Charlotte Christian names court for Shonn Brown, who coached Stephen Curry
Shonn Brown knew Friday was going to be a special night – just not in the way he imagined.
Charlotte Christian’s former boys basketball coach was honored during the break in the Knights’ boys-girls doubleheader against Raleigh’s Ravenscroft School.
But what came next caught Brown by surprise.
School officials announced that the basketball court at Charlotte Christian’s new Saleh Athletic Center will be named “Jones/Brown Court” after Brown and the coach who preceded him — Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Bobby Jones.
Brown and Jones, who was also present for the ceremonies, were both presented with artist renditions of the Saleh Center’s basketball court, which will see its first game action in January 2027.
“I honestly have no words,” Brown — still a little teary-eyed from the ceremony — said afterward. “I’m still in a little bit of shock. You just try to work as hard as you can and develop kids and honor Christ.
“I’ve had multiple roles here at Charlotte Christian School … but I never would have imagined the naming of the court. That’s an extremely high honor.”
Brown — who recently took over as Charlotte Christian’s associate head of school, moving up from upper school principal — won 486 games over 25 seasons with the Knights, along with 10 Charlotte Independent Schools Athletic Association titles and an N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association state title in 2001.
Along the way, Brown has seen dozens of his former players move on to the college ranks, and a dozen advance to the professional level — the most famous among them four-time NBA champion and two-time MVP Stephen Curry.
“It’s hard to find two people specifically in the athletic world, and more specifically in the basketball world, it’s hard to find two people who have had a bigger impact than Bobby and Shonn,” said Charlotte Christian athletic director Andy Ross.
It was Jones — the former North Carolina All-American and NBA All-Star, who won nearly 200 games and two NCISAA state titles with the Knights — who put Brown in that position. He recommended to Charlotte Christian leaders that they hire Brown after watching his Augusta (Ga.) Christian teams in action.
“Shonn is one of those old-school guys — like myself and Coach Jones — who believe that fundamentals matter, and the way you play matters,” said new Knights head coach Luke Boythe, who played for Jones at Charlotte Christian and was on Brown’s staff off and on for more than a decade.
“It’s just part of Shonn’s ethos. He’s just a teacher. He loves people and loves Jesus, and for him its part of that mission here at Charlotte Christian.”
School officials said they wanted to keep the basketball court naming part of Friday’s ceremonies secret from Brown and Jones, with only a handful of people outside the campus knowing.
Keeping Jones in the dark was the easy part, according to Charlotte Christian head of school Barry Giller, who said that Jones’ family knew what was going on.
However, it took a lot more effort to keep Brown from learning all the details of Friday’s ceremony, which has been in the planning stages for months, according to Ross.
“It was hard,” Giller said. “Andy and I made sure we found time just for the two of us to talk, and that Shonn’s not around. But Shonn is always very focused on the task at hand, and it helped us that he has plenty to do with his other responsibilities.
“There were always those moments where we wanted to tell him, because it’s an exciting opportunity and a chance for us to recognize him. But he’s always a man of integrity, and he shows that by his actions.”
