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Brown's Road Leads to Multi-Sport Stardom
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
April 4, 2019
MADISON HEIGHTS – It’s been nearly 10 years since Madison Heights Madison had a three-sport athlete that competed at the level Austin Brown has the past two seasons.
Valdez Showers was a versatile athlete for Madison in 2009 and 2010. He played defensive back and rushed for more 2,000 yards his senior football season, then played basketball and sprinted for the track team before heading to University of Florida as a receiver/defensive back/kick returner.
Twenty-five years ago Madison boasted another three-sport athlete who gained much attention. Brown’s father, Jim, played football and baseball for four years, and as a senior he also played on the varsity basketball team. Jim Brown was named first team all-state in football in 1992 and went on to play two seasons at Wayne State before graduating in 1998.
The past two seasons Austin Brown was named first team all-state in both basketball and football. Brown’s third sport, baseball, might be his best although he was not named all-state on the diamond last season.
Certainly many other athletes have competed at a high level at Madison over the years. The Johnson brothers, Deandre (2007 graduate) and Juan (2015), both star running backs, come to mind. But as far as three-sport athletes, the Browns and Showers are a cut above.
As far as enrollment, Madison isn’t your typical Oakland County school. Those in Rochester, Troy, Walled Lake and other communities have more than 1,000 students. Madison’s pool of athletes is not as deep with an enrollment hovering around the 300 mark. There were just under 600 when Jim Brown was starring, and 450 when Showers was making headlines.
It’s perhaps too soon to come to a conclusion as to whom of the three is the better overall athlete, but soon Austin will get his chance to prove himself at the collegiate level in two sports.
Austin Brown, who turned down scholarship offers from Division I schools for football and baseball, signed with Grand Valley State for both baseball and football. At 6-foot and 195 pounds, Brown was recruited as a quarterback and in baseball is expected to play infield and get a shot at pitching.
“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “My dad was excited about Marshall when I committed (for baseball). Then I told him football was my first love. Grand Valley was always there. Grand Valley was always in the picture. I committed to Marshall in August (2018), and I had time to think about it. I wasn’t going to have anyone pressure me.”
The earliest high school student-athletes can sign a letter-of-intent for baseball is November of their senior year, so Brown had more than two months to reconsider his collegiate future.
The recruitment of Austin Brown began, seriously, when he was in junior high. He has competed at a high level in both baseball and football since he was 10. He participated on baseball travel teams that took him Florida and Texas. At quarterback, Brown led Our Lady of Victory, located in Northville, to Catholic Youth Organization titles in seventh and eighth grade. His football play earned him a scholarship offer from University of Akron. Miami of Ohio would offer Brown a scholarship a year later.
Brown enrolled at Detroit Catholic Central, located in Novi and six miles from Our Lady of Victory, his freshmen year. Brown started the last 10 games that season and led Catholic Central to a Division 1 Regional Final. As a sophomore, Brown led the Shamrocks to the Division 1 championship game, although he didn’t play in the loss to Detroit Cass Tech – near the end of the first quarter of the 17-0 Semifinal victory over Romeo, Brown suffered a broken left fibula. The injury not only ended his season, but prevented him from playing basketball that winter.
The incident added to what had already been a period of change for Brown. Citing burnout, Brown gave up playing baseball before entering Catholic Central. His leg rehabilitation gave Brown time to think, and talk with his father, about his future. Jim Brown has three sons and one daughter, and nothing in dad’s life is more important than their future. In Austin’s case, at this particular time, it was decided that he should transfer to Madison, where Jim Brown was and remains the athletic director.
“I felt like I had something to give back (to Madison Heights),” Austin said. “I wanted to bring a state championship home.”
There was more. Austin’s older brother, Nick (Wallace), graduated from Madison in 2013. Extended family lives in the Madison area including Jim Brown’s father John Brown, who was responsible for encouraging his son Jim to participate in athletics in the first place. Austin has had the opportunity to play baseball with his younger brother, Dylan, now a sophomore. The move brought Austin closer to his family and, in the end, that’s what Jim and his wife, Nicole Brown, are all about.
“My dad was big into sports, and it filtered down,” Jim said. “I used to take Austin on trips (playing baseball) when he was 2-years-old. He’d pick up bats and things like that.
“I was one of the better athletes in our school, but he’s at another level. The moment was never too big for him. As a freshman, competing against (Birmingham) Brother Rice and (Warren) DeLaSalle, and competing at a high level, it was awesome to see.
“Kids and parents came out to see him play. He’s one of those kids who put it all together. He doesn’t get past the moment. Some will look past high school and already be thinking about college. He enjoys every game.”
In retrospect, the move to Madison paid off in a number of ways for Austin. One, by returning to the diamond he regained his three-sport status, thereby opening the door to play baseball in college. He admitted “he got the love back” for the sport almost instantaneously. Last season he batted .604, was 5-1 on the mound and set a school record (tied for seventh in MHSAA history) with 20 strikeouts in a game.
