James "Blinky" Brown, 82, coach and educator

James "Blinky" Brown, 82, of Overbrook, a star athlete, an educator, and the coach of many athletes who achieved greatness, died of heart failure Monday at Mercy Philadelphia Hospital.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Brown taught and coached sports at Sulzberger Junior High School and Overbrook High School. In the evening and the summer, he was the athletic director at Haddington Recreation Center in Overbrook.

There, he trained and mentored athletes who later gained national prominence, including the basketball players Wilt Chamberlain, Wayne Hightower, Walter Hazzard, and Wally Jones, and the future track and field Olympian Ira Davis.

Mr. Brown graduated from Overbrook, where he captained the football and track teams. He was named to the All-Public Football Team and was Middle Atlantic high school hurdles champion in 1944.

He earned a bachelor's degree from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., where he again captained the football and track teams as well as the baseball team.

In 1947, his baseball team won the baseball championship of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Mr. Brown was CIAA high-hurdle champion while at Shaw and in 1947 scored the winning touchdown against South Carolina State, making Shaw the CIAA football champion. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.

After graduating, Mr. Brown taught health and physical education and coached track and basketball at Sulzberger. From 1958 to 1968, he taught health and physical education at Overbrook and was an assistant track, basketball, and football coach.

Three of the basketball players he worked with at Haddington - Hightower, Hazzard, and Jones - also played for Overbrook when he was assistant coach there.

Mr. Brown was later disciplinarian and vice principal at Overbrook. In 1971, when he was vice principal, The Inquirer reported that a group of Overbrook students complained about having to attend a Philadelphia Orchestra concert.

He told the reporter that he had explained to the students, "Education is like a meal: We give them as much variety as we can, and while they may not be familiar with everything we serve, they ought to give it a try."

After he retired in 1981, Mr. Brown, who was an official at the Penn Relays for many years, and his wife, Mavola "Teeny" Brown, spent time in their vacation home in Pleasantville, N.J., where he enjoyed fishing, flea marketing, and visits to Atlantic City. He and his wife traveled with friends and family on cruises to the Panama Canal, Alaska, and the Caribbean.

In 1992, Mr. Brown was inducted into the Overbrook High School Hall of Fame.

In addition to his wife of 63 years, he is survived by daughters Barbara Burton and Brenda; a son, James "JB" Jr.; four grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 58th and Race Streets. Friends may call from 9. Burial will be in Rolling Green Memorial Park, West Chester.