Jan. 14, 2013

Tom Timmerman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote the following story about one of SLU's biggest fans (cover photo by Chris Lee of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch):

Before St. Louis U. basketball games, Joshua Brown sits down in a folding chair courtside, and Billikens players, coaches and staff going through pregame preparations stop what they're doing and come over to say hi and talk.

During games, he sits two rows in back of the SLU bench, prime seating to be sure, cheering on the Billikens.

After the game, he stops by the SLU locker room, chatting with players.

He sits in on practices. The players have pictures of him on their phones. Sometimes they go to visit him.

Joshua Brown is neither a powerful booster nor a prized recruit. He's a 9-year-old from Belleville with a brain tumor who has been adopted by the Billikens. It's supposed to be the Bills who brighten up his life as Joshua and his family go through an arduous time.

It turns out brightening up people's lives is a two-way street. READ MORE