Last May, we learned that Tony Brown (54), a 19-year career on the NBA floors, had to fight against pancreatic cancer. Six months after this announcement, the referee is already back.
He has indeed found his referee costume on Monday evening. Not on the floors, however, but within the “replay center”, where we analyze the slowdowns of meetings to help the men in gray from a distance.
While pancreatic cancer can be very lethal and rapid, seeing someone who led 1,109 regular season games and 35 playoffs is great and happy news.
“I had better results than expected”, he confirmed to the AP, after his 14 sessions of chemotherapy, each lasting seven hours, and while two more are still waiting for him. “I started talking about a comeback with my family and before I even said it they pushed me to do it. I hesitated for a week and contacted Monty McCutchen (director of referee training) to tell him that I was ready to contribute my stone to the edifice. “
These two evenings in the “replay center”, because he will still have the right to one more evening, are a first step because Tony Brown’s final objective is to return to the floors, possibly after the All-Star. Game.
