Northwest University Athletics

Men’s Basketball (1972-1974)

John came to Northwest College from Ketchikan, Alaska and played on the men’s basketball team from 1972-1974 and finished with a career scoring average of 20.5 points per game, still #1 in the Northwest record books. He was named one of the top two best players in the Pacific Northwest College Conference. John led the team to the conference championship and to a National Little College Athletic Association tournament in Ohio his last year playing at Northwest.

During those years, it was stated by LeRoy Johnson, “when the game was on the line, the strategy was to get Brown the ball and he delivered.”

Directly after playing at Northwest, he and his wife, Colleen completed their Bachelor degrees at Seattle Pacific University while John was the RA at Northwest in the evenings. John then coached the Eagles from 1982 until 1989 when he decided to move back to Ketchikan, Alaska.

John was the first inductee into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame and selected by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 100 high school basketball players of all time after he led his team to four straight Alaska High School State Titles from 1964-1968.

John is currently the Tribal Education Director at Ketchikan Indian Community in Alaska and has worked with KIC for over 15 years. John oversees all the Cultural Heritage Academic Service programs. He is especially passionate about creating infrastructure and services that will help tribal members build careers. John is still knows as a basketball legend in the Ketchikan community and continues to give back by coaching and mentoring youth basketball.