Jack Brown leaves mark on Troy
- Brady Fitch
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
In Veterans Memorial Stadium, t-shirts rain down from the sky during the end of the third quarter and before the start of the fourth. The firing of the t-shirts sounds like a cannon blast because, well, they are coming out of a cannon.
Who’s the infamous man behind the cannon?
His name is Jack Brown, the now Assistant Director of Marketing & Promotions at Florida. Brown, affectionately known as “t-shirt cannon guy,” has recently made the jump to the SEC. However, just like Brown has left his mark on Troy, Troy has left its mark on him.
“Troy means the world to me,” Brown said. “The school, the community and the culture. I owe the institution everything.
“Even though I’m not an alumnus of the school, I have grown to have such an appreciation for Troy.”
Brown spent three years at Troy, doing a multitude of different things in the Trojan athletic department.
“My primary focus was fan engagement and game presentation,” Brown said. “The video board, music, PA announcing, scripting and timeline for in-game and pregame.
“Basically, everything the fan would experience that was the not the game itself was my responsibility.”
Everything, including the t-shirt cannon.
The love Brown has for the Troy athletic department is reciprocated by some of the people that worked closest to him in the department.
“Jack was always on his stuff,” said Jacob Royce, the account executive for corporate sponsorship through PlayFly Sports. “If you needed something, he was going to get it done.
“Even though there was stuff he needed to get done, he always tried to put his own twist on things and make it a good time while he was.”
For some of his marketing coworkers, they saw Brown as a boss and a friend.
“There’s a lot of really good memories of Jack,” said Alex Jackson, a marketing assistant with Troy Athletics. “He’s genuinely a good person and somebody that always had fun no matter what.
“No matter what situation we were in, whether it was a long day like football where you’re working 15-16 hours, he always enjoyed himself.”
At Florida, the Southern Illinois graduate is entering a similar position he held at Troy, with more emphasis on game presentation.
“My new role is hyper focused on game presentation, which is my favorite element of my job,” Brown said. “I will become the primary show caller for volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball as well as the secondary contact for football.
“The scope of what I do has become smaller but the expectation of what I’m supposed to do has greatly inflated.”
When asked about his favorite memory from his time at Troy, Brown mentioned one of the most recent, and biggest feats, in Troy Athletics’ history.
The Super Regional.
“We were one of eight schools still hosting baseball that late in the season. It was truly magical,” Brown said. “When we won Monday night, the whole athletic department suited up, and it was go-time.
“It was a fully-fledged group effort from ticketing to facilities to marketing to get Riddle Pace Field ready to rock in such a short time. And then, to win the supers and watch the ‘Trojies’ punch their first ever ticket to Omaha at RPF was amazing.”
The sentiment was something Royce echoed about the effort to hold a Super Regional.
“Some of my favorite working memories with him was setting up Super Regionals.” Royce said. “Just putting up LED boards and stuff at football, just hanging out in the towers.”
Brown officially started his first day in Swamp on Monday, where he’s been looking to grow more in his roles. Something he did in Troy, too.
“I grew in every facet a man can,” Brown said. “Professionally, maturity, attention to detail, communication, you name it-Troy helped me with it.”
The Trojans will be looking to fill two positions in its marketing department with the absence of Brown.
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