Legendary former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown will be coming to the DeRidder High School cafeteria to be the keynote speaker at the Community Development Networking Committee (CDNC)/Johnny Jones & Dave Simmons basketball camp at 6 p.m. Monday. Brown will be speaking about community involvement.

Current and former NCAA and NBA athletes will be featured at the event. Former LSU star and NBA player Stanley Roberts will be one of the players in attendance.

According to Brown, the one season Roberts played at LSU with NBA great Shaquille O’Neal, Roberts was better than O’Neal.

Brown said he was coming to DeRidder to speak for three reasons.

“The biggest reason I’m coming is one of my favorite all-time human beings on this earth is Johnny Jones, who played for me, coached for me,” Brown said. “He is the epitome of what a college athlete should be.”

Jones became an assistant coach under Brown in the mid-1980s until Brown retired in 1997. Brown said many players are at LSU because of their respect for Jones.

Brown was the LSU head basketball coach from 1972-97 and had a career record of 448-301.
Simmons, who is running the camp with Jones, is the head coach of the McNeese State Cowboys basketball team.

Brown said his second reason for speaking in DeRidder Monday was for one of his former players Wayne Sims of DeRidder, who was an LSU forward in the late 1980s/early 90s. Brown said Sims was another one his all-time favorite people.

Cecil Stewart, the President of CDNC, is the cousin of Jones and father of Sims.

“One of the reason I want to have him is my son played for him for four years at LSU and my first cousin was an assistant coach under him Johnny Jones,” Stewart said.

Stewart said Brown provides a positive mindset for young kids and teaches them how to face problems and peers. Stewart said he knew other people had benefited from Brown’s speeches.
Brown said community involvement was the third reason he would be speaking in DeRidder Monday.

“They want more community involvement in DeRidder. The potential of me is we,” Brown said, adding players need to understand to reach their potential the community should benefit as a whole.

“If you want to get ahead you have to do it as a family,” Brown said. “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others. I want them not only as a team, but as a community to get them involved as a community, etc.”

Stewart said he was always excited when Brown, a hall of fame caliber coach, comes to speak.
“Coach Brown he has a wide range of topics,” Stewart said. “Coach Brown is an outstanding motivator to speak for adults and kids. He’s an inspiration to all age groups. Listen to him speak he could inspire positive things. It’s all positive. I’m hoping that people come out to hear him, especially kids. He’s a great motivator, speaker.”

Stewart said people with children should hear what Brown has to say.

Although Brown cannot force people to follow his advice, he said he hopes he will be a catalyst for good ideas Monday and stimulate individuals to come together, show family unity and recognize potential.

“There’s a light switch that turns the lights on and off,” Brown said. “You can’t turn a switch on and off for somebody.”

Brown learned many lessons about community involvement as a coach.

“In 44 years of coaching I learned it as a young boy,” Brown said, adding it became more imperative as he got older.

Brown said one lesson he learned came from one of his dear friends and one of the top sportswriters in the country Don Yaeger.

Yaeger wrote the book Never Die Easy. Yaeger spent the last months of Walter Payton’s life with Payton to write the book. Payton was one of the all-time great running backs for the Chicago Bears and at one time held the record for the most rushing yards in the NFL. Emmitt Smith played for the Dallas Cowboys and since broke Payton’s record.

Before dieing, Brown said Payton told Yaeger, “Too many of us only take, we don’t give.”
Brown agreed.

“This is true especially with athletes and entertainers who are only take so much and don’t give enough,” Brown said. “Fame is what you’ve taken and character is what you give.”

Stewart was pleased with the way Brown ran the basketball program at LSU.

“He built LSU basketball program from all football to a basketball program,” Stewart said. “Now it’s basketball and football. During the time that he was there he set the record in the Superdome for the most crowd attendance.”

The game where LSU set the record was against Georgetown in the early 1990s. LSU won the game by one point.

Stewart said Brown’s number one focus for athletes is grades and graduation.

“That’s what I like about him when he recruited Wayne,” Stewart said.

Stewart said Brown travels throughout the world to speak. Normally it would cost money, but Stewart said Brown volunteered his time.

“If they have any kids from all age groups, it would be an inspiration to hear him speak,” Stewart said. “Next to John Wooden and Bobby Knight, he’s up there with the best of them.”
It will cost $8 to attend Monday night and be in the DeRidder High School cafeteria. It includes gumbo, potato salad, dessert and a drink.