James Brown is a gearhead.
Considered one of the greatest District prep basketball players at DeMatha High in the late 1960s, “J.B.” is best known as an NFL pre-game show host. Brown also joined the Lerners as a minority-share owner of the Nationals in July.
Street rods and muscle cars are his toys, though. A 1969 Camaro and 1941 Willys along with a 1950 Mercury once owned by the late Reggie White fill his growing collection.
Brown spends Friday nights at a Landover car show or Saturdays in Annapolis, Hagerstown or Glen Burnie looking under hoods, admiring the chrome. The feel of shifting into low gear gives the 55-year-old broadcasting icon a real sense of joy.
“It’s a hobby and passion I thoroughly enjoy,” Brown said. “I get a kick out of competing and entering local shows.”
Cars are an escape for Brown after a year of change and sorrow. His mother, grandfather and pastor died. Memories of his grandfather’s Hot Head Nightclub in Mississippi where Ike and Tina Turner, B.B. King and the singer James Brown were headliners are a great source of pride to Brown. But the loss of Mary Ann Brown on June 5 was devastating.
“That certainly has been the sternest test,” Brown said. “No matter how old you get your mother is your mother. She was the Rock of Gibraltar in the family. My father died when he was 46 back in ’77 and we promised him we would take care of mom, but she took care of us five kids.”
Brown left FOX after 12 years of the success alongside with Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. The weekly cross-country flights to Los Angeles were tiring. The chance to broadcast the CBS pregame show in New York proved too enticing.
“As inconceivable as it was to me that I would ever leave FOX,” he said, “and certainly I had no thought nor was planning to leave FOX at all after 12 years of the No. 1 pregame show, CBS entered the picture and made an extremely attractive offer.”
The chance to become part of baseball’s rebirth in Washington was also attractive to Brown, who grew up just blocks from the new stadium. Indeed, Brown fancied himself a baseball player as a teen until curveballs “scared the daylights out of me.”
“Baseball is my first love,” he said. “Knowing how many black folk are not involved in baseball now, I want to reintroduce them to the sport and to be involved in not just putting fannies in the stands, but to make sure there are women and minorities that participate in the economic pie associated with it.”
Brown also works as a youth minister who uses sports and cars as safe activities for youth he feels a responsibility to help. Unlike many sports figures that run from the term “role model,” Brown embraces it.
“Young people watch what [public figures] do and listen to what you say because they want to be like you when they grow up,” he said. “So whether you consider yourself a role model or not isn’t important. You are a role model.
“I don’t fake who I am, behind closed doors and in public. [Former Buffalo Bills coach] Marv Levy talks about how personality is who you are to the public and character and integrity is who you are behind closed doors and they should be one and the same. I do carry that as a serious responsibility.”
Brown remains a workaholic despite a resume dating back to the 1970s as the Washington Bullets broadcaster. Being cut by the Atlanta Hawks in 1973 after starring at Harvard taught him the value of readiness and hard work.
“When I look back at the college days, I didn’t work as hard tostay on top as to get to the top to continue to improve,” he said. “I regressed those four years [at Harvard]. Even though my talent got me drafted, I didn’t improve my skills. I vowed I would never be ill prepared for an opportunity coming my way. I’ve been accused of being a workaholic, but that memory [of not making the NBA] is long.”
Working a schedule that leaves little time for enjoying cars is why Brown’s next TV job won’t be hosting “Pinks” on the SPEED network despite loving to compete on the track in his classics.
“I work too hard on these cars to be racing somebody and relying on something mechanical to be reliable at the most crucial time,” he said. “To lose and give the title of my car to someone — no.”
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