Two, he was instrumental in making Madison a winner on the basketball court and football field. In 2017 he led the Eagles to their first MHSAA Semifinal appearance since 2006 (when they finished Division 5 runner-up), and last season Madison reached a Final for just the second time in school history. Brown was outstanding in his team’s 50-44 loss to New Lothrop – completing 17 of 30 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns and running for 105 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries. His 403 total yards tied for fifth-most in a championship game, and the four rushing TDs tied for third most.
In basketball, Madison had one of its best seasons this winter in 20 years or more. The Eagles won the Macomb Area Conference Silver with a 9-1 record and finished 21-4 overall losing to Detroit Edison in a Division 3 Regional Final. The season highlight – and one of the most exciting games in the Detroit area all season – was Madison’s 73-71 District Final victory over one of the most storied programs in state history, Detroit Pershing. Brown, who averaged 22.8 points, made the winning 3-pointer as time expired.
It’s a play his father won’t soon forget.
“As a parent, it makes your stomach turn, plays like that,” Jim said. “First, it was against Pershing. They’ve won like four (Class A) titles. It was a packed gym at (Madison Heights) Bishop Foley with a lot of local people there. And Pershing travels well, too. It’s one of those things you can’t get out of your mind.”
Through it all, Austin remains modest. Again, that comes from his family, particularly his parents and older brother. He’s confident, but not one to boast.
“You’ll see a lot of kids with his talent have a big ego,” said Madison varsity baseball coach Scott Labrash. “He’s a humble kid. It’s wonderful to see that. It’s easy on me. The little things I don’t have to remind him of. His attitude is contagious.”
Austin said he’s uncertain just which sport is his best. He did say he has more fun playing football. His father said, in the end, baseball could be his best – adding that it’s possible Austin could be selected in the June MLB Amateur Draft.
His season and career statistics stack up against most. In his two years at Madison he threw for 5,030 yards with 56 touchdowns and just eight interceptions in 462 attempts. He also rushed for 2,337 yards and 45 touchdowns. Brown’s eight touchdown passes in a half in the 2017 opener is an MHSAA record and one off the record for an entire game.
Including his time at Catholic Central, Brown has accounted for nearly 10,000 yards (passing and rushing) in offense and 127 touchdowns.
But this is the most important statistic, at least on the field: As a quarterback, Austin is 46-4. He lost just two games in his 23 starts at Catholic Central.
Off the field, his grade-point average is 4.0. He received a B just once, in his freshman English class. He’s expected to finish as class valedictorian and has been selected as one of just six finalists for the Detroit Athletic Club Male “Athlete of the Year” Award.
Exhale.
“If I’m not busy, I don’t know what to do,” Austin said. “My dad shows me what to do, and I listen to him. I’m going to try my best to be a good reflection of my parents.”
Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Madison Heights Madison’s Austin Brown has shined in football, basketball and baseball. (Middle) Brown and his father Jim. (Below) Brown breaks through the line during the Division 7 Football Final at Ford Field. (Baseball photo courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)
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Performance: Summerfield's Derek Clark
June 20, 2019
Derek Clark
Petersburg Summerfield junior – Baseball
The Bulldogs closed one of the most dominating runs in MHSAA Baseball Tournament history with their first championship Saturday, and Clark turned in a performance to match. The pitcher/centerfielder threw a four-hit shutout in the 9-0 Division 4 Final win over Saginaw Nouvel, capping a run of 44 straight scoreless innings pitched to close his junior season as he earned the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.”
Clark’s pitching statistics this spring were jaw-dropping. He finished 13-0 with a 0.20 ERA – good for seventh lowest in MHSAA history. He had 116 strikeouts in 70 innings pitched, with 11 strikeouts in the championship game including for the season’s final out. He was 4-for-7 from the plate over the Semifinal and championship games to push his average to .500 for this spring, and he also finished with 48 runs scored and 52 stolen bases (tied for 19th most) on 54 attempts over 32 games. Summerfield defeated Gaylord St. Mary 5-0 in the Semifinal on the way to meeting Nouvel on Saturday, and finished with a combined scoring margin of 89-2 over eight postseason games. The championship was the school’s first at the Finals level in any boys sport. The Bulldogs also won the Tri-County Conference and finished 28-4 overall, capping a complete program turnaround – more on that below.
A three-sport athlete as a junior, Clark doesn’t plan to play football as a senior but will return as the point guard for a basketball team that won the league this past winter for the first time since 2011-12. He’s also a 3.6 student, part of National Honor Society and student council, and is leaning toward studying business or sports marketing when high school is done. He should have some interesting options to continue on the diamond as well – the left-hander made the Division 4 all-state first team this spring as a pitcher after earning the same as an outfielder in 2018.
Coach Travis Pant said: “He’s an ultra competitor. He hates to lose, and it shows in the way he plays the game. Derek’s energy and leadership fueled this historic weekend that we had as a program. He’s a humble leader who brings an enthusiasm to the field every single day that is unmatched. What people saw this weekend in the Finals is what I have watched for the past three seasons. He plays the game the right way and is very fun to watch. … He has been the face of the rebuild we had at Summerfield. When he was an eighth grader, we went 6-28. In his freshman year he quickly became the ace and a leader in the dugout. We have won at least 21 games in every year since. Derek has pitched us to two District championships, two Regional championships and a state championship. He wants the ball in big games and the team fuels off his confidence. … Derek’s junior season was nothing short of amazing. He broke the county record for ERA with a 0.20 and was within three of the county stolen base record with 52. To do what he does on the mound and at the plate for us at such a consistent rate is amazing. Derek never had a bad day on the mound. No matter what the situation, he showed up with his best stuff.”
