Washington Township High School to Dedicate, Rename Field
in Honor of Deceased Coach Tom Brown
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – The Washington Township Board of Education, Washington Township High School administration and the entire Washington Township community will honor the memory of legendary Minutemen Head Football Coach Tom Brown by naming the high school field “Tom Brown Field.” A pre-game dedication ceremony is planned for 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 25, 2009, prior to the Minutemen’s 6 p.m. kickoff with Eastern High School.
Brown’s widow, Marion, along with his children Heather and Tommy and their extended families, will join members of the BOE, District administration, current WTHS coaching staff and players, WTHS Athletic Director Kevin Murphy, WTHS Principal Joe Bollendorf, WTHS football alums and community leaders in the historic ceremony.
Coach Brown lost a valiant battle with cancer on January 16, 2006. He was 61 years old.
Coach Brown served at the helm of the Minutemen program for 21 years (1985-2005) following a 12-year stint (1966-1977) as an assistant and an additional seven years (1978-1984) as head coach with the Paulsboro High School program. He also spent 20 years as a mathematics teacher at the Washington Township High School. One of only three coaches in South Jersey to have recorded 200 or more wins in a career, Brown led Washington Township to three Group IV championships (1987, 1992, 1995) and seven conference championships. His teams qualified for the state playoffs 20 times. In 1992, his only undefeated team (11-0) was also ranked eighth in the nation by USA Today.
In 28 years, Tom Brown never posted a losing record and was the fourth-winningest coach in South Jersey history and the second-winningest coach in Gloucester County. His career mark was 216-70-5, with a 159-55-4 record at Township and a 57-15-1 mark at Paulsboro. Honored as the TD Club of Southern New Jersey’s Coach of the Year in 1993, he was inducted in the South Jersey Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996.
Brown started the school’s highly successful 5th Quarter Club in 1993. To date, the football booster club has awarded more than $500,000 in scholarships to players, managers and trainers and has donated more than $250,000 to the school, most notably for improvements in the weight and training rooms.
Additional details about the dedication ceremony will be released when they have been finalized.
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