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One coach's battle Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Everyone in Butte Falls knows Jack Brown's name. The longtime resident of the small town has served as the football coach, the mayor and a barkeep. At 68, Brown is battling a deadly disease: pancreatic cancer. Butte Falls enjoying one of finest seasons as Brown fights cancer By TIM TROWER BUTTE FALLS - The best of times, the worst of times. It's early Friday afternoon on an autumn day that could well be the envy of 364 other days. The sun is out. The air is so clean it squeaks. Townsfolk mill about. The big game looms. It will be played in the town square on which sit the school and football field. Patriotic music blares from speakers on a press box that, minus a few boards, couldn't thumb its nose at a treehouse. It rests upon the baseball dugout that abuts the diamond that shares space with the gridiron. The grit of infield dust only enhances the scene. Butte Falls, tucked in a forest, couldn't be more Americana had it dripped off the end of Norman Rockwell's brush. This, this, is why Jack Brown embraces this town. And why it bearhugs him back. The best of times. Jack Brown is a football coach blessed with his strongest team in nearly a decade. As befitting this landscape, he also once served as the town's mayor and its barkeep. Everyone knows his name. His team would come up short this day, its first loss of the year coming at the hands of Powers, a state juggernaut. There would be other obstacles as the Loggers, drawing motivation from a source they'd rather not, try their best to make the playoffs for the first time since 1993. This is where the contrast comes, the irony that life occasionally dumps at our feet and demands we deal with it. The worst of times. On the eve of the big game in the serene setting, Brown returned from the big city, Portland, where, at the Oregon Health and Science University, his life was measured in the finite, a chilling number slapped to his existence. Pancreatic cancer, a dastardly adversary, is the culprit. This will be his last year on the sidelines. He cannot know now what his condition will be at this time next year. Or in 18 months. Two years might be optimistic. A doctor, says Brown, told him and his wife, Joyce, the tumor "is in a real nasty place and it's a real nasty type of cancer." They've decided against delicate, debilitating surgery to remove it, and Brown began aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatment two weeks ago. The radiation is five days a week for five weeks, the chemo about half that. He knows the score. "It's not about curing it as much as slowing it down," he says. Brown's affable disposition shines through and, perhaps, is even more radiant against this dark backdrop. He and Joyce have had frank conversations about how they will proceed, he's discussed the situation with friends, and he's continued to live his life, coaching his team, playing golf whenever possible, visiting with friends. "No one wants to die," he says, "but I guess I have a funny outlook on it. It's a shock, but I always figured dying was just part of life. I worry more about what my wife has to go through than anything else. "I've put in almost 70 years, done a lot of things and had a pretty full life." Jack Brown is 68 and always has been active and vibrant. Joyce is 53. They've been married 16 years. "Jack has always been so healthy," she says, a firm voice belying an understandably fragile resolve. "I never expected to be taking care of him. I expected him to be taking care of me." � The best of times. For Brown, these moments are often on a golf course. He and close friend Mike Stritenberg can't seem to get enough of the game, although the latter admits it's exhausting keeping up with this particular passion of his partner's. Each flirts with a single-digit handicap at Eagle Point Golf Course, yet each playfully accuses the other of having enough sand in his bag to bury Pebble Beach. In some circles, it should be noted, calling one a sandbagger is a term of endearment. The worst of times. It was in the middle of May when the Browns and Stritenberg and his wife, Liz, were at Running Y Ranch Resort for a golf excursion. They played on a Thursday, and Brown "felt great." Come Friday, he was hit with what at first seemed like the flu. He couldn't play. Over the next couple of weeks, he visited the emergency room twice, lost nearly 20 pounds and wasn't getting better. More trips to doctors, more tests. Finally, it was revealed, a tumor was causing blockage in his common bile duct. Surgery unclogged it and a stomach bypass left room around the tumor, but it wasn't known if it was cancerous. The absence of pain suggested it wasn't. Only after the trip to the big city did a needle biopsy tell the Browns what