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Finish what he started
After a stellar career at the University of Oklahoma, offensive tackle Jammal Brown was a first-round NFL draft pick and eventual Pro-Bowler. But despite his professional success, Brown came back to OU.

Tulsa World file

 
By GUERIN EMIG, World Sports Writer
Published: 6/3/2009  2:20 AM
Last Modified: 6/3/2009  7:47 AM

 NORMAN — Jammal Brown stopped the interview in mid-sentence and perked up his head like a parakeet.

"That's me!" he chirped. "They called my name!"

It was a football stadium, but the New Orleans Saints' All-Pro tackle wasn't being recognized for some block. This was the Kerr-McGee Club at Owen Field, site of Oklahoma's student-athlete graduates reception May 15. A record 117 current and former Sooners were being recognized.

None but Brown looked like a kid being handed an ice cream cone.

"You got my gown?" he said excitedly to a cheering section that included his father, aunt, cousins and 10-year-old daughter, Halle. "And the white thing?"

They had the gown, and the white thing/collar. The 6-foot-6, 313-pounder pulled it over his T-shirt, letting it dangle over his shorts, then returned to the interview.

"It's just a great accomplishment for me. I know that everyone is proud," he said the day before earning his degree in multidisciplinary studies. "I know my mom is proud."

Brown had promised his mother, Zola, he would become the first member of their family to graduate from college. She died in 1999, while Brown was still at Lawton MacArthur High School, and wasn't around to encourage her son through the roughest period of his life, around the time he arrived at OU in 2000.

"When I first got here, I was a defensive tackle and I thought I was going to be the man, this and that," Brown recalled. "But I was a partial qualifier, so I redshirted a year. Then I hurt my knee, and it was real tough on me. I talked to (then-Tennessee) coach Philip Fulmer. I talked to (then-Miami) coach Butch Davis. I was going to transfer. Then OU told me they wanted me to play offensive tackle when Tommie Harris got here. That was even tougher for me.

"But I stuck it out."

On the field, Brown started in 2002, was an All-American in '03 and won the Outland Trophy to close out his senior year in '04. But, off the field

"It wasn't easy," said Yolanda Shorter, Brown's counselor at Lawton MacArthur who became his confidante when Zola died. "He did intersession courses, summer school, sometimes with OU's prodding. They were fabulous. They kept encouraging him, saying 'We're going to work with him. We see how important this is to him.' "

Brown left OU 15 hours shy of his degree. The first time he came back to see his old coaches, they said things that had little to do with containing Julius Peppers and Simeon Rice.

"Coach (Bob) Stoops, Coach (Jackie) Shipp and Coach (Kevin) Wilson always said, 'Hey, did you finish your degree?' " Brown said. "It's important to them that their guys succeed in life, not just football. So they always stayed on me about getting my degree. At first I was like, 'Hey, Coach Shipp, I'm going to go back.'

"Coach Shipp was always like, 'I know how it gets when you get a lot of that big money in your pocket. You think you've got it made. But getting that degree is something they can't take away from you.' "

With encouragement from coaches, administrators like OU academic adviser Teresa Turner and loved ones such as Shorter and family, Brown went to work on those 15 hours. It took a few years and courses both on campus and online. It even took bringing a laptop to Honolulu for the Pro Bowl last January.

But the work was done. When Brown returned in May, it was to receive a diploma.

"This is the Super Bowl for me," Shorter said. "We had a surprise reception for him after the commencement ceremony (May 16). We mailed out announcements to come celebrate with us. His old Spanish teacher came. His computer teacher. And Bill Ingram, his old principal at Pioneer Park Elementary. He and his wife came. Jammal saw him, and he just lit up. 'My principal is here!'

"He made sure he went around to every table. He kept talking about how excited he was to be getting a class ring. His girlfriend, Stephanie, did this video of him growing up. Then he got up and spoke and thanked everyone for helping him make it to this point. It was a special day."

With his diploma in hand, Brown can now think about life beyond football.

"I would like to come back and do some work for the University of Oklahoma, not really coach but be somewhat of a sports psychologist for the freshmen coming in," he said. "I think that's something that they really need. And actually all colleges need someone to help these guys make the transition from high school to college.

"Some guys leave their high schools as stars, and they come here and they have to sit. Guys don't take that too well. Some guys mess up a good chance, because it didn't fall like they wanted it to at first. And a lot of guys don't have that faith. As soon as an obstacle comes, they're like, 'OK, I'm going to transfer out of here. I'm gone.'

"I've always thought I'm the perfect guy. I came in as a partial qualifier, and now have my degree. I came in as a defensive tackle, but showed trust in the coaches to believe that I could be a better offensive tackle.

"I think that's my calling, to be able to talk to these 17- or 18-year-old kids that don't understand. That's something I want to do for Oklahoma."

Brown has become an example for future Sooners.

"That's exactly what we preach," Stoops said. "There is no reason why players who are capable of playing pro ball can't also have their degree."

He has become an example for future Browns.

"I told Halle to make sure she watches. I'm going to graduate," he smiled inside the stadium club. "I expect her to do the same, but in a shorter time. I'll give her five years. She better not take nine like her daddy."
Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com
By GUERIN EMIG, World Sports Writer

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9 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Former Sooner football player gets his degree, fulfills promise to mother," which was published on 6/2/2009.
Report Comment
Moses, Jenks (6/2/2009 7:05:58 PM)
Congratulations Jammal, you should be very proud of yourself.
Best of luck in the future
Report Comment
T.B'Ville, Bartlesville (6/2/2009 7:44:34 PM)
That's really sweet.
Report Comment
Graybeard, Tulsa (6/3/2009 6:59:19 AM)
Jamaal is a rare jewel in Oklahoma's collection of gems. What an example for aspiring student athletes! Our young men should hold him high as their role model........
Report Comment
Arbythree, Tulsa (6/3/2009 9:29:47 AM)
Good for you Jammal!!

BOOMER SOONER!!!!!
Report Comment
tulsandn, Boswell / Tulsa (6/3/2009 10:58:06 AM)
Excellent role model....

BOOMER SOONER !!!!
Report Comment
pat, Kiefer (6/3/2009 3:29:11 PM)
BOOMER SOONER!!!!!!!
Report Comment
owen, Tulsa (6/3/2009 6:36:28 PM)
Way to go! Another Sooner who picked the right path.
Report Comment
shaw411, Scottsdale, AZ (6/5/2009 9:43:46 AM)
Congrats Jamaal!!! Boomer Sooner!!!!
Report Comment
OUShark, Jenks (6/5/2009 10:48:52 AM)
Just another OU success story. Jamaal. you are the man! Boomer Sooner! Geaux Saints!
 

 
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