BYU Daily Universe Staff Reporter
“It’s not about me” is an attitude that makes BYU running back Curtis Brown something of a paradox. In a society that promotes finding success by getting ahead, Brown has focused on helping others instead, which has led to success both in the game of football and in the game of life.
Since playing football at BYU and joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brown’s propensity for helping others has gained enhanced meaning. He now measures success on a more personal level, such as being a positive role model and increasing his understanding of the gospel.Brown is currently heading into his junior year after a successful sophomore season at BYU in 2004, where he earned All-Mountain West Conference second-team honors and led the team with 789 yards rushing.
“I love the fact that I play football for BYU. I love the fact that I represent the Church on Saturday on national television," Brown said. "This church has done so much for my life, I feel like this is my way of showing thanks.”
Brown grew up in a middle-class neighborhood set against the desert backdrop of Palmdale, California, but he attended Paraclete High School, a private, parochial school in nearby Lancaster. Brown said while attending a Catholic high school he was able to associate with people of different faiths, which helped keep him open-minded spiritually.
Spirituality is something his mother, Cheryl Brown, said has been a part of his kind-hearted nature since he was young.
“There was always a spiritual, religious component to him,” she said. “People would tell me how mature he was, how polite he was, how he stuck up for the younger kids and didn’t let the bigger kids bully the little ones.”
Standing at a solid 6 feet tall, Brown also excelled at football, in which he led Paraclete to a 12-0 record his senior year while picking up several honors and accolades along the way.
These achievements caught the eye of several Division-I universities, all of which recruited Brown to be a part of their program. The recruiting staff at BYU also eyed his talents early on and offered him a scholarship to come play in Provo.
“His ability to play caught my eye as a sophomore in high school,” BYU Assistant Coach Barry Lamb said. “But we also evaluate players based on the content of their character, their academics, and their ecclesiastical standing, and Curtis met all of those standards.”
Brown said BYU was the first and only recruiting trip he went on. He said he felt the coaching staff was honest from the very beginning and that it was the type of environment in which he felt comfortable.
“When I came here I felt like they were telling the truth,” Brown recalled. “A feeling inside and the way the coaches did everything just committed me.”
Towards the end of his second year, this tendency to follow his heart is something that Brown said helped him to build a testimony and join the LDS Church. He described this as a challenging time where he felt he needed some answers.
“It was a struggle, my semester went bad, I had a break-up with my girlfriend, my grades went downhill, and I just didn’t feel right inside,” Brown said. “I knew that I had been praying and nothing was really coming up; no answers were coming to me.”
Then quarterback Matt Berry, one of Brown’s friends on the team, invited him to attend church. Brown decided if he wanted any answers, he needed to do his part, so he accepted the offer.
“I was going with an open heart and it just blew me away,” Brown said of his first time attending the LDS Church. “The number-one thing that opened my eyes was the way people were so kind-hearted. I just felt so loved by people I didn’t even know.”
Not long after, Brown listened to the missionary discussions and decided to be baptized. He was baptized in early 2004, a decision he said took a lot of thought and consideration, but one he would never take back.
Brown said attending church and being baptized has changed his perspective on the meaning of life, which influenced him to try to become a better person. But Berry recognized that Brown was making an effort to try and be a better person prior to his baptism.
“I noticed changes before he got baptized,” Berry said. “He started to live gospel principles, to talk differently and act differently.”
When asked if she had noticed any changes in her son since he was baptized, Cheryl Brown laughed and said that she definitely had. However, other people around him, along with his mother, describe any change as a refinement of character traits that were already a strong part of him.
“Some refining has gone on,” Lamb said. “He is more humble and some of the edges have been rounded. But he has always been a great young man, very service-oriented with a ‘what can I do to help?’ attitude.”
One important change Brown has realized is an increased understanding about the importance of family, friends, and being an example to other people.
“I see the examples that have been set for me in Provo and I realize they’re great examples and I need to step up,” Brown said. “I’ve seen what doing things the right way can do for you, and all I want to do is relay that message from Provo to my friends back home.”
Brown said some of his friends in California are doing things that have led them off of the path, but he feels those relationships present him with some important opportunities.
“I see what they’re doing and it’s my chance to do missionary work and preach to them,” Brown said. “In my life it’s those people that need the extra attention.”
As a football player, attention is something Brown gets a lot of, but joining the Church is something that has modified his persona and drive to be a better example on the football field.
“I don’t want to be throwing punches on the field; I want to be an example to the kids watching,” Brown said. “There’s kind of got to be this killer instinct where it was like I’m out to hurt you, but I realized that football is temporary.”
Realization of temporary things helped change his notions of success and helped him try to be more grounded in reality. Brown admitted at first he just wanted to go to the NFL, make money, and be rich. But now Brown said his goals are to have a great family and impact others in a positive way. He wants to continue to make college football fun, but said to achieve future goals he wants to increase his testimony of the gospel.
“I just want to have such a strong testimony,” Brown said. “My main goal is to make full sense of everything, limit the amount of questions I have, and find the answers myself.”
But for Brown, a large part of finding those future answers lies in the attitude he has maintained from the beginning.
“It just seemed that every time I focused on the team more than myself good things happened for me,” he said. “I realize I’ve already been blessed, and I just want my blessings to help others.”