Goes to as many of her daughters’ games at UT and UNC as she can
“She’s been there for me through everything. She comes when I need her, she’s a phone call away, a drive away . ... She makes five hours seem like it’s absolutely nothing.”
GREENVILLE, S.C. — When Tamari Key comes out to the court for games, the first thing the senior center for Lady Vols basketball does is scan the crowd for her mother.
She knows she’ll find her almost every time, and she can hear her voice over everyone in the stands. Tammy Brown rarely misses a game, even with her younger daughter, Teonni, a sophomore guard/ forward playing for North Carolina.
It gets trickier in the postseason — this week both Tamari and Teonni played at the same time Thursday. So Brown made the one-hour drive from her home in Cary, North Carolina, to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, to watch Teonni and the Tar Heels lose to Miami in the second round. Then it was off to Greenville for the three-hour drive to be in the stands Friday to watch Tennessee beat Alabama in the quarterfinals.
“Just seeing her, it does give me a sense of comfort before the games and hearing her voice behind the bench, too,” Tamari Key told Knox News. “It doesn’t go unnoticed, the support that she’s always giving us.”
Brown will be there behind the bench when Tennessee (19-11) faces No. 1 South Carolina (30-0) in the SEC Tournament semifinal on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU).
It takes a lot of planning to support two daughters playing Power Five college basketball. For Brown, it takes an excel spreadsheet.
When the schedules are released, Brown plugs in all the dates, times and locations in the spreadsheet. Teonni’s are highlighted in light blue and Tamari’s are in orange. Key had no idea how extensive her mom’s planning was until last summer when Brown showed her the spreadsheet, and Key was “absolutely fascinated.”
“She’s superwoman, 100%” Key said. “(She) takes the cake for best mom award, because I know it’s hard ... But I love that she prioritizes us, and we wouldn’t be where we are today without her.”
Brown, who lives five hours from Knoxville, has been to more than 40 games this season between her two daughters. And if she can’t be at one of UNC’s home games, she has friends who will go in her place.
Brown works remotely, which allows her to travel as much as she does. She also has a credit card only for travel, one that she puts away and pays off in the offseason — the financial aspect is another part of the planning.
“Wherever they are, I feel like I’m supposed to be somewhere in a gym,” Brown said. “You’ve got to master it in order to be able to support two kids at this level, and it takes a lot of planning.”
The level of planning Brown does could qualify her to be a travel agent. During the 2022 postseason, Brown watched UNC in Greensboro and then drove back and got home at midnight. She only had a few hours before she had to be on a flight to Wichita, Kansas, at 5 a.m. for Tennessee’s Sweet 16 game.
Brown arrived, checked into her hotel, changed clothes and made it just in time for the team’s sendoff from their hotel.
“She’s been there for me through everything,” Key said. “She comes when I need her, she’s a phone call away, a drive away — she makes five hours seem like it’s absolutely nothing. She’s our biggest support system. She’s our rock.”
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.