Professional actor Dwier Brown, best known for playing Kevin Costner’s father in the timeless classic film, “Field of Dreams,” will be the speaker at Ashland University’s 2019 Burton D. Morgan Lecture and Lunch on Tuesday, March 26. The event, which includes lunch, is free and open to the public and will be held at 11:45 a.m. in Myers Convocation Center on the AU campus.
Brown will speak on the topic, “If You Build It,” which is also the title of his book, “If You Build It…: A Book about Fathers, Fate and Field of Dreams.” Brown released his book in April of 2014; and it has since become an Amazon bestseller. In the book, Brown details inside stories from his role as John Kinsella in the movie Field of Dreams and from his own Ohio childhood on his unlikely path to becoming a Hollywood actor.
The event, which is held in memory of noted entrepreneur Burton D. Morgan, is hosted by Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship of Ashland University and is annually supported by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation.
“It is an honor to be able to welcome Dwier Brown back to the Ashland University campus, and we look forward to hearing him speak and inspire our students, faculty and the community,” said Tom Sudow, director of the Burton D. Morgan Center at Ashland University.
Brown graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ashland University in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Drama and Speech and minors in Radio/TV and Marketing. After graduation, Brown started his professional career in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles in 1982. In his 38 years of acting professionally, Brown has performed in hundreds of films, plays and television shows including Gettysburg, To Live and Die in L.A., The Cutting Edge, The Thorn Birds, Criminal Minds, Charmed, House M.D., E.R. and C.S.I.
In 1988, Brown traveled to a farm in Iowa to play Kevin Costner’s father for five minutes at the end of the movie Field of Dreams. It was those five minutes that changed his life, with the impactful words, “You wanna have a catch?” to which Brown’s character responded, “I'd like that. Very much.”
Since the movie’s release in 1989, Brown has been recognized by thousands of fans who have told him poignant stories about their fathers and how watching the film changed their lives too.
The AU event ties in with the 30th anniversary of the film, and Brown will be attending the 30th anniversary celebration that is scheduled for June 15, 2019, at the Lansing Family Farm in Dyersville, Iowa.
