Shane Brown

Classroom

Brown is a member of the UCF athletic director’s honor roll six times in his career, and has made the dean’s list as well. He has been nominated twice for the William Callarman Award, which is one of three of UCF’s academic achievement awards and he is a favorite to win it this year.

Character

A preferred walk-on with no scholarship as a freshman, Brown did not lose hope and persevered to ultimately become one of the best student-athletes on the team. He eventually earned scholarship money as a junior, and was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2009. He now enters 2010 as UCF’s top player. Brown lives by the motto, “Always remember be thankful for who you are, how you got to where you are today, who helped you along the way, and where you’re headed. Be proud of who you are and give back to others unselfishly.”

Community

In the summer of 2008, Brown worked in the Washington D.C. area for the RBI program, Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, sponsored by Major League Baseball and KPMG. He helped increase participation and interest in baseball where the sport is dying due to lack of fields, funds, etc. He also increased academic participation and achievement with the young players, taught the value of team work and helped promote greater inclusion of minorities into the mainstream of the game. He also spends time with Orlando little leagues to teach the fundamentals of baseball, along with Support Families at Holidays, which works with autistic children. Brown has served with the Miracle League and disabled children, as well as the UCF Knights Give Back forest clean up.

Competition

Brown has led UCF’s offense in several categories the previous two seasons, including batting average and on-base percentage. He recorded a 22-game hitting streak in 2009, the second-longest streak in UCF history, and at one point reached base in 18 straight plate appearances. That helped him be named the national hitter of the week by three different organizations. At the end of the year, he was selected to the All-Conference USA second team. Not only an outfielder, Shane started his career at catcher and has also played second base and third base. He owns a .335 batting average with the Knights and has belted out 15 homers while driving in 105 runs.