Anthony Brown, a long-time NBA Referee and Clark Atlanta University alum, passed last month from pancreatic cancer. Before his death, The Tony and Tina Brown Endowment and Scholarship Fund were established at CAU. Scholarships will allow Clark Atlanta athletes to take summer classes and start graduate programs. The NBA shared that Brown’s career spanned 20 seasons, with over 1,000 regular and 30 playoff games. The CAU basketball team will honor Brown by adding a patch with his jersey number six to their uniforms. His brother-in-love and chair of the scholarship endowment Attorney Mawuli Davis has spearheaded fundraising and speaks with us about Anthony Brown.
Davis shares that Brown was a friend and a hard worker. While in college, he took a job cleaning planes and worked his way up to being a flight attendant. He used his flight privileges to support his fledgling career as a professional referee.
I ask how the family and friends made the hard pivot from hospice care to raising funds for a scholarship. He speaks about the prayer circle of friends and family that began when Brown was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and continues to this day. It was a “love” based pivot for the group.
Brown was in hospice care and was aware that the scholarship had been established. I asked if they could feel the community's energy as the funds came in. They were able to raise over $100,000 in less than thirty days. Davis shares that it was terrific that Brown knew the money was being donated in the last days of his life. The CAU Basketball team visited and brought Brown a jersey.
The family plans to present Clark Atlanta University with a check on Monday, November 7th, at the Clark Atlanta University’s Epps Gymnasium, 650 Larkin Street SW Atlanta, 30314
To donate to the Tony and Tiny Brown Basketball Endowment and Scholarship Fund.