PEORIA, Ill. — The legacy of Washington Community High School basketball coach Kevin Brown lives on through the KB Strong Foundation.
In six months, the KB Strong Foundation raised $30,000 that was donated to the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria.
Dr. Andrew Tsung, Director of Neurosurgical Services, and Kevin Brown’s doctor, said the money will help fund research.
“This $30,000 goes beyond the dollar amount. What it sustains is research first and for most. So, research into malignant brain cancer here at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. That is the main goal,” Tsung said.
Kevin Brown’s wife, Jodi Brown, said Dec. 11 marked six months since Kevin passed away from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.
“For us, it was all about how do we help other people,” Brown said. “As people donated money to us, we donated money back and that felt good. I think with the $30,000 that’s been raised, I think that this is just the beginning.”
The foundation began with almost $12,000 from Kevin’s memorials. Brown said they are expanding their vision.
“The board who’s made up of his dad, and his brother, and some of his very best friends, we’re expanding that vision to become an awareness and education piece,” Brown said. “People need to know about it to rally behind it.”
Brown said it all started when they donated Kevin’s brain to Northwestern University for research. And, they are also looking for ways to help families who are going through the same fight that they did.
While part of the donation came from memorial funds, the rest of the $30,000 was from personal donations, community organizations, and proceeds from the annual Tournament of Champions, which has been renamed to the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions.
“They’re so committed to it and they’re doing a great job of, how do we make this cause help to build awareness through basketball,” Brown said. “We’re very fortunate and happy and thankful they’ve decided to bring KB Strong into the mission of the tournament.”
The mission is to provide a great experience to the student athletes from many different schools.
“But, now also to bring awareness to glioblastoma and keep Kevin’s legacy alive.” she said.
Brown said that she had two messages, and one is to help keep alive the legacy of Coach Brown.
“I want years from now, I want to hear people say in the basketball community that he was a Kevin Brown player,” Brown said. “As far as the glioblastoma side of it, there are so many people that reach out like it’s not right. There’s so much more to this and I think that’s great because it’s not just a Kevin Brown cause. It’s not just something that happened to Kevin Brown.”
She said it’s all about finding a cure and what they are capable of doing is making sure people know about glioblastoma and the need for funding.
“And then getting that funding put into the hands of researchers who can actually make a difference. And hopefully 15 years from now, Kevin’s story was different.”
