New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Brown ’64 passed away June 30, 2021, after battling Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), a rare form of Parkinson’s Disease.

Brown led Albuquerque Academy to six consecutive state titles from 1989-1994. In his 26 years as head coach starting in the 1984-1985 season, he led the program to 20 championship appearances and played in nine straight title games, losing in the final in 1995, 1996 and 1997. His team also earned runner-up honors in 2001 and 2008. He racked up an overall record of 432-263, according to the New Mexico Activities Association.

“He orchestrated one of the most sustained runs of brilliance in New Mexico prep basketball history,” Albuquerque Journal reporter James Yodice wrote. “No boys program has ever surpassed that memorable run of six in a row. Frequently in those years, Academy was in the discussion for the best overall team regardless of classification.”

Brown was inducted into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2018, was named Coach of the Year by the New Mexico High School Coaches Association twice and was named to the association’s Hall of Honor in 2006. He will be inducted into the first-ever Hall of Fame athletics class at Albuquerque Academy in 2021, according to the Albuquerque Journal. He was also an English teacher at the school.

“Mike was very low key and gentle, but he had a surprising competitiveness,” said Chuck Reynolds ’64 in an August 2021 interview. “Everything he did he wanted to win.”

When Brown and Reynolds started at St. Pius X in 1960, they, along with the late Bobby Roybal, hit it off as fast friends — the Three Musketeers. “I got to know Mike and his family well,” Reynolds said. “One of the things I learned about him was how competitive he was. We would play nerf ball baseball on his back side patio. We would make up a game — if it hit the door it was a single; the window, a double; and over the wall was out because then we had to climb the wall. Even at that, he wanted to win.”

Reynolds remembers the disappointment he and Brown faced being cut one year by legendary SPX basketball coach Leon Palmisamo. But Brown went on to play basketball and baseball for the Sartans and later graduated from the University of New Mexico, according to the Albuquerque Journal.

Reynolds said he asked Brown where he had learned to be so successful as a coach. “He studied the Xs and Os and learned strategy, but he also learned how to deal with kids,” Reynolds said. “His first premise was to care about them. And that was very, very evident.”

When the rivalry between St. Pius X and Academy developed some rough edges, Brown was disappointed. “In our high school days, we didn’t know Academy existed — our rival was St. Mary’s High School,” Reynolds said. “Mike wanted to do everything he could to make the Pius-Academy rivalry a healthy rivalry.”

Reynolds said in the SPX Class of 1964, there were five couples who ended up getting married, one of those being Brown and Carol Hanosh ’64. They were married 52 years.

In declining health and hospitalized since November 2020, he moved to home hospice care at the home of his daughter and passed away a few days later with Carol at his side, according to the Albuquerque Journal. 

“Our class is so close and he was an important part of our class,” Reynolds said. “He remained absolutely loyal to our class.”

Brown is survived by his wife, Carol ’64; daughter Shawn and grandchildren Maddie, Dani and EJ; son Greg, his wife Heather and grandchildren Kennedy, Hudson and Houston; and son Danny, his wife Camille and grandchildren Chloe and Isaiah. He is also survived by his brothers, Kevin ’73 and his wife Sue, Marty ’81 and his wife Lisa; and his sister Joany ’74. Mike was preceded in death by his parents, Jack and Molly; and his sister, Kathy ’67.