MSL Football: What Could Brown do for Fremd Football? A Lot in 30 Years

Mike Brown’s reward for 30 years of service to Fremd football has been a lot of green apparel.

“Every year, my wife Debbie would say, ‘Just what you need. Another jacket,’” Brown laughed about his stockpile of Fremd jackets, hats and shirts.

Another form of green never came Brown’s way. That was just fine when new head coach Mike Donatucci asked his old friend to join the coaching staff in 1993. 

“He said, ‘I need somebody to do all the crap I don’t want to do,’” Brown said of jobs such as rating officials, charting plays, keeping stats and coaching special teams, wide receivers and the JV. “I said, ‘How much are you paying?’ He says, ‘Nothing.’ I said, `I'm your guy.’”

One of Mike Brown’s jobs for Fremd football was “get-back” coach for Mike Donatucci. (Photo courtesy of Mike Brown)

Fremd’s home game with Barrington in tonight’s Mid-Suburban West finale will be the final one for Brown as a volunteer with the program. That will put him at an even 30 years and 300 games. Not to mention countless hours compiling statistics and records and supporting Donatucci and current head coach Lou Sponsel in whatever capacity they needed.

The first year Brown was at Fremd one of the seniors was quarterback-safety Matt Panzino. In his last year, one of the senior safeties is Panzino’s son Bobby.

“I’m definitely going to miss it, but I knew it was time,” said Brown, who missed only 5 games to see his son Patrick play at Carthage and for business trips.

Yet what a time it has been for Brown thanks to a chance reunion of sorts with Donatucci. Brown and his brother Pete were coached in little league baseball and pee-wee football at Amundsen Park on Chicago’s northwest side by Donatucci’s dad Sam Sr. 

Years later Brown joined the Rolling Meadows Little League board and was told to get postseason trophies from Mighty Mites Awards in Des Plaines. It turned out the business was owned by Sam Sr., and Mike also worked there. They continued to stay in touch and that led to Brown helping Donatucci at Fremd.

Brown had gone from coaching kids in Rolling Meadows to a high school varsity program coming off an undefeated regular season. There were some interesting looks from the established assistants on his first day.

“Who are you?” he was asked.

“I’m the new assistant,” Brown replied.

“What are you coaching?” he was asked.

“All the stuff you guys don’t,” Brown said and laughed as he recalled basically keeping his mouth shut and working with punters and kickers.

It wasn’t as if Brown didn’t have football credentials. He played at Fenwick, for a year under college Hall of Famer Tom Beck at St. Procopius (now Benedictine University in Lisle) and for a year as a semi-pro wide receiver in Madison, Wisconsin (where he did get paid 50 bucks a game). His dad Roger was a quarterback at Notre Dame from 1946-49 when the Irish went 36-0-2 with three national titles and two Heisman Trophy winners.

And the interest in sports history and writing - Brown was a freelance sportswriter for the Daily Herald for years - also ran deep in the family. His grandfather Warren was a legendary sportswriter and columnist for the old Chicago American who received the Baseball Writers’ Association of America award from the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

“I started charting plays, because Rich Bokor (late Fremd track and cross country coach) was doing stats then,” Brown said. “It just evolved. I coached JV for seven years and that was a lot of fun.”

Mike Brown with his son Patrick and Fremd offensive coordinator Steve “General” Patton.

It was also fun being on the sideline when his Patrick started at quarterback for two-plus years and was the Daily Herald Cook County All-Area co-captain with Barrington’s Kyle Derickson in 1998. But the next year a new job required regular travel so Brown stepped away from full-time coaching and focused more on keeping stats and building the record book that Joe Samojedny started before he retired as head coach in 1992.

The different role was fine with Brown since he never regarded himself as a big X’s and O’s guy. He tried to keep it all in perspective that, as competitive as it is, it’s still high school football. It was reflected in what he shared with every quarterback before they started their first game.

“You’re going to make great plays, don’t get too excited,” Brown said. “You’re going to make bad plays, don’t get down. You’re the leader of our team and maintain your composure at all times.”

Brown had a bit of a challenge maintaining his as he thought about being part of the program known as “Iron Will” under Donatucci. One that holds Mid-Suburban League records for consecutive playoff appearances (16 from 1995-2010) and consecutive outright or shared division titles (8 from 2003-10).

“It started to help out Mike, but it became, I wouldn’t say an obsession, but it felt cool to be part of a team like this,” Brown said as he got choked up. “He built something special and a chance to be part of that was pretty special. To coach Patrick, the Tolzien brothers (Mike, Scott and Mark) and a lot of great kids who came through that program. I got to see George (Poorman) and Jimmy (Schwantz) play and make the Ring of Honor and that started a friendship with Jim.”

One of those kids was Sponsel. He starred at linebacker when Fremd got rolling under Donatucci and wanted Brown to stay on when he took over in 2012. When Donatucci took over the rebuilding project at Hoffman Estates from 2013-17 he asked Brown to join him. Brown chuckled that he’s not big on wearing orange but he still compiled the team stats for his old friend off of video.

Those kinds of friendships he formed with other coaches and people throughout the league are part of what he will miss. He still plans to go to games but now will have more time to spend at his lake house in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

And last Saturday he received a nice sendoff with a surprise party of friends and family numbering more than 50 at the Tap House in Palatine. 

“Who has a retirement party for a statistician,” Brown asked.

Thirty years and 300 games don’t lie. Mike Brown was much more than just a stat guy for Fremd football.