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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Sometimes practice would make Carrie Brown yawn. Her demeanor did not turn serious until the game lights were turned on. MaryAnne Byerly saw her nonchalant style as Davie’s assistant basketball coach, and she can’t help but laugh and shake her head at the happy-go-lucky Brown.
“She was not a practice player and sometimes I would have to get in her ear kind of behind (head coach Angie Slabach’s) back just to say: ‘Carrie, we’ve got to get through this practice to get to the game,’” Byerly said. “And she would say something like: ‘I just really don’t feel like doing it today.’ But when the game was on the line, you would want the ball in her hands. She was a gamer; she would come to practice because she had to.”
Carrie Brown McGuire (Class of 1994) was a multi-talented athlete who will be inducted in the Davie High Athletic Hall of Fame at the home basketball game Jan. 17. The other inductees are Brian Tribble (1993), Tami Ramsey (1996), Raeshon McNeil (2006), Alex Appelt (2008), Brian Pitts and the 2015-18 girls tennis teams.
Brown was one of the most prolific scorers in Davie basketball history, and she helped the War Eagles to 42 wins in her junior/senior years. But the beauty of Brown was that she could do everything. She also excelled at tennis and soccer.
“She was an all-around athlete, and I don’t think she realized how talented she was,” said Byerly, who retired from teaching in 2021. “She had a carefree personality. She just loved to play whatever game she was playing at the time. She would’ve made every team she went out for, and she would have excelled in whatever sport was lucky enough to have her on the team.”
In tennis, Brown played Nos. 2-3 singles as a sophomore. (Davie was a three-year high school from 1980-81 through 1992-93.). She played No. 1 doubles with Kathy Cozart. As a junior, she played No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles with Cozart. The 1992 War Eagles went 10-8, representing the most wins in five years and just the fifth 10-win season in the program’s 17-year history to that point. As a senior, Brown was again No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles, this time with Kelly Archer as her partner. Brown made the tennis all-conference team as a junior and senior.
“We were playing for third place; third place was our first place,” said Byerly, the girls tennis coach from 1991-95. “Every season Reynolds and Mt. Tabor were powerhouses. Those girls played year-round tennis and our girls played a lot of sports.
“Unfortunately, Carrie had to be the No. 1 player because she was the best, but that is the hardest spot to be in. She took some losses at No. 1, but if she could’ve played No. 2, she wouldn’t have had any losses.”
In 1992, Davie girls soccer was in its second year of existence and its first year in the Central Piedmont Conference. That 7-9 squad stunned West Forsyth 1-0 on a goal by Shannon Umberger (Interestingly enough, Davie hasn’t beaten West since). Davie edged Parkland 1-0 thanks to a Brown goal. The 1993 War Eagles went 9-6-1 for their first winning season.
Brown missed the first two games of the 1994 soccer season because the basketball team went all the way to the Western Regional. The way she started her senior season in the third game against Freedom is one reason why YouTube was created about a decade later. She came off the bench and scored within 10 seconds.
“That’s Carrie. I remember that game,” said Pete Gustafson, the girls soccer coach from 1991-2011. “I remember Robbie (who played soccer at Appalachian State with Gustafson) coming up to me after the game and going: ‘What the heck happened when you put that girl in and she scored in 10 seconds?’ I said: ‘She’s just a hammer, man. She’s just a hammer.’ I remember that was the first thing he said after the game.”
Thanks in part to an overtime win over North Davidson, Davie made the state playoffs for the first time. In that OT struggle, Brown got Davie’s first goal and Melissa Wooldridge struck at the 99th minute to give Davie the 2-1 win. Brown made all-CPC along with Melissa Agrillo and Heather Johnson.
“I always loved Carrie,” Gustafson said. “She had the heart of a horse. She just loved everybody. She was a great gal. There’s no doubt, what a fantastic girl. She just loved playing.”
Since Brown excelled at anything she touched, she was asked which sport was her favorite.
“That is a hard question,” she said. “I really loved soccer because it was new to me in ninth grade. I had played both tennis and basketball growing up. I loved the intensity in basketball and soccer.”
Brown, Andrea Gentry, Umberger and Kristin Hinshaw were foundational basketball talents in 1991-92, but a starting lineup with four sophomores and one junior (Casey Jenkins) had to pay their dues. While Davie went 9-14 that year, a run for the ages was looming on the horizon.
“Carrie’s sophomore year, Angie made the decision to pull some sophomores up on varsity,” Byerly said. “Not everybody agreed with that move, but Angie knew what she was doing. There was criticism for what she was doing, but she was looking down the road.”
