Teams: Men's Basketball: Press Releases

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

FORMER TUFTS BASKETBALL PLAYER SCOTT BROWN WINS U.S. SENATE BID

MEDFORD -- Scott Brown, a 1981 Tufts University graduate and four-year member of the Jumbo men's basketball team, won yesterday's special election for the U.S. Senate, becoming the first Republican elected to represent Massachusetts in the Senate since 1979. A Massachusetts State Senator since 2004, Brown won 52 percent of the vote to Martha Coakley's 47 percent. Brown will fill the Massachusetts Senate seat that was opened when the late Senator Ted Kennedy died last August.

At Tufts, the new Senator was "Downtown" Scotty Brown as a long-range shooting specialist for the Jumbos from 1977-81. Playing before the institution of the three-point line, Brown was a key contributor to four winning teams coach by John White at Tufts. In 93 career games at Tufts, Brown scored 925 points for a career average of 9.9 points per game.

Averaging 8.8 ppg with a shooting percentage near 50 as a freshman in 1977-78, Brown earned an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Week award that season. As a sophomore in 1978-79, he averaged 9.9 ppg and scored 35 points in a victory against Bowdoin. In 1979-80 as a junior, he made 54.3 percent of his shots and averaged 10.8 ppg. He had back-to-back games of 26 and 25 points against Curry and Trinity, respectively. A senior co-captain of the 1980-81 Tufts team, he capped his career with a 10.3 scoring average that season. He had another 35-point game against Brandeis as a senior.

The Jumbos were 16-8 during Brown's freshman campaign, 14-10 in 1978-79, 15-9 for his junior season, and 14-10 when Brown was a senior. That's a four-year record of 59-37 for a 61.5 winning percentage. Brown missed just three games during his four-year career, all during his senior season.

Comparable to his upset victory for the U.S. Senate seat, Brown worked hard to overcome the odds during his Tufts basketball career according to Coach White.

"He was not born with great basketball attributes," White said in a feature about Brown in the February 17, 1981 edition of the Tufts Daily. "He has gone beyond his limitations, which is very admirable."

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