Hubie Brown received tributes from across the NBA community as the former coach and longtime broadcaster headed into retirement after spending more than half a century in pro basketball.
The 91-year-old Brown called his final game Sunday as the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 135-127. He was awarded the game ball after the final horn sounded.
“I have so many things to be thankful for, but my family and I can never thank everyone enough,” Brown said at the end of the telecast. “We just want to send them the love that I’ve seen today right back with a big hug. It was a fantastic ride.”
Players from both teams approached him before the game to shake his hand. He received a standing ovation during the opening timeout as a video honoring him aired on the Fiserv Forum scoreboard. Brown responded by blowing kisses to the crowd and mouthing “Thank you.”
Brown indicated he almost cried as that video aired.
He considered it fitting that he was in Milwaukee for his final game as a broadcaster. His first NBA coaching job was as an assistant with the Bucks on Larry Costello’s staff, a two-season stint that began in 1972.
“When I came here to the Milwaukee Bucks and Larry Costello, I received a master’s degree and a doctorate’s degree in basketball in two years,” Brown said at the start of Sunday’s telecast.
That launched an illustrious career on the bench and behind a microphone.
Brown coached 15 seasons with the ABA’s Kentucky Colonels and NBA’s Atlanta Hawks , New York Knicks and Memphis Grizzlies . He won an ABA title with Kentucky in 1975 and was voted the NBA Coach of the Year in 1978 and 2004.
He spent 35 years as a national TV and radio analyst, covering 18 NBA Finals. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
“I’m sure he’s seen so much growth and so much change not only in the game of basketball but in the league,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said after the game. “It’s come so far in a lot of ways, and I think that obviously you’re going to have the commissioners and you’re going to have players come along, but I think it’s the people who love on the game and love the league and the contributions that come from people like Hubie Brown is what has allowed it to become what it is, is what makes it special.”
Mike Breen, the play-by-play broadcaster for Sunday’s game, called it the “ultimate honor” to have Brown as a colleague. Breen spoke for other play-by-play broadcasters who worked alongside Brown by saying “you’ve been like a father to many of us, our NBA father.”
“Could we pause, as I have a tear here,” Brown replied.
ABC started its Sunday telecast by showing footage of Brown’s very first NBA broadcast, a 1981 game airing on USA Network. NBC’s Mike Tirico, Brown’s former broadcast partner, joined the telecast remotely to pay his respects late in the first quarter.
During breaks in the telecast, ABC showed highlights from Brown’s coaching and broadcasting career along with testimonials from various NBA figures.
“You brought so much passion to every telecast,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said during one of those breaks. “You took great joy in teaching the finer points of basketball.”
Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse presented Brown with a tiny replica of the Liberty Bell in the green room before the game. Bucks assistants wore a T-shirt with the message “Thank You Hubie” and a heart during pregame warmups.
Bucks coach Doc Rivers said before the game that Brown remains one of the former coaches he often seeks out for advice.
“He was one of my first calls all the time and still is when things are rough or I’m trying to figure out something to me that’s complicated,” Rivers said.
Rivers said he often sought Brown’s counsel in those situations because he figured there wasn’t any kind of situation that the longtime coach and broadcaster hadn’t encountered at some point in over a half-century in professional basketball.
Bucks veteran center Brook Lopez made sure to talk to Brown before the game and say how much the former coach and broadcaster had meant to the NBA.
“That was one of my real first, real cool ‘welcome to the league’ experiences, was having him call one of my games and to see him in person, get to meet him, hearing he was a fan of me and my game, appreciated my game,” Lopez said. “He’s always had good tips for me. He’s still coaching, even though he’s commentating. It’s in his DNA and in his blood, trying to help players get better.”
As the Bucks prepared for Sunday’s game, Rivers asked the youngest players on the roster what they knew about Brown. When they weren’t aware of Brown’s accomplishments, Rivers got Lopez to offer a primer.
“He gave a very impressive history run on Hubie and even knew the reason his last game was in Milwaukee is because this is where it all started, with him and Larry Costello,” Rivers said.
Brown said that’s what made it so appropriate to finish his career in Milwaukee.
“For me to end it here is very meaningful because I learned so much here,” Brown said.
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