Bob Brown Was a Sportswriting Pro, And I'll Miss Him a Lot

Over the years, I sat in a lot of press boxes with Bob Brown, and covered a lot of sports events with him. Bob Brown was a gamer and a pro. He was a hard worker who did the very best he could in every writing project he tackled. Bob died last night at 83 in Fort Dodge, the city where he practiced his craft so well for so many years at the Fort Dodge Messenger. I always admired the way Bob would continue working a story or a column until he had it exactly the way he wanted it. Whether it was a University of Iowa or Iowa State University football or basketball game, or the state high school boys' and girls' basketball tournaments, Bob was a class act. It was a pleasure to join Bob as a charter member of the University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium Wall of Fame a few years ago. In recent seasons--when both he and I were in our retirement years--I enjoyed sitting with Bob in the Kinnick press box on Saturdays during the Hawkeyes' football games. I'll miss him in the press box in future years. I had the pleasure of working alongside the talented Rick Brown, one of Bob's sons, in the newspaper business for a number of years, and it was a pleasure for me to know another of his sons, Randy, when he was on the basketball coaching staff at Iowa State. My thoughts and prayers are with Bob's widow, Nan, and all of her children and grandchildren at this difficult time.