LV lawyer Brown selected to commission

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.

The newest member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission says he will ease into the position and welcome the assistance of his fellow board members, each of whom he considers a friend.

Joe Brown, a Las Vegas attorney, was named to the five-person panel Monday following the resignation of NSAC chairman Luther Mack earlier in the day.

"I'm going to be a listener for a while," Brown said after being appointed to the NSAC by Gov. Kenny Guinn. "I don't have any agenda and I know there's going to be a learning curve.

"But I'm confident I'll be a good student in short order."

Brown, 62, is an attorney and a partner in the Jones Vargas law firm of Las Vegas. He has been a Nevada resident since 1968 and was a founding member of the UNLV boxing team's board of directors.

"I'm elated," he said of his appointment, which came somewhat unexpectedly in that he had only two days' notice. "I've had so many friends on the commission over the years and I consider all of the present commission members to be friends of mine.

"I told Gov. Guinn on more than one occasion that I'd like to be considered for the commission, but I'm sure I'm only one of thousands who've done that."

Brown joins Reno businessman Skip Avansino, Las Vegas attorney John Bailey and Las Vegas physicians Tony Alamo and Flip Homansky as NSAC members. Bailey, the most recent vice chairman under Mack, has assumed the chairman's position through the end of the year, at which time an election will determine a permanent chairman.

"Things seem to be going pretty smoothly," Brown said of the NSAC's most recent dealings. The NSAC governs boxing, wrestling and martial-arts events within the state.

A graduate of the University of Virginia and of Washington & Lee University, Brown has a wife of 37 years, Pam, and four sons. He said his father was an amateur fighter and that he has always been a boxing fan and that he also fought as an amateur as a young man.

"When I was at Virginia I fought at 132 pounds for the club team," he said. "And I fought in the Marine Corps, too.

"When I was a boy, I'd watch the fights on TV with my dad. I remember seeing Joe Louis and guys like Jersey Joe Walcott.

"When I moved to Nevada, it was like moving to paradise with all the boxing. I used to go to all the old Silver Slipper shows and then to the fights at Caesars Palace and places like that."

The vacancy on the NSAC occurred when Mack resigned after 14 years on the board to take a position with Boyd Gaming.

"He'll be missed," Brown said of Mack, a Reno businessman.