From the 2026 Spring Journal of the Colorado Dental Association
by Casey Rhines, D.D.S., CDA Editor
Standing at 5’5”, Dr. Ron Brown and I see eye-to-eye, literally and figuratively. Despite exactly 50 years between our graduations, we have become friends who share Chinese takeout recommendations (we maintain that Hong Kong Station is the best in Denver) and anecdotes about our personal lives. What makes Dr. Brown’s story so compelling is not simply the length of his career, but the number of times he found himself pulled in different directions and the clarity with which he ultimately chose his path.
Before dentistry entered the picture, Dr. Brown earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education from the University of Colorado Boulder. He went on to teach science and coach baseball at a junior high school in Glendale, envisioning a career in academic administration. When he learned that a bachelor’s in PE wouldn’t qualify him for the advancement he hoped for, he began taking prerequisites for dental school — an unexpected pivot that would reshape the next five decades of his life.
Long before he picked up a handpiece, Dr. Brown had already distinguished himself in another arena: baseball. He played semi-professional baseball for the Boulder Colorado Collegians, even making the 1965 All-American team as an outfielder. When telling me this story, he leans in and smiles, leaving space between his upper and lower teeth, exaggerating his already broad smile, “I have the distinction of being the shortest all-American ever selected,” he laughs. In 1966, he was offered a major league spot with the Pittsburgh Pirates but had already paid his deposit to dental school.
In 1970, Dr. Brown graduated from the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Dentistry and returned to Denver. Within a couple years of owning a busy general practice, a local orthodontist approached him with a career-altering proposition. Impressed with his work, this doctor offered to pay his full current salary as a successful dental practice owner, plus the tuition for an orthodontics residency, in exchange for Dr. Brown to join his practice upon graduation. “Obviously, I had to question his motives,” Dr. Brown explained. The orthodontist, who made $400,000 per year at the time (the equivalent of roughly $2.41 million in 2026), told him, “If I can find someone I can trust, I can have time to go spend that money.” Genuinely considering the offer, Dr. Brown stated he didn’t even know where to apply. The orthodontist encouraged him to apply to the University of Washington — then widely regarded as the best orthodontics program in the nation — and his alma mater, UMKC. After applying and being accepted with scholarships into both programs, something didn’t sit right. Dr. Brown realized he completed his entire application in ballpoint pen — a careless comparison to the pristine, typed application to dental school. This small but telling detail made him realize that he wasn’t pursuing orthodontics out of passion but rather for money. He declined his acceptances, stating that he was having marital problems (and ran home to make sure his wife went along with the plan). What could have been a major career shift reaffirmed what truly mattered to him: his patients and the kind of dentist he wanted to be.
If the name Brown sounds familiar, you may recognize his late brother, Irv Brown, who co‑hosted The Irv and Joe Show on Mile High Sports Radio AM 1340. Like his brother, Dr. Brown has always had a foot in the world of sports. Although Dr. Brown stepped away from his professional baseball career long ago, he never fully left the game. For more than three decades, he continued to officiate both baseball and basketball, bringing the same fairness, judgment and presence that also defined his work as a dentist.
His dental career followed a similarly dedicated trajectory. After 37 years in private practice, he retired only when neck surgery made continuing impossible. But retirement didn’t sit still for long. Almost immediately, Dr. Brown returned to the profession — this time as a full‑time educator at the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine. Today, he still teaches three days a week and is especially known among students for championing the importance of ergonomics, a lesson shaped by his own career-long awareness of physical strain.
Dr. Brown’s commitment to organized dentistry and professional leadership mirrors his commitment to teaching. He is a life member of both the American and International College of Dentists and holds lifetime ADA/CDA/MDDS tripartite membership. Beyond dentistry, he served as both the Colorado and National President of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, where he likewise maintains a lifetime membership. His professional life, whether on the court or in the clinic, reflects a steady through‑line: showing up, giving back and elevating the communities that shaped him.
