Introducing Book Talk: A community-wide book club of novels about Long Island, involving Long Island, and by local Long Island authors. In this column, Kaitlyn Foley will be reading our Island’s best stories, discussing them with other readers, and often even the authors themselves. Join Kaitlyn and the rest of The Messenger team every few weeks to chat about our future favorite books. Know of a great book you’d like to share with your community?
To kick off The Messenger's newest column, we start with the story of a local Long Island legend, a champion who got his start right here in Brentwood. Reflections of a Champion is the firsthand account of Gary Lee Brown’s career as a professional football player in the NFL on the Green Bay Packers, following him as he climbs to the peak of his career winning the Superbowl, and the times of his life that he refers to as his “rock bottom.” As a boy who grew up in Brentwood, Brown starts his novel off describing his childhood. The familiar, nostalgic memories he describes remind us of how every famous person starts off the same way, a child with a passion.
Intramural football, or as the author refers to it, “Pop Warner” football, was a catalyst for Brown. Throughout the book, the reader will notice his reference to that time of his life quite often. This was something that made me reflect on my own childhood. Trying to remember the lessons I’ve learned early in my life and when I learned them was difficult. This goes to show that football was always at the forefront of Brown’s mind. He was able to track his determination and accountability back to when he first learned those qualities were important: Pop Warner football.
“It’s important for kids to know that no matter what level you’re playing at, you need to be in the moment. Appreciate the teammates around you and appreciate the opportunity that you have.” (Gary Lee Brown, Reflections of a Champion, page 28)
“I played the game in honor of my father, who always taught me to be the best version of myself,” Brown explains to The Messenger. He expanded on the pages in his book where he talks about the qualities of a champion that need to be instilled in a child at a young age, whether they end up in professional sports or not. “The love of competition, being the best version of myself, and winning were very addictive even towards the end of my career when I wasn’t [at my best].” The sportsmanship, responsibility, and drive that was instilled in him as a Pop Warner player by his father and coaches led him to be the champion that he is today, on and off the field.
Reflections of a Champion truly made me reflect on where I came from and how sports has shaped me. I was certainly not destined for the professional level of any sport I tried. However, Brown’s point that being involved in a team effort and admiring the coaches whose job it is to help you do better, was a molding experience.
“It is an understatement that sports have a huge influence in our world. It does more than bring value to the school’s identity,” says Brown. “For that young person to be accountable and accepted in a positive group or situation can be a matter of life or death. They are not just numbers; they are people that will go on to live their own lives.”
The Messenger has discussed before how sports in early life can be a positive influence; however, Brown adds a new perspective through his book.
Going into the book, I was excited to read about Brown’s Superbowl win in his own words. A first-person account of the experience is the closest most of us will ever come to feeling the turf beneath our cleats. However, the chapters describing the Superbowl were shorter than I expected. Though I wasn’t disappointed, I was surprised. Brown focused on the stories of his life that helped him get to the height that he did rather than being there.
“There are many stories that did not make it [into the book.] Although they were good stories, they had no place for the theme that we were following: simply be the best you can be,” Browns tells The Messenger.
Brown and his co-writer, David Lionheart, began putting these stories together during the pandemic because he was pursuing speaking engagements that pulled a lot of these stories to the surface. In the book, Brown says that when he was first approached about writing a book, he didn’t believe he even had a story to tell. His depression over the end of his career blinded him to what he could do for others.
“I went through some life-changing things. That was when I found that I had a story to tell, and by telling my story, I could help someone else.”
The Serenity Prayer that Brown recited on page 37 was another piece that stuck with me throughout the book. He noted that the prayer was always in the back of his mind after learning it, and it helped him get through the toughest moments in his life. Each page after, I thought about how that prayer might be aiding Brown in each story he told.
“I first learned the Serenity Prayer in 1997. I had an incident in Wisconsin and had to take some counseling. It was just something to get me through the moment. As time went on, I realized how much the Serenity Prayer related to me in life. I applied the prayer to all aspects of my life [because] it helps me manage stress, uncontrollable situations, and put things in perspective,” explains Brown.
The Serenity Prayer reads: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
There was not a single page in this book where I doubted Brown’s determination, dedication, and humanity. His recount of his own life reflects on the good and the bad; the decisions that made him a champion in football, and the decisions that could have led him down a road of no return. His resiliency and self-reflection is enough to inspire anyone. Yet he continues to be humble and grateful while acknowledging the situations and the people who got him to where he is.
The end of Brown’s book discusses his philanthropic work now through Dream68, a program that often brings him back to where it all started, Brentwood.
“Brentwood is a very special place to me. It’s where I was raised. I feel it’s a big reason I am the man I am today,” Brown says. “Coming from Brentwood gives me a strong background, supportive friends who never let my head get too big and never let me sink into the slumps. They will always get me. It’s who I am, where I come from, and where I represent. I think it’s very important to teach the kids of my neighborhood, Brentwood, that dreams can come true. If you have a dream of playing professional sports, then you need to take actions towards the course and don’t let anybody or anything derail you from your dreams. Hence my nonprofit organization Dream68, which started out with the mission to empower kids to dream.”
Dream68 is all about empowering children in every way. It provides for kids now, what coaches and parents provided for Brown as a child.
“My proudest moment was when a kid said, ‘Thank you Mr. Gary’, as some of the kids like to call me, ‘I changed my life around because of you’. The icing on a cake is when you have a single mother with no father figures in the house say ‘I hope my son becomes a mature young man.’ The kids have respect and love for their families and goals in life. Those are my biggest accomplishments and why I do what I do.”
Brown’s Reflections of a Champion is an inspiring first-hand account of a boy who turned into a man through the influence of football, whose career tested everything he had been taught, and came out a successful and stronger player and human. The story follows the player and the person that Gary Lee Brown is. It hammers down the idea that though a person seems to have it all, they may be struggling behind the scenes.
“Everybody has stuff, everybody has issues. You can never judge a book by its cover. It can look so pretty on the outside, but can be turmoil on the inside,” Brown tells The Messenger. “I greet people with a smile, a good personality, because that’s who I am. The work that I do is kind of selfish because after all I’ve been through, it is my therapy. Working with kids, giving back to my community, gives me a reason to go to bed at night. It gives me a reason to wake up early in the morning because people depend on me, just knowing that I might be able to make a difference in someone’s life, as people that made a difference in my life, and that’s enough for me.”