Kent Brown always wanted to write a book.
The Hammond native and former Sports Information Director at the University of Illinois, finally got to fulfill his dream with “100 Things Illinois Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die
” that was published Feb. 4, 2025.
“During my career in collegiate athletics. I often thought about trying to write a book, but I was just never sure exactly what format or what book I could write that might be interesting to a wide range of people,” Brown said.
After he retired as SID, Triumph Publishing reached out with an opportunity to add to their series of “100 Things” books since the Illinois book had never been done.
“The timing just aligned perfectly,” Brown said.
The editor from the publishing company told Brown he could write about many different things for the book—not just sports. He could mix in his thoughts on his favorite places to eat, fun things to do and other activities in the Champaign-Urbana area.
“They allowed me to start with a wide range of ideas,” he said.
Brown’s initial list started around 150 subjects, which he had to narrow down to 100.
As he was writing, a few more ideas were included and others were taken out.
“It was a fun process in coming up with things I thought fans of all ages should know and experience,” he said. “I was asked to keep each of the chapters to around 700 words, which allows readers to read the chapters that interest them, and maybe pass on something that doesn’t.”
Brown started on the book in July of 2023 and turned in the first edit in November of 2023. The publisher then pushed back the publication date a year to February of 2024, which allowed Brown to make some updates.
“I probably spent between 1 1/2 and 2 hours per chapter by the time I did some research for accuracy,” Brown said.
Brown said his favorite chapters in the book are the ones that brought back incredible memories, like the 2005 basketball comeback against Arizona and waiting with members of the team in the green room before the press conference.
“Illinois has such rich athletics history, I just always enjoy researching and reading the stories,” he said.
Brown said his family was supportive of his project and knew he enjoyed writing.
“I know they are proud of me and the finished product. I’ve always tried to include my family as much as possible during my career and they have their own personal stories from some of the experiences I was able to write about,” he said.
Brown said the positive feedback for his book has been humbling.
“The best part so far has been the positive feedback from many friends and family members, along with countless others, after they read the book,” he said. “It’s very humbling to have people pay for something you spent so much time in producing .Many people have taken time out of their day or made special trips to a book signing. You never know how people will react to something like this, so to have positive feedback has been very rewarding.”
Currently, Brown has no plans for a second book. However, Brown and a high school classmate, who was an investigative newspaper reporter and has written several books on her own, have discussed combining on a book about high school sports in a small town.
“But not sure we’ll ever pull the trigger. Currently, I don’t have plans to write one by myself, but maybe I’ll get the itch,” Brown said.
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