There was one thing Blair Brown said that resonated with Penn State women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose.
While speaking to a crowd at the award ceremony for the Honda Broderick Cup on Monday, the award given to the female collegiate athlete of the year, Brown told the audience she didn’t feel right accepting an award that she didn’t earn on her own.
She didn’t win four straight national championships. The Nittany Lions did.
“I thought she summed it up best when she said she felt uncomfortable accepting an award based on the team and all the people that contributed to her success,” Rose said. “I think that Blair would be appreciative of being nominated, but would recognize that she’s there on the skill and efforts of a lot people’s other than her own.”
Though Brown didn’t win the Honda Award, which went to former University of Connecticut basketball player Maya Moore, the three-time AVCA All-American is nominated for another prestigious award for her contributions to Penn State’s 2010 national title run.
Brown is a nominee for Best Female College Athlete ESPY , an award handed out by ESPN. She joins Moore, Arizona State softball pitcher Dallas Escobedo, Notre Dame soccer player Melissa Henderson and USC swimmer Katinka Hosszu as the five nominees.
“All I can say is that it’s not really about me,” Brown said. “It’s about the whole university, the teams I’ve been on, the coaching staff and everything they’ve put into it. You know, every award you get is bigger than you.”
Brown started all 37 matches for the Lions in 2010 and led the team with 521 kills. She was also named the Big Ten Player of the Year in addition to being named a nominee for the AAU Sullivan Award, given to America’s top amateur athlete.
Ending her Penn State career with four national titles, Brown said she is forever grateful for the opportunities she was given as a Nittany Lion.
“Words can’t even describe how thankful I am,” she said. “Not only for the team I got to be on, but for the coach I got to have. Everything came together so perfectly. Everyone had the same goal and everybody worked hard to get that goal.”
Brown is Penn State’s second straight nominee for the award as former Lion outside hitter Megan Hodge was nominated last year.
Having just finished up her first season playing professionally in Italy with Volley Pavia, Brown is now negotiating a contract for a second season for the Italian Serie A1 club.
Though her new team doesn’t win nearly as often as the Penn State teams she played for did, Browns said she’s enjoyed the experience.
“It was a lot different than Penn State volleyball, that’s for sure,” she said. “My team wasn’t as successful as Penn State was, but it was a good learning experience for me. I needed to be a completely different player for this team.”
Brown is back in the country, but still isn’t sure if she’ll be attending the ESPY awards which will take place on July 13 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles and air live at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
Penn State fans can vote for Brown at espn.com/espys until voting closes on July 9.
All of her individual accolades aside, Brown only hopes the legacy she and her teammates left on the Penn State program will continue to have an impact on future players.
“I think it’s kind of the legacy that every Penn State player wants to leave,” Brown said. “I think everyone wants to keep that tradition of success alive, obviously. But also just the way that we play the game, that they keep that keep hard work in mind whenever they play.”
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