Graduated: 1978
Inducted: November 6, 2010

Steve Brown excelled in two sports during his time at South Dakota State University, earning induction into the prestigious Jackrabbit Sports Hall of Fame in the fall of 2010.

Brown, a 1978 graduate of SDSU, earned all-North Central Conference honors twice in both basketball and baseball for the Jackrabbits.

A Bryant native, Brown led the Jackrabbit men’s basketball team in scoring his junior and senior seasons, averaging a North Central Conference-best 22.0 points per league game during his junior season and a team-best 19.7 points per game as a senior during the 1977-78 campaign. The most valuable player of the 1977 NCC Holiday Tournament, Brown finished his career second on the SDSU career scoring charts with 1,534 points — a total that still ranks fourth. For his career, Brown shot 50.7 percent (643-for-1,269) from the field and 84.6 percent (248-of-293) at the free throw line.

On the diamond, Brown earned all-NCC honors as a third baseman in 1977 and 1978. He was selected as the NCC Most Valuable Player in 1978, when he led the circuit in hitting (.500), hits (26), doubles (8) and home runs (4) in conference games. A year earlier, Brown led the NCC with 16 runs scored and four home runs. He later received a professional tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals.

After earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physical education from SDSU, Brown served as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Dickinson State (N.D.) and Minnesota before becoming head coach at Michigan Tech University. Brown later entered private business in the sales profession, while continuing to coach basketball at the youth and AAU levels. At the time of his induction, Brown resided in Chanhassen, Minn., and worked as the director of the Minnesota Timberwolves/Lynx Basketball Academy.