Alumni Spotlight: Trent Brown's turning points defined a career

For Trent Brown, both definitions apply.

On September 23, 1989, Brown and the Alberta Golden Bears visited the rival Calgary Dinosaurs at McMahon Stadium, where they almost never won, for the annual North/South Shrine Game, their only appearance that season before a national TV audience on TSN.

Brown was a fourth-year deep back who was an established defensive force, but had almost never been used on the other side of the ball.

With his team down a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Bears coach Jim Donlevy put Brown in the offensive backfield. First play, Brown ran a wheel route and took the ball 58 yards to the house, resulting in a tie score. Shortly after, Alberta forced a Calgary punt and the Dinosaurs kicked it right to Brown, who returned it 38 yards to set up the game-winning field goal.

"It was quite a rush," enthuses Brown, who swept game honours and was interviewed post-game by a young Michael Landsberg.

Nearly three decades later, that unforgettable early fall day still resonates profoundly for Brown, who gained a new confidence that charted a new course for his football future.

"To win offensive player of the game and defensive player of the game in the biggest game of the year on national television, and to hear the way that (the TSN broadcasters) were talking about me, that was the absolute turning point," Brown says with a sense of wonder that time has not tempered.

Now a successful lawyer in his native Edmonton, the 50-year-old Brown spent nearly a decade in the Canadian Football League with his hometown Eskimos, earning individual accolades and a Grey Cup ring.

Brown traces his evolution from raw U of A freshman to a championship-winning CFL All-Star through specific events that he can recall with a clarity that speaks to their significance.

"They were turning points, big moments," he says. "And when you make big plays in big games, your team and your coaches start to believe in you and they put you in more situations to make those big plays. And when the people around you really believe in you, that really helps too."

The first to notice Brown's potential was his head coach at Strathcona High School and later assistant coach with both Golden Bears and Eskimos, John Belmont, who told the teenager that he had the ability to be a CFL All-Star.

Brown, who hadn't even taken up football until Grade 10, didn't believe it.

"I remember one time a pass was thrown and went over my head and I thought it was too high, and Johnny Belmont said, 'You need to jump and try on every play because you don't know how good you can be'," says Brown.

Brown's first season with the Bears was 1985, when he tied for the team lead with three interceptions and was used at times on special teams. In 1986, he became Alberta's primary punt returner while leading the Bears and ranking second in the league with five picks.

After taking the 1987 football season off, Brown returned to the Bears lineup in 1988. The first defining moment of his university career would come in Alberta's season-opener at home against Saskatchewan.

"When I came back I started to do a lot of visualization and I went out to the field the night before the game and visualized myself returning a kick for a touchdown," remembers Brown.

"The first punt of the game, it was like slow motion, they kicked it to me and I caught it right where I had been out visualizing and retraced those steps and ran it back for a touchdown.

"When that happened, I started to realize and believe that I could take my game to another level. I started to talk to myself out there and tell myself what I was going to do and I think that really helped my game – the mental aspects, the mental toughness, the concentration, the belief," he continues.

"When you think about things and then those things actually start to happen you start to go, 'Hey, wow'."

That season, Brown went on to snag a league-leading five interceptions and was named a First-Team All-Canadian and league All-Star at deep back. He again received both honours in 1989, wrapping up his time at the U of A with a stellar campaign highlighted by the breakout performance in Calgary.

While he had been drafted by Ottawa in the sixth round of the 1989 CFL Draft, Brown never suited up for the Rough Riders, and eventually found his way to the Eskimos, who signed him as a free-agent.

Brown would spend his entire professional career on the gridiron in Edmonton's defensive backfield, recording 10 interceptions, seven fumble recoveries and 350 tackles over 129 regular season games. He played in two Grey Cups with the Eskimos, including their 33-23 triumph over Winnipeg in 1993, was a CFL All-Star in 1996, and named to the 1997 CFLPA All-Star team.

"When I was voted the top safety in the league by my peers on the other teams and other coaches, that's when I knew that I had essentially achieved all I wanted to achieve," recalls Brown. "I had won a Grey Cup, I had been a CFL Al-Star by the team named by the press and media, and the team named by peers and coaches."

After the 1998 season, Brown, who had suffered concussions and recently turned 32, sat down with his father, lawyer James H. Brown, who headed up a renowned Edmonton law firm specializing in personal injury.

It would turn out to be the final defining moment of his time in football.

With his father's encouragement, Brown, who had graduated from the U of A in 1989 with a degree in psychology, decided to step away from the gridiron and begin pursuing a career in the legal profession. He returned to school and less than five years later earned his Doctor of Law from the University of Saskatchewan.

Today Brown helps run James H. Brown and Associates and is heavily involved in community outreach. He loves every minute of it.

"I had accomplished all my goals in football, so I got to step away from the game on my own terms," he says.

"(Going) to law school was the smartest thing I ever did."

About the CW Alumni Spotlight:

Each year a new crop of Canada West student-athletes graduate and begin to make an impact in their communities as professionals. The CW Alumni Spotlight series looks to highlight the positive impact former CW student-athletes are making in communities across Western Canada and beyond.

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