Mario Brown ( – October 5, 2002), known as "Bro' Rap", was the first African-American men's basketball player at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Early life and education

Mario Brown attended Parker High School in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. As a senior, Brown was named the most valuable player of the school's basketball team and earned all-district honors. He was also president of the school's student council and played on the baseball team. After graduating from high school, Brown played basketball for two years for

Kennedy–King College Kennedy–King College (KKC) part of City Colleges of Chicago, is a public two-year community college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The City Colleges of Chicago is a system of higher two-year education that has existed in Chicago since 19 ...

in Chicago.

Texas A&M University

Brown was recruited by Texas A&M coach

Shelby Metcalf Shelby Metcalf (December 23, 1930 – February 8, 2007) was the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball team for 27 seasons, from 1963 to 1990. He won more games than any other coach in the former Southwest Conference. Achieving succe ...

, who travelled to

to personally ask Brown to attend the school. Brown played for two seasons at A&M, starting in 51 games and averaging 14 points and 4.3 assists per game. In his first season, 1971–1972, Brown earned second team All-

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

honors, leading A&M with a 16.9 scoring average in conference play and helping the team to a 16–10 record. The following year, his senior year, Brown was selected as team co-captain, and averaged 13.4 points and 4 assists per game as the Aggies ranked second in the Southwest Conference and finished with a 17–9 record. Brown was a very fast player with a great crossover dribble.

Later years

Brown died of lung cancer one month after his diagnosis in 2002. He was survived by his wife, Myrtle, and several children, including Nick Brown, a USA Junior National Champion in track and field who had much success in track and field at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, and Sergio Brown, a football safety who played in the NFL with four teams, including the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

. And Son Mario Brown Jr. He leaves behind his grandchildren Aszja Brown, Avanti Brown, and Mario Brown III

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Mario 2002 deaths Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball players Deaths from lung cancer in the United States 1950s births American men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen