By SPENCER BATES
SALAMANCA — The number 23 jersey is iconic in the world of basketball.
Michael Jordan, LeBron James and many more played their part in seeing to that. Legends of the game that turned an otherwise random number into a symbol synonymous with greatness, dedication and respect.
Those reasons play a big factor into why that number is so highly sought after at every level of basketball today.
But now, in the future boys basketball seasons that are set to come and go at Salamanca High School, there will be no 23 on the court. Nobody will ever acquire that number again after Lucus Brown, the program’s own icon of greatness, dedication and respect, saw his jersey retired by the Warriors on Jan. 28.
“If anyone was going to wear 23, I’m glad it was him,” Salamanca boys basketball coach Adam Bennett said. “And nobody’s ever going to wear it again here.”
Brown played five years at the varsity level, where he broke just about every Salamanca basketball record in the book.
He graduated in 2024 as the all-time leading scorer in Salamanca High School basketball history with his final tally of 1,948 points. But he was far more than a scorer.
Brown also left the high school scene with a program-record 317 steals, reeled in 578 rebounds and provided 248 assists.
Away from the stats, he led the charge for the program throughout their most rewarding stretch of years. The Warriors reached the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Final Four twice and claimed two NYSPHSAA Far-West Regional titles in a three-year stretch between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, after previously never having done so. Brown also helped capture two league and sectional titles in his time.
He was a two-time New York State first-team All-Star, a two-time All-Western New York first-team player, a two-time CCAA Player of the Year and was twice named the Section 6 playoff Most Valuable Player by Centercourt.
Former Salamanca boys basketball player Lucus Brown (23) celebrates with coach Adam Bennett and the rest of the 2023-24 Warriors team after capturing the NYSPHSAA Class B Far-West Regional. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
But long before all those accolades and awards came rolling in and began taking up space in the trophy case, there were moments in the fledgling days of Brown’s extraordinary career where he doubted himself and the peaks he could reach.
Now, he’s a freshman on the Div. II D’Youville men’s basketball team.
“For two years, he always used to ask me, ‘Coach, am I going to make it? Am I going to go to college?’ And for five years, as a varsity player, he worked every day toward that goal,” Bennett said. “And you know, he wasn’t always perfect, but he is such a good representative of what it means to be a Warrior. He’s gone through stuff, he’s come out of it on the other end. He’s a great example for our players. And my favorite thing is, you can take a look at the points and the rebounds and the steals and the assists and what he did on the court, but at the end of the day, if I were to pick a player, that every young player who comes through this program, as long as I’m here, that I could have them emulate in terms of their attitude and effort, … I would pick Lucus.”
Over the years, Brown remained steadfast in his efforts to see those dreams of making it onto the collegiate scene come true. In doing so, he left a timeline of greatness behind him.
But he wasn’t going about it alone. The dedication he put into his craft was spurred on by Bennett, his other coaches and his teammates alike.
“It’s just about having that work ethic,” Brown said. “No one’s going to beat me, no one’s going to out-work me. It’s about staying hungry, staying disciplined. I give a lot of credit to my coach. He just pushes me every day to just become better every day. When you wake up, (saying things like) ‘Are you going to get better today?’ And obviously just having a bond and a legacy with my teammates, them pushing me too.”
Former Salamanca boys basketball player Lucus Brown (23) attempts to put up a floater through contact from a Falconer defender in the NYSPHSAA Section 6 Class B Crossover. (Salamanca Warrior Athletics)
But as much as Brown acknowledged his teammates’ role in motivating him to continue working towards his goals, Bennett noted the reverse instances.
He cited the ‘realness’ Brown carries himself with.
Where others may have got caught up in being the star of the show, his former deciple’s willingness to dedicate energy into the elevation of his teammates made not only an impact on the team while he was there, but set the standard for the years to come.
“You can’t galvanize your teammates unless you’re real,” Bennett said. “Athletes, coaches, nobody reacts well to fake, and kids can sniff out fake from a mile away. Lucus doesn’t have a fake bone in his body, he really doesn’t. He really cares about this thing, and he showed it every day in practice. He pushed our young guys. We’re 11-1 right now and Lucus has played a role in that because of how he pushed Maddox (Isaac) and his brother, Avery (Brown), and Jaxon Crouse and Jake (Herrick) and Cory (Holleran) and Payton (Bradley) and all these guys. He elevated what it means to be a part of our program, day-to-day, what it means to practice hard, what it means to come prepared, what it means to understand the scouting job. You can’t do that if you’re not a good person, if you don’t care.”
And he did care.
In fact, it was the care that he had for the program that allowed him to, not just improve those around him for the years he was leading the program, but also develop a culture that will last long after him.
But as Brown sees it, the fostering of the program’s culture was not his doing alone.
“It’s not just not me, it’s not an individual,” Brown said. “I feel like my sophomore year, with Hayden (Hoag), Andy Herrick and Harley (Hoag) and me, I feel like we made the culture big for Salamanca. Making runs (to the Final Four) like that in the previous years, meant a lot for the school and its history. So, I feel like it comes from all of us, not any individual. It was the whole team. Those guys did it, we did it to build the culture here.”
Lucus Brown (left) signs his letter of intent to attend and play Div. II men’s basketball at D’Youville University. (Salamanca University Athletics)
That culture was not just one of winning, which the Warriors did quite often during Brown’s career, but of dedication and effort. Bennett noted that he was unable to recall any single time where he needed to tell Brown to ‘pick up the pace’ or use any other motivator to get him going. It could be an average practice in the middle of January and, in the most positive way, he would be out there playing like a state title was on the line.
“If it was a layup drill at the beginning of practice, or if it was the last play of a tie game in the playoffs, he brought the same effort every time,” Bennett said. “I never once … had to ask Lucus to play harder, ever. Sometimes he’s such a competitor that I’d have to ask him to take a deep breath sometimes. But when you have that kind of competitiveness, it drives you, gives you a chance to maximize your skill.”
“He knows that the results come as a byproduct of the process and how he works every day. With our guys able to see that every day, it’s allowed our guys to emulate that, and I think it’s a big part of the success that we’ve had here, athletically, at Salamanca over the last few years.”
That success saw Brown lead his team into some of the biggest environments in New York State, playing in front of hundreds.
But the moments never rattled him.
In the biggest games of his career, he showed up. So too did the Salamanca community that never wavered in their support of him, or any Salamanca athletics for that matter.
“Man, it means a lot, everybody coming out to support our team and all athletics in Salamanca,” Brown said. “I give credit to a lot of the fans, a lot of student sections too, and just everybody coming to support us.”
Former Salamanca boys basketball player Lucus Brown (center) stands with his former coach Adam Bennett (left) and assistant coach Greg Herrick (right) during his jersey retirement ceremony. (Spencer Bates)
Fans, friends, teammates and coaches of Brown alike have all, in some way, felt the effect and seen the impact he left, not just the Salamanca boys basketball team, but on Salamanca as a whole. But perhaps what makes his jersey retirement all the more special is not what happened in his time wearing the number 23, but the unquantifiable amount of lives and careers his legacy will impact in the future.
“It means a lot,” Brown said. “Getting your jersey retired means the whole world. It’s not about those points or the wins, it’s about the memories made, making friendships and just all the memories that are stuck with you your whole life. It’s an honor to get my jersey retired at Salamanca.”
