John Bown

John Bown got sober on September 21st, 1984 after looking in the bathroom mirror and seeing “someone he no longer even recognized,” as he put it. He was confronted by his wife, who asked one more time what he intended to do about his drinking.  He says he didn’t know where it came from but he told her, “This time, I’ll go to A.A.” – but wanted to pull the words back before she could hear them. As a result, he started going to meetings – and it saved his life.

John grew up working in the family bar. His father later joined A.A. and was sober many years before John hit bottom. But because his father lived in Arizona and John lived in San Diego, he never knew this until many years later, when John got sober, too.

John often identified himself in meetings as “an American League alcoholic,” because one of his jobs at the lighting supply company where he worked was to take clients out to dinner and get them drunk enough to sign a contract. John had a reputation for being able to hold his liquor so his boss said, “John, you’re our designated drunk.” At that time, only the American League in Major League Baseball allowed a “designated hitter.” Hence, the title.

John made a point of beginning his shares at meetings by saying, “I wake up every morning with untreated alcoholism,” as a reminder that we are never cured of our fatal disease, but rather “what we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition” (page 85 in the Big Book).

John often ended his shares at meetings with the phrase, “I’ve never had it so good,” which appears on page 420 of the Big Book (4th edition), at the end of the story, “Acceptance Was the Answer.”

John sponsored many men during his sobriety and was often able to use the “language of the heart” to reach men whom no one else were able to reach. After using Zoom to visit many international meetings during the pandemic, John maintained a regular attendance in many of those groups through the end of his life.

John spoke at South Bay Pioneers in January 2023 and you can listen to his recorded talk here.

John successfully battled leukemia for quite a while in his final years. But just after his 40th sober anniversary on Sept. 21st, he entered the hospital and went into hospice shortly after that. He died on October 5th, 2024.

At the request of John's family, photos of John have been removed.

so good