Dave Brazell - Men's Basketball Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Dave Brazell

Title:
Head Coach

Year	School	Record
1951-52	GCC	5-15
1952-53	GCC	11-14
1953-54	GCC	9-14
1954-55	GCC	11-11
1955-56	GCC	14-9
1956-57	GCC	15-9
1957-58	GCC	15-5
1958-59	GCC	20-0
1959-60	GCC	15-9
1961-62	GCC	14-8
1962-63	GCC	9-13
1963-64	GCC	9-12
1964-65	GCC	7-16
GCC career	(13 seasons)	151-134

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In addition to wearing many hats across the Grand Canyon College athletics landscape, Dave Brazell spent 13 seasons leading the men's basketball program. He took charge of an infant program in its third season of existence and helped establish winning ways highlighted by a stretch of six straight winning seasons.

Brazell also served as a coach for the baseball and men's golf programs, a physical education teacher and the athletic director in a 50-year Grand Canyon career (1951-2001).

Brazell's teams really peaked during the middle of his 13-year tenure as head coach. Posting the program's first winning season in 1955-56 at 14-9, Grand Canyon had six straight winning seasons. GCC went 20-0 in 1958-89, still standing as Arizona's only undefeated basketball season by a four-year college in the past 75 years.

He recruited Grand Canyon's first African American student, T.C. Dean, who rose to prominence as the program's premier rebounder. He also coached Lopes standout Ben Lindsey, a player that Brazell would eventually hand the reins of the program over to. Coach Lindsey helped GCC win two NAIA National Championships and is the program's winningest coach.

After serving in the Marines and coaching at an Arkansas high school, Brazell came to Grand Canyon in 1951 when the campus moved from Prescott to Phoenix. Originally, he was the 2-year-old school's head coach for its only sport -- basketball. He coached the men's basketball team for 13 years and chaired the health and physical education department, where his wife Mildred also taught for 38 years.

When basketball and baseball seasons began to overlap, Brazell chose to focus on baseball but also later led the men's golf program to a 2000 national runner-up finish in NCAA Division II.

The university recognized Brazell as a key figure in its athletic history with multiple recognitions in 1989. On the baseball side of things, his No. 20 jersey was retired and the facility was named in his honor. Despite numerous remodels including a new 4,000-seat stadium in 2018, Brazell's name remains in the baseball program's home to this day. He was also inducted into GCU's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989.

Brazell passed away at age 93 on Oct. 17, 2018, after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was one of the program's biggest supporters all the way up until his passing, frequently filling a pair of courtside seats with Mildred at GCU Arena or a dugout-side seat at Brazell Field.