Kevin Braswell was always a competitor.

The basketballer had already earned a reputation in Baltimore by the time he and Juan Dixon, who would become a University of Maryland legend, played each other for the first time in middle school. Dixon heard about “how good a player Kevin was,” he later told the Los Angeles Times. After they had competed, Dixon convinced Braswell to join his team.

“When you’re on the playgrounds, it’s just you scoring,” Braswell told the Baltimore Sun in 1998. “You shoot the ball all the time. You’re trying to embarrass the person you’re playing against, and I had that attitude of, ‘I can do anything I want.’”

Braswell did just that at Lake Clifton High School, where he excelled on the court and was named to The Sun All-Metro team for three years in a row. After spending a year at Maine Central Prep, the heavily recruited player picked Georgetown University, where he was a starting guard and eventually set records.

He went on to play professionally, both in the U.S. and abroad, and coached teams in New Zealand and Japan.

He was in Japan, leading the Utsunomiya Brex, when he required emergency heart surgery last month, according to a New Zealand basketball team. Braswell died Monday at age 46, the Utsunomiya Brex announced in a news release. The team did not confirm the cause of death.

“Over the course of two seasons, Mr. Braswell was instrumental in the development of the club and made a significant contribution to the development of the team,” the release stated. “We express our sincere respect and gratitude for his achievements, as well as our deepest condolences in memory of his passion and dedication.”

Family, friends and fans around the globe, including in Baltimore, are mourning Braswell’s sudden death. His ties to every community where he lived and worked ran deep.

“He was truly a special one,” Montell Satchell, a friend, wrote on Facebook. “We met up [at] Lake where we played basketball together. But our conversations were about everything but [basketball]. He was younger than me but wise beyond his years. And was truly a great friend I could depend on for words of wisdom anytime we spoke.”

After graduating from high school, Braswell attended Georgetown to stay near family, he told a Japanese news outlet in 2022. It was “unreal” to have his family attend his games, Braswell said. He started all 128 of Georgetown’s games during his time at the school.

“My mom came to every college game no matter where it was,” Braswell said. “And it was a luxury for me because I never met my dad, so my mom was working two jobs all the way through high school, so she got to see me play one high school game.”

Midway through his college career, he made the switch from shooting guard to point guard and helped lay the foundation for the future of Georgetown basketball, the Sun reported in 2001. He studied tape and looked up to famed Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton, because “I just wanted to make sure that I controlled the game, to make sure the game goes at the level I want it to go at.”

“I’ve never coached anybody who is more competitive than Kevin,” said Craig Esherick, then Georgetown’s head coach. “He just keeps breaking records here.”

When he left Georgetown in 2002, he’d averaged 13.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.7 steals per game. He finished seventh all time in scoring, according to the university, and was the team leader in assists and steals for each of his four years.

The university’s basketball program posted a tribute to Braswell on social media this week and asked for prayers for his family. “He will be missed — forever a Hoya,” the post reads.

Mayor Brandon Scott expressed his condolences in a statement to WBAL.

“There are so many young men and women who grew up playing basketball in Baltimore, looking up to him, wearing those Georgetown jerseys, because he was there,” Scott said.

Braswell began his professional career in Belgium and Italy. He signed with the Miami Heat in 2005 but was waived after playing one preseason game. He continued playing abroad, including in Greece, Russia, Turkey and Israel.

His travels landed him in New Zealand, where he joined the Breakers and helped lead the team to a National Basketball League championship in 2011. After an Achilles injury disrupted the following season, Braswell went on to play for the Melbourne Tigers and Southland Sharks. He helped lead the latter team to two championships, local outlets reported.

He then retired and pivoted to a career in coaching in 2015, spending the next four years in New Zealand. He returned to Georgetown in 2019 to finish his degree, and he served one season as an assistant coach at Coppin State University, according to Georgetown. He started coaching in Japan in 2021.

The Banner publishes news stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. If your loved one has passed and you would like to inquire about an obituary, please contact obituary@thebaltimorebanner.com. If you are interested in placing a paid death notice, please contact groupsales@thebaltimorebanner.com or visit this website.