Lenny Brown

Early life Brown is from Wilmington, Delaware. His mother, Jerina, had him at age 13, and was left to raise him and later his siblings at age 17 when her mother died. Living with his mother, siblings, and several cousins, Brown "became the man of the house at a young age". He became a starter on the school's varsity team as a freshman. He ended up staying and matured in his next season, attending class more often and being named second-team all-state in basketball while contributing to William Penn's Blue Hen Conference title. It was the first title for a Delaware team at the event and Brown was named the tournament's most valuable player. Brown led William Penn to the state championship, where he scored 28 points in a win over Caesar Rodney High School for the school's first boys' basketball state title. He was named the Delaware boys basketball player of the year for the 1993–94 season by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association. However, after the championship game, he was approached by Nicole Brown, a counselor who started a program to help "give high school students some direction". Around Christmas, his 14-year-old cousin, Howard, was murdered in Wilmington after an argument with a 21-year-old. After learning of his cousin's death, Brown initially decided to quit basketball, but later decided to return to playing at MCI at the urging of his coach and family members, telling The Cincinnati Post that "my family said to [return to MCI] and that I had made it this far, why stop. Plus, I think he would've wanted me to go back." He was later selected the co-Delaware High School Basketball Player of the Decade as chosen by Delaware's Finest Inc. in 2000.

College career Brown, a guard, entered his freshman season as a starter in 1995–96. However, after two games at Xavier, Brown, feeling like he did not fit in, decided to leave the school. He was selected to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team and was Xavier's scoring leader, the first freshman to accomplish the feat since Byron Larkin. Cincinnati entered the game heavily favored, and Xavier was 17 1/2-point underdogs. He averaged 18.1 points as a senior in 1998–99, leading Xavier in scoring for the third time in his career. He helped Xavier to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and was named to the NIT All-Tournament team; in his final career game, he scored a career-high 34 points. He appeared in a total of 122 games and overall averaged 15.5 points per game, while Xavier compiled a record of 70–25 in his last three seasons. He attended multiple pre-draft camps and worked out with the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls prior to the draft. He was not selected in the NBA draft, but later that year was chosen in the third round of the Continental Basketball Association draft by the Idaho Stampede. Instead of joining the Stampede, he signed with the Cincinnati Stuff of the International Basketball League in November 1999. In his first game, he helped the Stuff to a win by scoring 18 points in the second half. He ended up appearing in 62 games for the Stuff during the 1999–2000 season, starting nine while averaging 9.8 points. Afterwards, he played in Belgium for the 2000–01 season with Spirou Charleroi, averaging 12.4 points in seven games. He concluded his career in 2002 by playing one game with the St. Louis SkyHawks of the United States Basketball League (USBL). He was inducted into the Xavier Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2004.