Performance Point: “The community's been really great about it. I can't go anywhere without having somebody say congratulations. I've had people I've never seen in my life say ‘Congrats,’” Clark said. “It's really nice to have that back-up, so to say, with our community. … With the weekend, it was just so good. All of our hard work, it finally paid off, finally got (us) to our number one goal. It's really nice to accomplish something this big. … The last out, to strike him out for the game, I was telling my catcher, ‘If we get to two outs, we've got to strike him out.’ I think that was probably the best moment. I just felt like it was more ecstatic, had us all pumped up. Because we had the confidence, I don't think it was shocking, so to say. We were really confident in ourselves and in our play because we were playing really well at the time. I think it was just more of a relief.”
Talking turnaround: “I think it’s just having guys that can play. The junior class this year was really big. We started five freshmen my freshman year. So just having that, and having guys come out. Also just having confidence in each other and trusting in each other, because team chemistry is huge. If you don’t have that, talent doesn’t really mean anything. … We’ve always been a baseball group. There’s been football and basketball, but we’ve been more of a baseball grade. I think we’ve been all right coming up, and we’ve just hit a stride the last couple of years and (we’re) just getting better.”
Taking the lead: “I just try to be a leader of everything, every sport I play. When it comes to basketball, I'm the point guard so you've gotta communicate, you've gotta use your words, you can't be quiet. You're the general of the floor – you've got to know what to do, what's going on at all times. That's kinda how I am with baseball. I just try to keep everybody engaged and try to get everybody looks and help everybody as much as I can.”
Title time: “It's just great to finally get it done. Our baseball program, Coach (Darrell) Polter built it up (before retiring in 2014 after nearly 40 seasons). He has 17 league titles at Summerfield, and just to finally get that state title meant a lot to us. Nobody's really ever been there to do that, in any sport, so (the community) made a really big deal. We came home after we won, and there was a big parade in town and it was just really surreal and awesome to be a part of.”
Never stop competing: “I think we're all just so competitive. We'll be in math class, doing something that's competitive, and if you lose it's hectic. Nobody wants to lose. I think that's got something to do with (our success). When we grew up, we didn't want to lose ever. That's how we've been since we were little. Some kids take it even into school, like ‘Ha ha, I have better grades than you.’ It gets wild. I’m not bad (academically), but our shortstop Brendan Dafoe has a 4-point, and Brayden Jewell has a 3.8 or 3.9 or something like that. We’re all in advanced class, so we get after each other in there.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past 2018-19 honorees
June 13: Audrey Whiteside, East Grand Rapids lacrosse - Read
June 6: Kari Miller, Ann Arbor Pioneer tennis - Read
May 23: Keshaun Harris, Lansing Waverly track & field - Read
May 16: Gabbie Sherman, Millington softball - Read
May 9: Nathan Taylor, Muskegon Mona Shores golf - Read
May 2: Ally Gaunt, New Baltimore Anchor Bay soccer - Read
April 25: Kali Heivilin, Three Rivers softball - Read
March 28: Rickea Jackson, Detroit Edison basketball - Read
March 21: Noah Wiswary, Hudsonville Unity Christian basketball - Read
March 14: Cam Peel, Spring Lake swimming - Read
March 7: Jordan Hamdan, Hudson wrestling - Read
February 28: Kevon Davenport, Detroit Catholic Central wrestling - Read
February 21: Reagan Olli, Gaylord skiing - Read
February 14: Jake Stevenson, Traverse City Bay Reps hockey - Read
February 7: Molly Davis, Midland Dow basketball - Read
January 31: Chris DeRocher, Alpena basketball - Read
January 24: Imari Blond, Flint Kearsley bowling - Read
January 17: William Dunn, Quincy basketball - Read
November 29: Dequan Finn, Detroit Martin Luther King football - Read
November 22: Paige Briggs, Lake Orion volleyball - Read
November 15: Hunter Nowak, Morrice football - Read
November 8: Jon Dougherty, Detroit Country Day soccer - Read
November 1: Jordan Stump, Camden-Frontier volleyball - Read
October 25: Danielle Staskowski, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep golf - Read
October 18: Adam Bruce, Gladstone cross country - Read
October 11: Ericka VanderLende, Rockford cross country - Read
October 4: Kobe Clark, Schoolcraft football - Read
September 27: Jonathan Kliewer, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern soccer - Read
September 20: Kiera Lasky, Bronson volleyball - Read
September 13: Judy Rector, Hanover-Horton cross country - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Petersburg Summerfield's Derek Clark unloads a pitch during Saturday's Division 4 championship game win at McLane Stadium. (Middle) Clark heads back to his dugout after sliding in head-first to score in Friday's Semifinal.