they were dealing with. Then came the finite number. Eighteen months, no guarantees on their quality. Joyce Brown describes the summer as an emotional roller coaster. "We can fix it, then we can't fix," she recalls being told. "It was good news, then bad news, then good news." The silver lining, thin though it may be, is that they have a rough idea of the time left. "A lot of people don't know," she says. On Friday, after the Loggers' monumental triumph over Paisley, Brown says he is handling the radiation and chemo well. He's not in pain, his weight is holding steady, and it's only occasionally that nausea encroaches in the evening. His spirits are good. A student approached him after the game and admonished him for smoking a "cancer stick." He feigned contempt for her intrusion, then, as she twirled and headed off, Brown winked and said, under his breath and behind a mischievous grin, "I'm gonna die anyway." Before she was fully out of earshot, however, he yelled at her, "But you're absolutely right!" � The best of times. The outpouring of support for the Browns has been heartwarming. Not long after his condition was known, an impromptu enchilada feed in the middle of town netted $1,800 for them. A golf tournament attracted more than 100 people and raised another $3,500. The daughter of a friend arranged to get Brown tickets to see the Yankees, his lifelong favorite team, against the Athletics in Oakland. And a woman, relatively new to the area and who lost her husband, sends Brown an uplifting card or two every week. They are evidence of Brown's popularity. "Maybe it's a bad thing to say," says Stritenberg, "but I can't think of anyone in town who would get that kind of response." Stritenberg owns the new tavern in town and used to lease the old one to Brown. The week Brown returned from Portland, he sat with Stritenberg and assistant football coaches, B.J. and Jerm Rodgers, father and son. Everyone who came in acknowledged the coach, says Stritenberg. "There could have been a naked lady in the corner, and the first thing they would notice would be Jack," he says. A grade school teacher and coach for more than two decades in Medford, he and his first wife divorced, then he quit teaching in January 1983. He took on odd jobs, painting and roofing mostly, until B.J. Rodgers, a softball buddy, encouraged him to come to Butte Falls and fill the football coaching vacancy. Brown had never seen eight-man football before, and the program he was offered "was probably the doormat of the state," says Stritenberg. Brown took the job in 1985. Through 1995, when he stepped aside for two years, his teams won four Skyline A League titles and made six state playoff appearances, winning the championship in 1986. He won 70 of 96 games during that stretch. Stritenberg says a resurgence in Butte Falls athletics coincided with Brown's arrival. "He instilled a will to win in the kids," he says, "and none of them have had anything but respect for him." � Something seems to be going on here. In their two big games, against Powers and Paisley, the Butte Falls players have exhibited the determination of pit bulls. Powers dominated the first half, taking a 30-6 lead, but rather than roll over, the Loggers played the Cruisers to a virtual standstill in the second half. On Friday, without two of its best players, Nick Rodgers and Isaac Stephenson, Butte Falls prevailed over Paisley even though the Broncos seemed to take control early in the second half. Senior Tommy Lunsford prevented it, running for 191 yards and three touchdowns the final period of the 44-36 win, one that leaves the Loggers with a clear opportunity to make state. If there's fight in Brown on the sideline, there's fight in his kids on the field. "We've got to make the playoffs," says Lunsford. "He's been coaching great for all my years here, him and B.J. I want to do really good for him in his last season." B.J. Rodgers had the task at the start of the season of telling the team of Brown's condition, and he and his son have handled most all of the practices. Brown takes over in the games. "The kids know what's going on," says Brown, "but they don't treat me any differently than they did before." They just want to make the best of these times. Reach sports editor Tim Trower at 776-4479, or e-mail [email protected] JACK BROWN WHO : Butte Falls football coach who will complete his 15th and final season with the Loggers. He took two years off in 1996-97. WHAT : Continues to coach while undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. Has good shot of making the playoffs for the first time since 1993. PAST : Played football at what is now Southern Oregon University, then taught elementary school in Medford for 23 years. Also in the Medford Sports Hall of Fame for fastpitch softball. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.