Jeff Manes: Brown is mill worker, poet, the ‘Real Deal’

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Updated: January 31, 2012 8:03AM

“... You should wear your safety equipment,

no matter where you’re at.

You should wear your long underwear,

your gloves, glasses and hard hat.

Because safety is for your protection,

it’s designed to help you out.

Safety is the one thing that you should

always be thinking about.”

— Darryl “Real Deal” Brown

Darryl Brown has known several people who were killed in the mill.

Brown has worked at ArcelorMittal for 34 years and also is a performance poet who enjoys chess, (roller) skating and stepping (dancing).

Brown, 52, was born and raised in Gary, attended West Side High School and lives in Gary with his wife, Janice Melton-Brown. They’ve been married since September. He has an adult daughter, Kristle, from a previous marriage.

***

Did you play sports for West Side?

“No, I was on the chess team,” he said. “Chess was my hobby; in 2003, I was ranked in the top 100 in the state. I could have gone on to bigger things, like tournaments, but I decided to focus entirely on poetry.

“I wanted to be like Kentucky Fried Chicken — do one thing and do it right.”

Did you hire into the mill right out of high school?

“About six months after high school. I started at the 14-inch Mill, then I went to No. 3 Coke Plant.”

You worked production in the Coke Plant.

“Yeah, lidman, lary car operator, door machine operator ... .”

Brother, those were some dirty, hot jobs; most people have no idea. In what department do you work now?

“I’m a strand operator at No. 4 (Basic Oxygen Furnace). My father and brother also worked at the Coke Plant while I was there. My brother went by ‘Al Capone’ and we called my father ‘The Silver Fox.’ My brother ‘Chokes’ worked at the blast furnace.”

Did you have a nickname?

“Yeah, ‘Rough.’ I guess I was rough on my clothes as a kid. I always had holes in my blue jeans. Some folks from school still call me ‘Rough.’ Today, most people who know me call me by my stage name.”

What’s that?

“  ‘Real Deal.’ I’m the real deal, like (former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander) Holyfield.”

How long have you been writing poetry?

“I started in high school. I had a teacher, Miss Walker, who complimented me on my poetry. I mainly wrote jingles back then.”

Darryl, you’ve had to battle some demons in the past. Do you care to talk about that? It’s up to you.

“I’m not ashamed of that; I’m drug-free now. That was the past.”

One of your favorite movies?

“ ‘The Warriors.’ ”

A classic. A few places where you’ve performed your poetry?

“At the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, City Hall in Gary, Chicago, St. Paul, Minn. ... . Sometimes, I perform at churches.”

You probably have to tone it down in a house of worship.

“Yeah, I do more things in Chicago than in Gary. We don’t have too much in Gary.”

Remember when we were part of Gwen Calmese Wright’s dramatic poetry presentation on Lake Street in the Miller neighborhood of Gary?

“Sure do, in 2002. I believe that was the last time I saw you.”

When’s your next gig?

“New Year’s Eve at the Radisson in Merrillville; I go on stage at 8 p.m.

Retirement from the mill?

“Hopefully, I’ll be retired by this time next year and can do two or three shows per month. I have CDs and DVDs of my work. Every Thursday, I submit a new poem on Facebook.”

***

Darryl always has had the highest deduction taken from his paychecks toward the United Way.

His parents are deceased, but he stopped by every day to check on them until they died.

While working shift work in the mill, he raised his daughter as a single parent.

Darryl Brown is the real deal.