Brewer's service rewarded

FAYETTEVILLE — Ronnie Brewer is getting ready for his first trip to Europe, but it's for work, not a vacation.

Brewer's Utah Jazz play the Chicago Bulls in an NBA exhibition game in London on Oct. 6, then take on Real Madrid in Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 8.

"This will be my first time going across the water," Brewer said. "I'm not much of a traveler.

"I travel so much during the basketball season, that in the off-season I try to be around my family and friends as much as possible."

For Brewer, the former Arkansas All-SEC guard who is going into his fourth season with the Jazz, that means coming back to Fayetteville.

"I'm not sure people understand how attached Ronnie is to Fayetteville," said his father, Ron Brewer. "He has his family here, and his friends.

"Fayetteville means home."

Ronnie Brewer, 24, was born in Portland, Ore., where his father played for the Trail Blazers. But the Brewer family moved to Fayetteville - where Ron also starred for the Razorbacks - in 1990 so Ron could finish his degree.

Ron Brewer said it wasn't meant to be a permanent move, but that the family is so comfortable in Fayetteville now that he can't imagine living anywhere else.

Fayetteville is where Ronnie Brewer grew up and went to high school and college.

"I'm not much of a city guy," Ronnie Brewer said. "This is where I love being.

"Rarely do you come to Fayetteville and get stuck in traffic - maybe at an Arkansas football game.

"I like being able to get around town. I like fishing. I like being outside. I like the food here. I like Arkansas athletics."

Brewer spends much of his summer at Walton Arena, working out in Arkansas' weight room and playing pickup games with the Razorbacks.

"I think Fayetteville is who I am - a simple guy," he said. "My roots are here."

Brewer's roots to Fayetteville and the UA were reinforced Thursday when he was named by the university one of four recipients of the Silas Hunt Legacy Award, which recognizes blacks for significant contributions to the community, state and nation.

Hunt was Arkansas' first black student in 1948, and the building that houses the UA's admissions and financial aid offices is named after him.

Brewer was recognized a year after he donated $50,000 to the UA for a scholarship to support students from Arkansas who are interested in journalism and are part of the African American Studies program.

"Ronnie means so much to us," Arkansas Chancellor David Gearhart said.

Brewer also has donated money for a college scholarship to go to a Fayetteville High School student, provided meals for needy families during the holidays, helped raise money for Habitat for Humanity and held basketball camps for underprivileged children.

"You need positive role models for your community, and I'm trying to be that type of person," Brewer said. "I'm in a blessed situation where I can give money back to good causes."

Without Hunt leading the way 50 years ago, Brewer said, he wouldn't have had the opportunity to attend Arkansas and play for the Razorbacks.

"I've gotten a lot of basketball awards, but getting this is huge," Brewer said as he held the Hunt Legacy Award. "My parents and I had talked about what I can I do to help the university and better this state, and this is a symbol of that."

Carolyn Brewer, Ronnie's mother, said she cried when she learned that her son would be receiving the award.

"After Ronnie was drafted, everyone asked us, 'Are you moving to Utah?' " Carolyn Brewer said. "I'm like, 'No, because Ronnie wants to come back to Arkansas.'

"He loves Arkansas. He's told me, 'Mom, when I retire, I'm going to build a home here in Fayetteville,' because this is where he wants to raise a family."