-79, winning a WBL championship with a third-team All-WBL season. He would then return to the NBA in 1979 with his hometown Chicago Bulls for a 4-game stint to finish his professional career. Roger Brown died in Chicago on October 18, 2023, at the age of 73.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Roger 1950 births 2023 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Carolina Cougars players Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls players Denver Nuggets players Detroit Pistons players Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Los Angeles Lakers players San Antonio Spurs players Virginia Squires players