James 'Blinky' Brown, coach and mentor, dies at 82

BACK WHEN kids like Wilt Chamberlain, Wayne Hightower, Walt Hazzard, Wali Jones and other future sports stars were preteens, they were desperate to play basketball wherever they could.

In the summers, they found a pal and mentor in James P. "Blinky" Brown, athletic director of the Haddington Recreation Center at 57th Street and Haverford Avenue, West Philadelphia.

The kids were supposed to play outdoors, but they would beg Blinky to open the reccenter's gym for them.

Among the kids was the late Vince Miller, who would grow up to be a legendary boys basketball coach at Frankford High School. He recalled Blinky in an interview in 2002:

"Wilt and I would beg him to open the gym, lock us in, and come back two or three hours later and let us out. It would be 100 degrees in there. We would stay in there three, four, five hours playing.

"Blinky Brown was a guy who would take us to different recreation centers to play. That was our first organized basketball. We were 11, 12, 13 years old."

Many of the kids went on to Overbrook High School, where Blinky spent most of his career as student, athlete, coach and administrator, before they went into professional sports.

Blinky Brown died Monday. He was 82 and lived in Overbrook.

"Blinky was a major factor in the development of young athletes like Chamberlain, who drew national attention to Overbrook," his family said.

"His work at Haddington and Overbrook included providing guidance in studies and character development to young people both on and off the playing field."

For a time, Blinky was disciplinarian and vice principal at Overbrook.

"He was a stubborn and determined man," said his daughter, Barbara Burton. "He could be 'mean Mr. Brown' when he was the disciplinarian at Overbrook. But we didn't see that side of him - unless we deserved it."

Blinky Brown was inducted into the Overbrook High School Hall of Fame in 1992 along with with Jones, Hazzard and astronaut Guion Bluford.

He was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., to Leatha and Willie Brown, and grew up in West Philadelphia. He attended Brooks Elementary and Shoemaker Junior High before going to Overbrook. There, he captained the football and track teams and was named to the All-Public football team.

Blinky went on to Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., on a scholarship. There he was captain of the football, track and baseball teams. In 1947, he led the baseball team to the CIAA title, and was the CIAA high-hurdle champion. In 1948, he scored the winning touchdown against South Carolina State, which made Shaw the National Colored Collegiate Football Champions.

He pledged the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, with which he remained active.

After graduation from Shaw, he began his teaching career at Sulzberger Junior High School, where he coached track and basketball. Later, at Overbrook, he coached track, basketball and football. He worked as an official at the Penn Relays.

Health issues forced his retirement in 1981.

Blinky maried Mavola "Teeny" Harrell in 1947. After his retirement, he and his wife and family spent time at their summer home in Pleasantville, N.J., where he enjoyed fishing, flea-marketing and visits to Atlantic City.

They also took cruises to the Caribbean, went through the Panama Canal and visited Alaska.

Besides his wife and daughter, he is survived by another daughter, Brenda Brown; a son, James P. Brown Jr.; four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Monday at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, 58th and Race streets. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Rolling Green Memorial Park, West Chester.