Scholarship to extend coach JD’s legacy
A CRICKET scholarship is to be set up in memory of a county coach who influenced the lives of countless young cricketers for half a century.
John Brown, known to all as JD, died last month at the age of 84. Since the early 1970s, he had been a key figure, locally and nationally, in establishing coaching structures that are now an intrinsic part of the modern game.
But he was first and foremost a Derbyshire man, dedicating his life to discovering and nurturing young talent through to playing for the county side. Many – among them Kevin Dean, Trevor Smith, Johnny Owen, Tom Lungley and Chris Marples – went on to have first-class careers.
Eight through his time at the club – John Morris, Chris Adams, Dominic Cork, Kim Barnett, Geoff Miller, Devon Malcolm, Ian Blackwell and Paul Taylor, progressed to play for England.
Through the John
Brown Cricket Scholarship, his family aim to keep helping young players thrive long into the future, whether that is giving them access to coaching and equipment or through aiding their development by playing overseas.
JD, born in Heanor in 1937, had to give up his own dream of playing county cricket when his father died and he had to bring in a regular wage as a butcher to support the family.
But he was a batsman well respected enough to be courted to play for Sandiacre, Heanor Town and Butterley, after starting out with Langley Mill, at a time when players rarely switched clubs. He also played for Derbyshire CCC Club and Ground before two years of national service in the Army.
Coaching soon took over from playing as a passion, starting with Langley Mill juniors in the early 1970s. He worked part-time with the county club, too, and, at a time when the Colts was the only real stepping stone to the first team, helped set up age group sides playing matches at under-13s, under-15s and under-17s.
For the first time, Derbyshire had a proper structured pathway.
With Phil Russell and under the direction of Eddie Barlow, the Derbyshire Seconds were re-established in 1977. For a while, that seconds team included John Wright, who had written to the county asking for a trial, Allan Lamb, Peter Kirsten and Garth Le Roux, who all came over through Russell’s contacts in South Africa.
JD took on many roles with Derbyshire between 1971-2001 but was principally Youth Development Coach. He also joined the National Cricket Association sub-committee at Lord’s in 1982 and helped change the way cricket coaches learned their trade, along similar lines to today’s system.
After retirement in 2001, JD was awarded an honorary life membership and served on the club’s committee for a decade.
But he could never give up coaching and was still taking one-to-ones with juniors at Ockbrook & Borrowash in August.
“It wasn’t only about teaching them how to play cricket, it was a life coaching thing for him as well,” said his son Andy, the former Derbyshire coach who was also one of the young players to benefit from the structure brought in by his father and play first-class cricket for the county.
“He was very good at figuring out where a player would fit. No matter how good they were, he would encourage them to be as good as they could be.
“If they were more highly skilled, he could be a bit harder on them to push them on but no matter who he was coaching, he always found a way to make it fun for them.”
“He loved to coach and he loved working with young players,” added Marion, his wife of 61 years. “We could never go anywhere without somebody he had coached at some stage stopping him to have a chat.”
JD also leaves a son, Stephen, and a daughter, Helen.
A celebration of his life was to be held today at the Incora Pavilion at the County Ground, following a family funeral.
Donations to the scholarship set up in JD’s name can be made via justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ johnbrowncricketscholarship