‘Big Lew’ Brown, Rebel player on 1977 Final Four team, dies at 56

Almost everything about Lewis Brown was a mystery, from the 6-foot-11-inch center's unfulfilled potential as a basketball star to his whereabouts on the streets.

For several years, his former UNLV teammates would say Brown was nowhere to be found. There was talk of his past drug use and rumors he was homeless somewhere in his hometown of Los Angeles.

And in fact, for more than 10 years, Brown wandered the streets of Hollywood, content to live out the script of what would be a sad movie. It took almost a week for news of his death to be reported.

Brown, 56, died Sept. 14 after a heart attack, his sister, Anita Brown Campbell, told the Los Angeles Times. He was a member of the Rebels' first NCAA Final Four team in 1977.

"In all the years I've been around, I've never seen a big man with as much talent and the ability to dominate a game when he wanted," said Robert Smith, Brown's teammate for three seasons from 1974 to 1977. "But he always had a lot of things on his mind, and he just played when he wanted."

Nicknamed "Big Lew," he was ranked last year by the Las Vegas Review-Journal as the 20th-best player in UNLV history. Brown ranks No. 2 in career rebounds (1,019) and 19th in points (1,289).

Smith said Brown occasionally would visit his house in Las Vegas before they lost contact over the past decade.

"We would talk for a long time, and then he would disappear for a long time," Smith said.

In May, a story in The New York Times shed light on Brown's existence on the streets and described his home as "a pile of boxes and blankets on a patch of sidewalk." But Brown, who washed car windows and did odd jobs, also said he was at peace with himself.

"I know quite a few people said they tried to make an effort to help him, but he didn't want to leave," Smith said, "and knowing Lew for as long as I did, he was always set in his ways."

Brown, a two-time high school player of the year in Los Angeles, played on coach Jerry Tarkanian's first four UNLV teams that compiled a 102-16 record. Brown was part of the Final Four team known as the "Hardway Eight," and he hit the hardest times after college.

"He was a gentle guy, but he wasn't a consistently good player," said Tarkanian, who could not recall seeing Brown in about 20 years. "He was a little strange.

"He was very close with my wife, Lois. She used to tutor him and work with him a lot. Lois thought he was one of our most intelligent players as far as academics."

Brown was a fourth-round pick by the Milwaukee Bucks and one of six Rebels selected in the 1977 NBA Draft. But he played only briefly in the NBA -- two games for the Washington Bullets in 1981 -- and spent most of his pro career playing overseas in France and the Philippines.

"Lewis was always different. He was stubborn," said "Sudden" Sam Smith, a Rebels star from 1975 to 1977. "But he was a good person, though, real good. He was one of the best teammates I ever had. He didn't have to live like that, but that's the life he chose."

Two of Brown's UNLV teammates, Glen Gondrezick and Larry Moffett, also passed away recently, Gondrezick in 2009 and Moffett this summer.

Sam Smith reflected on the July deaths of Armon Gilliam and Curtis Watson and said, "The good Lord must be trying to get a Runnin' Rebels team up there."

A funeral for Brown will be held Thursday in Compton, Calif.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.