The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 ■ 49 to four NCAA Tournaments with the Wolfpack. He scored 1,357 career points, a total that ranks 25th in school history, and shot 55.7 percent from the field in his NC State career, a mark that is fourth all-time in the program record book. Brown was an unlikely basketball star. Having grown up in Harlem, he lived in New York until he was 15 years old. When his father, Clarence Brown Sr., retired from his job as a New York City bus driver, the family moved to the North Carolina coast, across the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, where he became a star at Leland's North Bruns- wick High School. He knew early on that he wanted to play for Valvano, who once called him to the front of Reynolds Coliseum to cheerfully give him a summer camp award until he saw that Brown was wearing a "Property of UNC Basketball" cutoff T-shirt and a pair of Duke bas- ketball shorts. Valvano held the award until Brown turned the shirt inside out. "My parents thought he was crazy," Brown once said. "I knew he was, and I knew I wanted to play for him." As an NBA player, Brown toiled for 12 different franchises during a 13-season professional career, not to mention time in the Continental Basketball Associa- tion and a brief stint overseas. In 1995, he was called up from the CBA's Yakima (Washington) Sun Kings to play for the Houston Rockets, signed to a pair of 10- day contracts to fill the holes left by a handful of injured players. Famously during the Western Con- ference final that year, Brown was as- signed to defend All-NBA star Barkley. "Who is Chucky Brown?" Barkley asked. "I don't even know him." It didn't take Barkley long to find out. The Rockets won Game 4 in overtime, and Barkley apologized to Brown for the public slight before Game 5. Brown played well enough during his 61 games to earn an additional yearlong contract, at the end of which he was included in a three-player deal for Barkley. "I ended up being a key player that year [1994-95], and I got to play for my ring," said Brown, who was the Rockets' sixth man. Brown actually won two champion- ships that year, since Yakima went on to claim the CBA crown. Having played nearly the entire season with the Sun Kings, he got a ring for that title, too, becoming only the second player in history to win championships with two teams during the same season. Brown joined John Ritcher and Chuck Nevitt as the first three former Wolfpack players to win an NBA crown. 'Elite Perspective' After the NBA, Brown and his wife settled down in Cary, N.C., to raise three athletic daughters, the youngest of whom is playing basketball at Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory. He filled his time as a high school, college and professional coach, as a youth league referee, an NBA scout and a part-time television announcer, building an incredibly well-rounded ré- sumé for understanding the game. Now, he'll take over a seat that Tony Haynes has filled since 1998, joining one-time teammate Chris Corchiani as the only former State players to serve as color analysts for men's basketball on the Wolfpack Radio Network. An- other former teammate, Ernie Myers, is the color analyst for women's bas- ketball. He'll be the second new voice in as many years for the Wolfpack Sports Network, with play-by-play announcer Matt Chazanow having taken over for Gary Hahn before the 2024 football sea- son. "[I'm] super excited to work with Chucky," Chazanow said. "Not only is he an all-time great, but he's an expe- rienced broadcaster. Chucky has been analyzing national games for Compass Media at the highest level of college basketball. "He brings elite perspective, a wide range of broadcast experience and has been so fun to talk ball to. He loves the Pack. I feel grateful to be able to work with him and excited to get to know him better." Brown also has coaching experience, working in the World Basketball Asso- ciation, in the NBA's D-League, at West Johnson High School and at Raleigh HBCU St. Augustine's until the school's athletics department went under. And that's who Chucky Brown is. ■ Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. NC State's Full-Time Radio Announcers (Since 1948) Wally Ausley (1948-90): Play-by-play and color analyst for football and men's basketball on the Tobacco Radio Network, the Wolfpack Radio Network and others. C.A. Dillon (1950-61): NC State graduate in English, play-by-play announcer for various local radio stations and the Tobacco Radio Network before the Wolfpack Radio Network began in 1961. Jim Reid (1950-61): Color analyst alongside Ausley and other local announcers, later mayor of Raleigh. Bill Jackson (1961-74): Play-by-play for football and men's basketball. Reese Edwards (1973-74): Took over for an ailing Jackson as play-by-play announcer of the ACC- and NCAA- champion Wolfpack. Garry Dornburg (1975-97): NC State graduate in English, color commentator for football and men's basket - ball. Johnny Evans (1984-present): Former NC State quarterback, punter and graduate who serves as color ana- lyst for Wolfpack football. Gary Hahn (1990-2024): Play-by-play announcer for football and men's basketball who retired following the 2023-24 season in which State won the ACC title and advanced to the Final Four. Chris Corchiani (1996-97): Former Wolfpack point guard filled in as a color announcer during the 1996-97 season and the ACC Tournament for an ailing Dornburg. Tony Haynes (1998-2025): Raleigh native and NC State graduate in speech communications who served as men's basketball analyst and football sideline analyst. Matt Chazanow (2024-present): Play-by-play announcer for football and men's basketball. Chucky Brown (2025-present): Former star player at NC State and NBA champion just named the color analyst for men's basketball. Others who have announced football and men's basketball games: Lin Dawson (football), Patrick Kinas (men's and women's basketball), Neil Solonz (men's basketball), Mark Thomas (football), Andrew Sanders (men's and women's basketball), Ernie Myers (men's and women's basketball).