Chad Brown, actor, model, baseball player, poker pro, and one of the greatest ambassadors the game of poker has ever had, passed away early Wednesday morning after a long bout with cancer. He was 52-years old.
We all like to think we are going to leave our mark on this world, that peoples’ lives will have been better because we were here. Chad Brown was one of those people. Gracious in victory, moreso in defeat, he was someone you wanted to be around, if only to say you were.
Chad had it all: soap opera star looks, brains that earned him over $3.6 million in live tournaments, a disarming smile, and a personality that could charm Oscar the Grouch. It was almost unfair. All of that helped him get started with a modeling and acting career which, perhaps oddly, led him to poker. After moving from New York to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry (he has a few film and television credits, but nothing particularly noteworthy), Chad discovered the legal card rooms in California and began playing to make some money while trying to get acting work.
Eventually, Chad got his big break of sorts when he became the host for the Ultimate Poker Challenge television show in late 2004. He was a natural in front of the camera and quickly became well known in the small but growing poker community. After that, he was one of the few poker personalities with whom casual poker fans identified; even though he looked like Superman, his down-to-earth warmth came through the television set.
On the felt, he was fantastic. In live tournaments, he cashed over 100 times, including almost 40 at the World Series of Poker and 10 on the World Poker Tour. He was never able to claim a bracelet at the WSOP, but he came close: he finished second three times, third twice, fourth once, fifth once, and eighth once. He was also the runner-up in the 2007 NBC National Heads-Up Championship.
In 2011, Chad Brown was diagnosed with liposarcoma, a rare type of cancer that manifests itself as a tumor in fat cells in deep soft tissue. He had a large tumor removed from abdomen. A testament to his strength, he played in numerous tournaments after his diagnosis, winning a $2,000 event at the Wynn Classic in 2011. Even having lost tons of weight and almost unrecognizable, he was playing as late as this January, placing second in a side event at the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open and finishing 26th in that festival’s Championship Event, the last cash of his career.
Though he never won a bracelet from playing in a World Series of Poker tournament, he had certainly earned one for his great play and wonderful ambassadorship over the years. As such, the WSOP awarded him an honorary bracelet last Monday. During the brief ceremony, WSOP Tournament Director Jack Effel had this to say about the decision to honor Chad:
…winning a WSOP bracelet is one of the ways a poker player can create their legacy, to make sure they will be remembered by their peers. But it is not the only way. Sometimes, there are special people that come around and transcend that traditional scorecard. A person that stands for something, like integrity, honor, and friendship. A person who is positive, warm, and respectful. A person who always made the game better just by being around the tables. A person like Chad Brown.
The bracelet was spirited away, shipped across the country to New York, where Chad was in hospice care. It arrived on Wednesday and was placed onto his wrist so that he could feel it; his mind was still there, but his body could no longer keep up the fight.
It would only be fitting to conclude with words from Chad Brown himself, posted on the Poker Stars blog in February:
As far as how I personally handle the ups and downs of the illness — the “swings” you might say — that really is like poker, too. People in the poker world who know me know how I accept it as part of the game when things aren’t going well and I’m running bad. If you’ve read my posts here you’ve probably noticed me saying the same thing, how the most important thing is to play your best and not let being unlucky get you down.
We all have a choice when it comes to how we want to feel about what’s going on in our lives. If you want to feel like a victim, that’s your choice. I choose not to. I don’t feel like a victim. I feel very blessed with the life that I’ve had, regardless of what happens. I’ve never been depressed about this at all.
Chad Brown will be missed. We at Poker News Daily express our deepest condolences to his friends and family.