Slabach quickly noticed that Brown’s athletic ability was not normal for a sophomore.
“She’s one of the most natural athletes on the team,” Slabach said then. “She’s tall for her (guard) position and has a good outside shot. She’s always looking to push the ball upcourt.”
After a rocky start to the season, the War Eagles showed they were no pushover during a 72-66 loss to powerful Dudley. They faced a 53-36 deficit at the end of the third quarter, but Brown poured in 13 of her 24 points in the fourth and Davie threw a scare into the Panthers.
In the next meeting with Dudley, Davie pulled off another ferocious rally, this time resulting in 57-56 victory. Davie overrode a 46-31 deficit at the end of the third. Gentry delivered 10 of her 24 in the fourth. Hinshaw baskets tied the game at 52-52 and 54-54. Umberger’s free throw at :30 gave Davie its first lead at 55-54. She missed the second foul shot, but Hinshaw grabbed the rebound and fed Brown for a layup.
Davie squeezed past West Forsyth 53-52 when Jenkins scored on a putback at :17. Brown dropped 20 points on the Titans.
With the score tied against Reynolds, the Demons missed a shot and Brown snatched the board. She dribbled downcourt, pulled up for a 10-footer with three defenders draped on her and swished the game-winner at the buzzer.
With a big grin, Slabach said: “Carrie Brown … what can I say?”
Davie got hosed in a 50-49 loss to South Rowan, which was ranked No. 3 in 4-A. At the end, the War Eagles kept fouling Kess Beaver, who cooperated by missing 5 of 7 free throws. Down by two, they fouled her again in the final seconds. But Leisa Seaford stepped to the line and made both to put the game away. Slabach, the Davie players and fans were screaming that the wrong shooter was at the line – to no avail.
As a sophomore, Brown was No. 2 in scoring (12.3), first in blocked shots (25), second in steals (3.1) and third in rebounds (4.3). But Gentry, who led at 12.4 points per game, was the only all-CPC selection from Davie. Brown’s snub had Slabach seething.
“Considering who else made it (Grimsley, which finished below Davie, had two honorees), Carrie should have been on that team,” Slabach said then.
A golden age of Davie girls basketball began the next year. Brown’s explosive sophomore season set high expectations for 1992-93, and she did not disappoint. She was second at 11.2 points per game and first in 3-pointers with 33. With the 6-1 Maria Newsome averaging 11.6 points as a sophomore, Davie went 20-7, finished second in the CPC and reached the second round of the 4-A playoffs. It was the most wins in nine years.
“Carrie’s the type that may not shine in practice, but once the game comes around, she’s the high scorer,” Slabach said.
But when the all-CPC team was announced, Slabach was again red with anger. Brown was slighted for the second time.
“Dudley’s coach (Mike Callahan) said: ‘Where’s Brown?’” Slabach said.
The 1993-94 War Eagles were something special. In a 71-61 win over highly-touted Statesville, Brown went off for 15 fourth-quarter points while hitting a variety of shots. She burned West Forsyth with 20 as Davie rolled 62-48.
“Carrie is a scorer,” Slabach said. “When she gets hot, she can really burn it up. She’s real quiet – never really up and never real down. She just knows how to score.”
The War Eagles went 13-1 in the CPC to capture their first title in 10 years. They won the CPC Tournament by rocking North Davidson and West Forsyth. In a 60-59 win over Hoke County in the sectional final, Brown drilled the clinching free throw for a 60-56 lead and Davie was headed to the regional for the first time in 15 years.
“They believe they are going to Chapel Hill for the state finals,” Slabach said. “And I’ll tell you what, I believe it, too.”
In the Western Regional semifinals at Hickory High, Davie ran into a team that was so good it was ridiculous. Freedom pounded Davie 66-47, crushed Crest by 22 in the regional final, smacked Terry Sanford by 29 in the state final and finished 28-1.
The ending was hard, but what a ride it was. Davie finished 22-6 (only one team since, the 1994-95 bunch that went 25-2, has posted that many wins) and Brown made all-conference along with player-of-the-year Newsome and Gentry.
“I’m happy for Carrie,” Slabach said. “She sort of got rooked out of it before. It was long overdue.”
Brown averaged 12.8 points as a senior and left with 922 career points. To put that in perspective, there are only 11 females in Davie’s 1,000-point club, and eight of the 11 were at Davie for four years.
“It was a great time for Davie girls basketball,” Byerly said. “Carrie would do that layup and her legs would fly apart. I can see her doing that layup. I would be like: ‘How does she do that?’”
“Boy, I remember her like yesterday,” Gustafson said. “I’m proud of her. She was a coach’s dream.”